Masters schmasters, these guys are fast!

So the guys have been after me for a while to race Masters. Easier said than done.  I needed to be at least Cat 4 to race masters and I needed to make the bogey of ten (10) USAC races to upgrade.  I reached the bogey two weeks before the season closer, Bethlehem. With the help of one of the guys, the upgrade application made it through “the process” in time for me to register for the Bethlehen Masters 55+ race.  I’ll have to admit, even though I had convinced myself that the guys wanted me to races masters so that they could kick my butt and I also convinced myself that they all would, I felt quite at home in this geriatric bullpen of racers.

It was one of the smoothest starts I remember, we all simply accelerated onto the course.  Maybe it was the nature of the course design, but once on course it was nothing but the flow of racers.  Not the sprint to brake slinky of Cat 4-5.  Not the “excuse me while I drive you into the tape” of Cat 4-5 racing.  Not the “I’m going to pass you just to hold you up on the next climb” of Cat 4-5 racing.  There guys just flowed around the course. These are my peeps – they are just faster.  I went from mid-pack to bottom third with one quick upgrade.  I guess that’s the way it should be.

I need a race within the race to drive me. The major proponent of my upgrade to master’s racing, was the designated object, “rabbit”, of the race within the race. My rabbit got a considerable lead early in the race and I was never able to close that lead. Turns out that the rabbit is a considerably better sprinter that me and he put a few racers between us on the way to the “hole”. Getting around those racers and back onto the tail of the rabbit took the entire race plus 50 yards. It was one of the hardest fought races of my two seasons, one of the most exhausting races of my two seasons and one of my most satisfying races ever. The guys were right – racing with the masters is where I belong.