February 2, 2013, U of A Crit, 50+
Tucson, AZ   30 minutes
Report from Lionel Space, Phoenix AZ

After a good start to the season two weeks prior, I was eager to get some more racing in. The previous weekend's racing got rained out and postponed for a month. In my sprint training on Wednesday I was hitting 35 mph, so I felt that my form was going well.

This race was in Tucson, over an hour and a half from home, and started just past dawn at 7:30 am. After getting up at 4 am and taking care of the morning chores, I hit the road at 5:10. I arrived at 6:45, registered, used the facilities, got the bike ready, pinned on the number, put on the clothes, grabbed the spare wheels and as I rolled up to the line I heard "Riders ready", so I literally threw the spare wheels into the wheel pit and got behind the others, having about 20 seconds to spare before they blew the whistle for the start.

Although the day was going to warm up and turn into a beautiful day, the overnight low was supposed to be in the mid 40s. So I was a bit dismayed to see the snowflake symbol appear on my dash as I neared Tucson in the dark and the temperature was registering 37 degrees. Usually I won't train outside if it's below 50 degrees, as my muscles just tighten up, the clothing is to constricting, and it's difficult to get anything worthwhile out of the ride. So now I had little choice and I put on 2 layers of leg warmers, my warmest booties, 4 layers on top with 2 on my arms, mittens for gloves, and a balaclava for my face. I decided to use the new jacket I had won last fall as it blocks the wind really well and put my number on it. So all this extra dressing took too much time and almost cost me the start. Once in the race, I felt fine, but was to discover that the jacket that blocked the wind so well also doesn't breath very well and it became sweaty towards the end of the race.

So all of that was actually more dramatic than the race. The main competition that I was aware of were Scott Baker and Dwight Nelson (both strong time trialists) and Mark Fosenburg who is a good sprinter. There were about 18 starters.

The first couple of laps averaged less than 24 mph, so a good warm up for me. The selection of clothes seemed to be working too. We then had about 3 laps of about 26 mph as the riders tested the waters on various attacks. The pace eventually settled into a comfortable pace as the attackers lost their steam and we waited for the serious attacks that would normally occur towards the end of the race. I was usually keeping within a bike length of Mark, who was usually marking Scott. With about 8 laps to go of the 21 we were to complete, Dwight picked up the pace, with Scott on his wheel followed by Mark and then me; so it seemed we had the four strongest riders at the front and forcing the pace. The attack ended which was followed by an easy lap. Then Scott tried to make a move with 5 to go and Mark was right on his wheel with me right in line. The three of us had a gap, but having 2 sprinters in a breakaway that can normally win from a pack is not a recipe for a successful break. At least we were keeping Scott in check. Half a lap later Dwight joined us as Scott began to lose momentum, then a couple more and pretty soon we were one pack again.

The pace dropped dramatically and I dropped back to find Mark to make sure he wasn't on my wheel as we approached the sprint. To my surprise he was nearly at the back with 2 laps to go. That lap only averaged 24.5 mph so there was plenty of opportunity to adjust position within the group. With 1 lap to go, Dwight was in about 5th with me right behind him. My plan was to go long, right after turn 2, which would mean about a 500 meter effort, which is usually not a problem for me.

The pack was bunching up a bit as we went between turns 1 and 2 and I couldn't jump through the turn. After seeing the back stretch in front of us, I gave it my all in my jump to try to gap the field. Normally I fly up to speed, but it felt like wearing cement overshoes and I only managed 32.2 mph after 100 m and saw a trail of riders right on my wheel. Uh Oh, 400 meters to go and I'm basically leading out everyone else; not good. I eased up a bit and two other riders came around on my left side. I got behind them, hoping I could find some acceleration after the last corner and improve my position. To my dismay, I only weakened and two other riders were able to pass me before we reached the finish line, 160 meters from the corner.

So either I was having an off day, or the cold was too much for me. Although I had no problem with breathing during the race and the pace didn't seem that hard, I did have a bit of a scratchy throat afterwards. The temperature was 41 on my bike computer at the end of the race, which is usually a bit high as it reads the temperature in the sun.

Summary
Start
Time		 Distance
(Miles)		 Starters Duration Weather
(Deg F, mph)		 Speed avg
(MPH)		 Speed Max
(MPH)		 HR avg
(BPM)		 HR max
(BPM)
7:30 am 12.2 18 29:36 37-41, Calm 24.6 32.2 168 187

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