James and I hit the road just before 7am to pick up our buddy Jake and drive down I-10 to Tucson for the U of A criterium in Tucson. We had a beautiful desert sunrise as and great weather for our day.
I attended the U of A for a couple of years back in the day so this getting to hang out on campus for a day was an added treat. The campus area has changed quite a bit since I left in 1986 but Tucson hasn't which is nice.
We rolled into town, hit the Safeway on Campbell and Broadway for a bathroom, espresso and chamois butter stop before driving the few short blocks to the campus. We went through the regular circus of registration, unpacking and warming up which always seems like a crazy rush.
Jake raced the cat 5 at 1020a. James and Jake were up next at 1100a for a 30 minute junior race then it was my turn to race the the masters 40 + and masters 30+ back to back.
James had a great junior outing missing the break but racing like a pro from that point on. He ended up placing 2nd in the 15-16 field. He ended up setting a new best 20 minute power suggesting the race was very fast. The great thing about junior racing out here is that the fields are bigger and have stronger racers. Forty juniors lined up yesterday! James said he used to dream/make videos about such a thing.
That's James in the white, black and yellow DNA kit six riders back.
The 40+ race seemed very strenuous to me. I haven't raced a crit since the Priority Health crit in Grand Rapids in August 2008 so it could be that I had forgotten how hard these races are. Of course, there were those pesky older cat 1's and 2's who either felt too old to enter the P1/2 race or wanted to do a second race so the field had some very strong riders. The course had six turns and was very smooth with lots of large buildings that had some effect on a stiff southerly breeze. The finishing straight was the only long stretch of road with all other sections being 100-200 meters before a ninety degree turn. Moving up wasn't a problem though as there were sections that offered natural opportunities.
I raced aggressively near the front for most of the race finding my way into a four man break that I had great hopes for. It was too short of a race, I guess and we were too early on in the race for it to stick and we were brought back. At the second prime bell I was 3-4 back and I could see an opportunity may be developing. Sure enough a rider two up went on the back hill and I grabbed his wheel. I let him pull me hard to about the 50 meter point and I gave a little sprint to get him at the line. James thought I waited a little long to go around him but I wasn't interested in burning too many matches to win. I felt good that I used just
enough having to throw the bike at the line to win it. In the end a couple riders small gap but were caught by the field sprint. I didn't race as a aggressively as I needed to on the last lap and ended up eighth out of forty. Not bad for my first day out but the kicker was I was scored as a DNF! Because I went immediately into the 30+ race then finished up my 3 hour volume for the day I neglected to check results until the protest period was over. My fault I guess so I won't complain. I have the finish on video thanks to James and I clearly finished in 8th position.
That's me in the black, white and red DNA kit on the right hand side of the screen.
After finishing I changed bibs, rode around the course one lap and lined up for the next race. The guys around be were talking about how fast the last race was and how this one was going to be even faster because there were some pros in it one who raced the Tour of California in 2009 and made some noise there. Great! My goal was to hang on and get some extra intensity into my legs. This was all about the training.
I raced this one conservatively knowing I didn't have a full tank of gas. I figured cramps were on the menu but I didn't know when. In light of that I just found a large, fast rider who was very predictable and sat on his wheel in the pack. It worked well as my normalized power for this race was almost 40 watts lower than the first one and I averaged almost a half mile per hour faster. Some lessons to be learned with that one!
I began to feel some cramping after the first 20 minutes but nothing limiting. I keep thinking about the coming full leg shut down but it never happened. I felt a cramp or two but as soon as the intensity let up a bit I recovered and could go again. It was funny because I wasn't racing aggressively and I found myself in a good position on the last lap! It just sort of happened without me really working it out. If I had a sprint in my legs I could have had a very good finish but as it was I sat in my saddle and spun as fast as I could across the line for 9th place.
