Valley of the Sun Stage Race (Cat 4)

February 12-14, 2010
Three-stage race in and around the Phoenix, AZ area.

Stage One: 22 km Time Trial in the Town of Buckeye, AZ; Friday Feb. 12.
Gorgeous day, sunny, some high clouds, temps in the low 60’s, wind out of the south.
The course was an out and back on a more or less straight, fairly flat road – with some dips. Slight (1% grade) increase in elevation on the outbound, with the return leg being into the wind. Wide open desert flatland without many trees or cacti to block the wind.

I’d not seen the course before, but knew that it was similar, if slightly longer and flatter than, the TT I’d done the previous weekend. Having done the last TT with an average of 264 watts for 30 minutes, my goal for this one was to try to hold 270 for what should be about 34 minutes. Fairly attainable, I figured. The plan was to keep the cadence high on the outbound leg, using more of my lungs and heart power while I was fresh, then kick it up a cog or two and push harder with the legs at a slightly lower cadence on the return leg.

It was about a 3-hour drive to Buckeye from Tucson. (I opted not to get a motel, in favor of saving money for some stage races that will be too far of a daily commute.) I arrived about 2.5 hours before my start time so that I could pick up my registration pack, ride a bit, then warm up on the trainer. Everything went according to plan, and I rolled over to the start ramp about two minutes before my start time. The rider going off one minute before me was the guy who beat me by one minute last week. I was hoping to keep him in sight.

The start went fine, and I settled in quickly, trying to get a feel for the road surface, which was a bit chippy on the edge. While the road was open to traffic, it was minimal, and the road was two lanes plus wide shoulder on both sides of a median divider. So, I stayed in the right lane sticking to the smoothest section. Most of the other riders were on the shoulder, which looked fairly bumpy. I was keeping up my cadence in the mid/high 90’s, and the speed was going well, but I every time glanced at the power meter, I seemed to be below my power target. I’d then pick it up, but I wasn’t having the consistency I’d been hoping for. I think the tailwind and the terrain – which wasn’t nearly as uphill as I’d expected – were throwing me off a bit. My speed made me think that I was pushing harder than I was. On the outbound, I passed five or six riders, but had lost sight of my one-minute man.

The turnaround was nice and wide. They funneled the bikes to the shoulder, holding any traffic, and had us make a wide turn, shoulder to opposite shoulder. I was able to pedal through most of it, getting back up to power quickly.

As planned, I shifted into a slightly higher gear and worked the legs harder. With the headwind, it seemed easier to hold a consistent power…well, “easier” may not be the right word. I was definitely churning out a pretty decent power, and caught a couple more riders on the way back in. And, no one caught me. At the 2 km mark, I really kicked, trying to leave everything on the course.

My official time was 33:58, which ended up being good for 19th place out of 104 starters, and 1:39 back from first place. Definitely a much tougher field than the previous week. There were a number of teams in from CA, NV, CO and all across AZ – this is the big kick-off for the southwestern race season, and riders were out in force for it. The opening leg did me in, in terms of hitting my target. For the outbound leg, I did keep the cadence in the 90’s, but the power was only at a 252 average. The return leg was much better, with an average of 272, with the cadence at 80. I ended up with the same average power of 264 watts as the previous week – just a bit faster speed over a slightly longer distance.

So, good, but not great. Definitely need to work on getting to my target power and having faith that I can hold it for the distance. Will also be revisiting my positioning, as the photos taken there show me sitting up rather high in front.

Stage Two: 41-mile road race in Casa Grande, AZ; Saturday February 13, 2010.
Another clear day, well, once the sun came up it was apparent that it was clear. 8:05 AM start meant leaving my place at 5 AM, so that I’d have time to sign-in and warm-up. Chilly in the morning desert air. Arm and leg warmers were a must – I figured I’d be able to strip them off, but it never warmed up enough.

The course was a triangle-shaped, 17-mi loop. We did 2.5 laps for 41 miles. The finish was at the top of a 2-mi climb with a grade of 3-4%. The road surface was pretty good for the most part – not silky smooth, but no real rough patches. One slightly tricky corner (the third of the triangle), coming at the base of the descent from the climb, with some pavement heaves just before a cattle crossing.

I got to the line a bit later than planned, so I was near the back of the starting group. Things were pretty calm from the start, with no attacks coming. I was able to sit comfortably near the back while I got used to the pack. As mentioned earlier, there were a lot of teams here with large rosters. The team of the guy who won the TT were sitting in front controlling the pace, and several other teams were bunched near the front.

For the first climb to the finish, the pace picked up a little, and some riders fell off. Fortunately, there was a wide shoulder on the climb, so I was able to move around slower climbers and stay with the lead pack. The descent got a li’l dicey, with lots of hard braking going on. The guy right in front of me, heavily tattooed from Vegas, hit his brakes so hard I could see the smoke coming up off his tires as he went into a near-perpendicular skid – thankfully, he got it back under control, which was impressive. I backed off a bit during that li’l episode, and had to chase on the descent to regain contact with the rest of the group. Nothing major, but a bit of a push.

The start of the second lap was pretty much a replay of the first, just fewer riders in the lead group. The second climb was for King of the Mountain points. Not my kind of hill, and too many strong riders for me to contest, but I was aware there would be an attack. There was, it just came earlier than expected, and caught a lot of folks off guard. I wanted to stay with the lead pack, so I pushed to move up across the gaps that had suddenly opened. I was able to pick through a few riders, and hooked up with a small group on the descent. We caught the lead group shortly after the third turn, but had to do a bit of work to hold on. There were a number of riders dropped on the second climb who didn’t catch on.

After crossing the start line, beginning the final half lap, the pace picked up a bit, as expected. The last couple miles before the turn for the approach to the hill got a bit hairy, however. We caught the Women’s 3/4 & Masters 35+ field, at nearly the same time as two ambulances came up behind us. A definite squeeze on a tight two lane highway. Just after the ambulances passed, there was a multi-bike collision in our pack, three of the guys went sliding & tumbling across the other lane, one all the way into the ditch. Fortunately, there were no cars coming the other way, as the traffic had been held for the emergency vehicles…the need for which, we soon discovered.

About one mile after the final turn, just as the pack speed was picking up in advance of the final climb, the Official’s car pulled over, and the Official jumped out into the road waving us down. Turns out there’d been a bad crash at the finishing line. So, we were told to neutralize the race, with no final sprint. Kind of a let down, but understandable. The pack still pushed, but somewhat controlled, as to not get caught by the riders who’d been dropped on earlier climbs. Even with the controlled finish, the time of 1:45 was seven minutes faster than last year’s Cat 4 race.

We all finished cleanly, picking our way around a couple ambulances and a fire truck. Not fun to see a guy being carried off, strapped to a board.

So, same time as the lead pack, in 46th place. Still in 19th in the GC, 1:39 back. I suppose that I could’ve tried to sneak up for a top 20 place in the pack – thinking of upgrade needs, but it didn’t seem like the time/place for that.

Stage 3: 30-minute Crit at the State Capitol in Phoenix; Sunday February 14, 2010.
Left home at 7 AM for the 2:15 drive to Phoenix. Got to the parking lot exactly two hours before race time. Giving me enough time to sign in, walk the course, and get warmed up. Definitely tired from the past two days, and all of the driving, but the legs felt OK on the trainer.

The course was a seven-turn, 1.1 mile loop, closed to traffic. The road surface was OK, not great everywhere. Since it was closed to traffic, the road was wide open, but also filled with lots of road dot reflectors down the middle and across the corners. Some rough spots, too. Walking it backward beforehand helped.

So, I was prepped, warmed-up, feeling somewhat more comfy with the course after having seen it. The goal for today was to hold on, corner cleanly, and not get yanked. Crits are not my best event, so I knew that moving up wasn’t a realistic outcome – I just wanted to finish.

Alas, not my day for meeting all my goals. Lined up where I wanted – planning for the first turn and the combo after that. At the gun, the pack jumped hard – probably 90 riders started, so it was packed. I clipped in quickly and tried to hammer – but seemed to be going backward quickly. I was cornering OK, and seemed to be at the power I wanted (240-250), but was off the back on the second lap, and was losing sight of the pack quickly. I passed a couple riders, and I kept chasing, but knew that I had no chance of catching back on. Not on this course, and not with this field. My hope was to stay strong and stay close enough to not get pulled.

But…as I finished the sixth lap, I got the signal that I’d be done at the end of the seventh. I didn’t want to get lapped, so I tried to keep up the pace. I could see the lead motorcycle coming up behind me on the back straight away, so I just kept pushing. I managed to just cross the line and pull over into the pit before the leaders would’ve passed me.

I watched the last two laps, and saw that the field was strung out over half of it. It was a pretty fast pace.

Finishing spot for the crit was 82nd, 7:20 back. That dropped me down to 60 spots from 19th to 79th, at 8:59 back.

Disappointing finish for me. Frustrating. But, it’s very early in the season, and this was my first group racing since my crash at the end of September. Still a long ways to go to get my pack comfort back, especially at speed in tight quarters. However, that’ll come, as will the power I need to do a better job of hanging in on the crits. I can’t avoid stage races because the have crits, I just have to get better at them.