An extremely exciting fast pased raced through downtown Redlands. It's the same course used by the pros for their race - closed off to traffic, etc. It's a .65m course with 5 tight turns. I raced in a field of 65 riders -- most of them between 18 - 25. There were a few of us in our... hmmm.... 30's... !!! We raced for thirty minutes. I stayed in the top 12 for most of the race... the tricky part was to take the turns fast without crashing, losing control or the bike, and hanging on for dear life until the next turn... after each turn there is a spike of speed as everyone sprints to maintain or obtain a better position... There were a couple of bad crashes... one of them right in front of me... which I was able to avoid... on a turn... When five laps to go was announced there was a strong surge on the uphill and I lost several positions... I took the next turn a little too slow trying to recover and stayed back hoping to catcha a fast wheel back to the main pack... I caught a wheel but he too was too wasted and in those quick seconds i lost contact with about 12 guys off the front... I stayed with three others trying in vain to chase down the others for the last laps... in the sprint with our group of four, i took second... but came in about 14th overall about 15 secs. behind the leaders... after the race I found that we had almost lapped the field... not bad for so much accumulated youth... thank God I didn't crash, and finished well. My average heart rate was 182 beats per minute... average speed 25 mph... Next weekend I may race in Parker Dam, Arizona (a two day stage race) or at the LAX Circuit race... for more info on these races see www.socalcycling.com

-- haroldo (hscc@msn.com), March 19, 2001

Answers

good job

Sounds like you had a lot of fun. I was busy working most of Sunday so I didn't have a chance to come and see you race. I'm leaving this Wednesday and I'll be gone for a week so I won't be able to check you this weekend either :-(

Do you have pictures? We could put up some race pictures. Maybe you can write a little something from your perspective about what its like to race. The emotions, energy, that sort of thing.

later! & God bless, les

-- Leslie Camacho (leslie@camacho.tv), March 19, 2001.