Tripleshot Cycling

I decided to skip the Nield Road hillclimb and head out to the Mill May Masters race today. I figured I would get my money's worth and suffer for 2 hours instead of 10 minutes. And boy did I ever get my money's worth. The Masters road races are quite different from the VCL B races I am used to. In the VCL I usually feel like I can be in the mix for top 5 without burying myself too much. They are shorter and there is more drafting to take advantage of. The Masters races are longer and I really have no hope of being anywhere near the pointy end of the race. For the 30s age group, the task is simply to ride as hard as possible for as long as possible with 2 or 3 other guys.
Today there were 4 of us at the 30s start-line, but within 1 km 2 of them had dropped me and the 4th rider. So, the next 59 km was a 2-man hammerfest with the a couple of respites to team up with Paul C. and Al W. The last lap seemed harder for me than the other guy and my screaming cramping legs had no power for the final sprint. If there are any over 30s out there who are feeling a little bored or not challenged by the VCL, I definitely recommend trying a Masters race. You even get drinks and a snack and sometimes a medal at the end (kind of like a elementary school fun-run)!

61km of nicely rolling hills ,out in the country on a Sunny day.It was a 55km Time Trial for me with a few moments with Al and Stephane as they caught and passed me...and a fun lap with Jimmy working together to pick up the pace. Hey..I was in the top 6 in 55 to 59 and was not last overall.

Lets" rally the troops " for another Masters Race this summer. And the odds are you will win a medal. They have 3 medals for every 5 yr age group-- 30 to 80 yrs for men and Women[ a total of 2 women where at Mill Bay.]. and way to go Kris!!

Aha, I thought maybe there were only two women! ... plus Conny and Danielle? from the mainland I think were doing a mini-Fondo. so luckily I came second to Rhonda :0 (+ 25 minutes) lol

After carefully positioning myself at the back of the starting group to ensure falling off after a few short kms I did a fair bit on my own as well... (lovely scenery and really well marshalled at the trafficky corners), Stephane picked me up for a kilometer or two at one point too - thanks! - but after Jimmy caught me three laps in we pulled together the remaining 25 km or so. Nice to see the other 3shot faces out too. Good going all!

As per Stephane, I decided to get more bang for the buck and headed out for the Masters. It seems it's always a tough race as two hours of pounding takes a toll.
I was quickly dropped by the 40 year group ( hat off to Steve B for winning the Neild Rd HC before schooling us at this race) and was looking at 5 1/2 laps of solitude. But, I decided to go hard and see if I could reel someone in. A lap or so later I caught Paul C and another of the 50 group and had a good lap of working together before a traffic snarl that I blasted past and set out to bridge up to Kris about 1/4 km up the road. Finally caught her but burned up most of my energy doing so. Thanks to Kris for all her hard work as we swapped pulls for the next 20kms. Final lap I said I was running on empty and Kris took the lion's share of the pulls as I was gasping and choking. She had a good sprint left for the finish and I was happy to let her go as I would've exploded had I tried to go with her. Besides, after her help I would've insisted.
Not sure what the finishing order was but I got all I could out of these broom polls some might call legs so a good race for me.
Go TRIPLESHOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I too decided to decided to go for the 2 hours of suffering option.

Like Jim, I too got shot out of the 40's pack fairly quickly. The first 3km was a series of climbs. Rather than sitting on the back like I should have, I found myself in the rotation and on the front at the start of the last hill before the village (thanks Kevin!). As soon as I pulled off, Steve B and Hugh T ramped up the pace and I was gone. Lesson learned.

Spent a few minutes with Paul on Lap 1 and and about 1.5 laps with Stephane and another 30's rider. The rest was a lonely time trial.

Nice to see quite a few Tripleshotters out there!