March 9, 2014, South Mountain Circuit race 55+
Phoenix, AZ   30 minutes
Report from Lionel Space, Phoenix AZ

This was a circuit race which happens to be rather close to my home, just 7 miles away. The course was a 1 1/8 mile counter clockwise loop, with almost half of that going up hill, gaining 130 feet each lap. I had considered entering this race over the last couple of years, but figured I would not do well due to the climbing involved. It had been several years since I had been in a race with any significant climbing, but I was hoping that this climb was short enough that I could recover during the downhill sections and survive. I wasn't sure if I would even finish the race. It would be two weeks until my next race, so I had plenty of time to recover if I suffered greatly.

Since the race began immediately on the climb, I did about 10 minutes of warm up. I was not happy that my thighs were already hurting and was worried about cramping up during the race.

David Bixby, last year's winner was among the 12 starters. I was more concerned about the strength of Keith Brodhagen. Thomas Katheder, a new AZ resident from FL, suggested we watch for when Keith attacks. I told him that Keith will just power up the climb and leave us behind, there will be no attack.

I lined up on the front row for the start and wanted to be in the top 3 for the first couple of laps to make sure nobody made an early escape. The start/finish is about 1/4 of the way up the climb, the steepest part being near the top. As we got going, I was glad to see that everyone was content to take it easy and I topped the hill in third position. The lead rider quickly increased his speed on the downhill after the sharp left at the top of the hill. I had been told by one of the race officials that the course was clean. However the first set of turns, a left followed by a sharp right, was a bit tricky and the lead rider had his rear tire slide on some gravel, which when combined with the proper technique of apply some brakes for the upcoming sharp right turn, created a severe tire grab when his wheel reconnected with the solid pavement and that popped his tire; his race over at half a lap. So as we continued to the parking lot area on the North side of the course, I took the lead as we continued down hill. The exit of the parking lot, where we turn South, is a gradually sharpening turn which can not be seen ahead of time to properly judge. I had ridden the course the previous Tuesday and as I led it through the turn, I took it a bit cautiously as there was no advantage to take it at maximum speed. The course gradually turns up slightly just before I led it through the right hand turn and then it dives down towards the final left turn, where it is easy to exceed 30 mph by just coasting and over 35 mph if one pedalled. I took a good line through the last turn still in the lead with everyone else strung out behind me.

As we started up the hill again, nobody had the initiative to go ahead of me. With speeds of only about 12 mph, there was little disadvantage by being at the front, where I could control the pace, not get boxed in, and have a good vantage point to counter any attacks. After leading the entire climb, I kicked up the pace after the turn at the top and took good, fast lines through the entire downhill. So I actually ended up leading the entire race for the first 5 laps, riding in this same fashion and not really taxing myself, doing laps in about 3:30. At one point David Bixby came up even with me on the steepest part of the climb and I was surprised that he was gasping for air more so than myself.

We passed the start/finish line 20 minutes into the race and I was pleased with how I was doing so far, without having any real struggles. We had completed 5 of what would eventually be a total of 8 laps. Then Keith decided to make a race of it and took the lead up the hill and picked up the pace. By the time we hit the top, there were 6 of us left in the lead group. Keith led the downhill section and took the corners with great skill at a speed faster than I needed to previously, hitting 36.3 mph through the parking lot area. I stayed with Keith and noticed Thomas Katheder keeping close tabs to my rear wheel. We did that lap in 3:12.

As we began to climb again, Keith picked up the pace even more and we were given "2 laps to go" as we crossed the line (I was expecting us to get 3 to go at that point, but I wasn't complaining). At the top of the hill this time, there were only 3 of us left, Keith, myself, and Thomas. Keith deftly descended again and took the corner at the bottom with great agility, gaining a bit of a gap on me as I played it more cautiously through the sand that existed on the turn. Keith then turned on the rockets and as we got the bell for the final lap, he was storming away rapidly. That lap only took 3:05. My lungs were maxed out and I looked back to see only Thomas about 4 lengths behind with nobody else in sight. So 2/3 of the way up the hill, I decided to avoid going over red-line, which could have totally halted any ability to continue at a reasonable pace, and I eased up to make sure I finished the race. I wasn't going to catch Keith and I was pretty sure I could out-sprint Thomas.

I let Thomas take the lead after cresting the hill and rested during the downhill section. Apparently he was not aware of my sprinting skills and he thought he had second place in the bag. I let him lead through the final turn and soon we could see the officials stand at the finish. Thomas got out of the saddle and I quickly shot by him on his right and took second place.

A while later, Bixby came in with another rider and sprinted for 4th. Afterwards he was commenting about his bike's lack of cornering ability on the downhill sections of this technical course. I was glad I chose to ride my criterium bike which is designed superbly for control on fast corners.
 
Podium.
 
Summary
Start
Time		 Distance
(Miles)		 Starters Duration Weather
(Deg F, mph)		 Speed avg
(MPH)		 Speed Max
(MPH)
9:42 am 9.25 12 26:50 72, NE@8 20.7 36.3

Results

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