Saturday morning was a bit "chilly" (60 degrees) and I was shivering while warming up for the 90 minute Pro-1-2 Criterium in Bear Creek Park. It was fun catching up with cycling buddies I rarely see these days. And the race was fun although the 0.8 mile course was monotonous after the first 4 or 5 laps. A break of 5 got away early on, and the rest of the race was basically teams with riders in the break covering anyone else trying to go up the road, myself included. HR avg was 174 for 90 minutes at an average speed of 27 mph.
On Sunday morning I drove to downtown Houston for the old man's criterium along Buffalo Bayou. I really like downtown Houston (it actually feels like you're in a city, compared to Austin which is growing rapidly but still very "podunk" by comparison). The Pro-1-2 race was at 2:30 and we would be well on the way back to Austin by then. So the old man's race at 9:00 am was my only option.
Master's racing is much easier but fun, nonetheless. Because the speed is slower, the distances shorter, and the racers themselves less aggressive, you can pretty much take fliers (hard accelerations) at will, recover quickly, then do it again, just to get in a good workout.
Anyway, there was a crash on the last lap as knuckle-heads fighting for 25th place were bumping each other at 30 mph into a 90-degree turn - a recipe for disaster. Bodies hit the asphalt, there was the sound of metal scraping concrete, and a small pile of bodies stacked against a tall curb. I luckily dodged all the shrapnel and made it across the line safely - in last place. HR avg was 164 for 45 minutes - MUCH easier on the cardio system than Saturday's race when you look at the numbers.
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