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USA Cycling’s National competitions move to different parts of the country every few years, so with Masters Road Nationals in Augusta GA this year I figured it was time to try again. I raced Nationals in ‘16, ‘17 and ‘18, each time earning a Silver medal. So no doubt some ‘unfinished business’ was at play.

Masters Road Nationals includes a TIme Trial, a Road Race and a Criterium over 4 days. Racers are grouped in 5 year age brackets such as 55-59, 60-64. (Note there was one woman in 80-84, and one man in 90+!) Several age groups race together so you have to rely on race numbers to know exactly who you are racing against.

My Sorella teammate Diane Schleicher went early for the Time Trial, and I joined her for the weekend road race and crit events. The TT and RR are held at an army base, so the low traffic 15 mi course is great for safety, and the rolling terrain with several climbs was perfect for me.

Here’s how it went down: Alarm goes off at 4:20am Saturday morning -- time to eat, get ready, drive over, set up and be ready to warm up at 6:20 (in the dark!) for the race start at 7:00 am. There were so many Masters and Junior events that they had continuous racing for eleven hours. We were happy to snag the early hour race with expected 95 degree temps!

One woman in our age group, Pat, was known to be ‘a beast’ so I had my eye on her at race start, and within a mile she pulled away on the first climb. I went with her, rounding the corner. She was so powerful that I never quite stuck and she was never seen again. I ended up in no man’s land for a lap before the rest of the pack caught me. Diane was watching out for me, pulling more than she wanted while I recovered from my lap away. Our pack was not very cooperative working together, causing race slow downs as we got closer to the finish. My strategy was to get away on the last hill at 1k to go, and save enough after that for the 500K sprint. It worked, giving me a clean second (another Silver!) and Diane not far behind.

On Sunday, the crit was a flat rectangular course in downtown Augusta. All good except our race time was high noon -- 95 degrees and about that much humidity. As we warmed up on the course, I was reminded why I rarely do these fast and furious races with lots of corners. All women aged 55 - 84 raced at the same time, throwing former pros in their 50s in with feisty grandmothers like Diane and me. The fast group shot off at the start, leaving us with our own hot race for the next 45 minutes. I had to dig deep just to stay in there. On the last lap I improved my position and with a big push was able to come in second at the line, just missing first, with Diane right beside me in third. We spent the next 30 minutes just trying to cool down, pouring ice water over our heads and sitting in our air conditioned cars before being summoned for the podiums.

Women don’t just pick up road racing in their 60s like maybe you’d pick up pickleball. The resumes of these women run deep, and it’s not over as they continue to participate in World Grand Fondos and other international competitions, such as Diane heading off to Denmark in September. These events keep alive our passion for competing. I guess that’s why we don’t mind getting up at 4:20am or racing in the heat at high noon. As for me, I’m just happy to still be in the hunt, whether it’s for Silver or Gold.