My A race next year is the Tour of Cambridgeshire Chrono but I wouldn’t really call it a targeted event. My nephews wedding might clash with it and it would be impossible to be in two countries at once.
Something different for me. I’ll target certain races as always but, I think I’m going to try for my cat 1. Long story short I started road late at 38 (now 54). Cat 5 to 2 by 40 but, destroyed my back and spend a couple seasons just being able to ride. When I came back I convinced myself 42 was really old and I raced almost exclusively masters. What elite races I did I usually raced for younger team mates.
It will be difficult as the frequency of races (road or crit) has really dropped off locally. I have 16 points now and with the new easier rules in place I think I can do it. IDK if it’s a good goal but, it keeps me motivated and I enjoy the younger crowd as much as the masters if not more.
I’ll be a new Cat 2 so no more Cat 3/4 races where I feel confident fighting for the win. But I’ve held my own in the 123 races I’ve done so far so I’m excited to get better at that. Also moved to a new city/region (Philly) so I’ve got a whole new race calendar to figure out going into next year.
Its very competitive in 55+ out here - some national or world champ plus guys that are genetically more gifted and have 20-30 years experience. My goals are pitting me against nature. Hoping to arrange my schedule and the big 3 in my mind are:
climb Mt Lemmon in Tucson
climb White Mountain, one of the big 4 in Owens Valley, the 3rd hardest and 2nd highest in California
climb Hicks Road to Mt Umunhum, the steepest 5 miles in California, in the SF Bay Area
Basically knock down some of the West Coast epic climbs on this list:
I didn’t do it this past year because they changed the date from the first weekend of August to the first weekend of June pretty late in the game and I wasn’t able to swing it.
I’m targeting it next year. I wish they still had it up in Leelanau, though
I was including Fondos in that assessment … just not a lot of competitive events that are road-based around me. Maybe the midwest is different than other areas that way
Regarding road races in the Midwest. I’m not much of a road racer but I did the Iowa and Wisconsin state road races this year.
Iowa was rolling, all the hills very short.
Here’s my youtube video of the Iowa road race.
WI has steep climbing at the end of the lap that makes it pretty tough for a heavier rider, plus a somewhat extended set of climbs midway through the lap.
I barely race on the road but I moved up to cat 3 after these races.
I have said it for 4 years in a row, but I am going to do some open races this year! (Cat 5/4 races would be the equivalent).
I have done some club racing in the past, and I was not prepared for it, but really enjoyed it. So this year I am trying to get a really good base in. Then in the new year try pick a couple of races to aim for in order to structure some interval training around them.
142 miles and 14,000+ ft / 4300+ m of climbing around the longest day of the year. Gotta do it next year because I sold the Tarmac SL7 stock alloy wheels to an ER doctor in LA that is building a cabin in South Lake Tahoe. Told him about it and now he periodically asks when we will do it. This guy is 20 years younger and just killing it… two days ago he did Nate Harrison Grade in San Diego county on 40c gravel tires (HC climb of 4202 feet / 1280m), and today he did GMR to Baldy (HC climb of 5484 ft / 1670m). His Strava has been my return to big climbs training inspiration!