April 27, 2014, Spring Grand Prix Masters 55+
Avondale AZ
Report from Lionel Space, Phoenix AZ

The race organizers lumped several categories together in an effort to squeeze as much racing in as they had a time limit for, as the course was not available for the afternoon. So we had a few junior racers with us and the Masters were in two groups, 55+ and 60+. Women Masters racers could have also joined us, but none entered. I chose the 55+ race, as the prize value was double that of the 60+ category and I should be able to win the 55+ race anyway.

A cold front had come through and created much cooler than normal temperatures. It was predicted to be 55 at race time, but was a more comfortable 65. I still wore leggings, arm-warmers and an extra jersey, along with a cover on my helmet and I felt fine.

 

My main rival would be Keith Brodhagen, who is strong in a solo effort and pretty good in a sprint as well. The third rider in the 55+ race was James Browning, a 60 year old that accidentally clicked on the wrong box during his online registration which could not be corrected at the registration table. There were only a few racers in the 60+ race. I can't explain the low turn out. If everyone that was 60+ entered the 60+ race, Keith would have been the sole entry in the 55+ race, so at least we'd have some competition with each other.

At the start, three juniors put in some effort and broke clear of the rest of the relaxed group. I was careful to keep an eye on Keith, sitting just behind him and was fortunate to do so as he took off with half a lap into the race while I quickly latched onto him. We quickly passed the juniors at 31 mph before reaching the finish line and Keith continued on for a little while longer, but then sat up since he did not escape me.

Things mellowed down for the next 3 laps and Keith was keeping behind me, so I'd constantly need to look over my shoulder to watch for a potential attack. As we came into the big bend, I was somewhat boxed in and Keith took a flyer on the inside, knowing I'd have difficulty getting onto his wheel. I quickly found a hole, and picking it up to 32.6 mph I quickly closed it down and he relented on the back stretch.

A prime sprint came up for just the Masters racers a couple of laps later. I did not contest it, not wanting to burn up a bunch of energy that would allow Keith to attack me. Greg in the 60+ race took the prime.

The pace settled down to a very reasonable rate for the next several laps as I kept a close eye on Keith. Halfway into our race, Keith attacked from behind me and I surged to 33.5 mph to quickly close it down. So far, Keith was giving powerful attacks and I was easily containing them, so a win looked very likely.

The pace mellowed down again, but a bit too much. A rider meandered off the front, getting about 10 lengths and it happened to be James Browning, the third entry in the 55+ race. If the pace kept this slow, he would drift away for an easy win. I was pretty sure that Keith was not going to chase him down, but try to force me to close the gap. So before it got too dangerous, I picked up the pace to 27.5 mph and ended up breaking off the front solo and then sat behind James when I caught him. I was pretty aware that Keith was going to try to take a flyer past me, so I was watching closely for his red jersey to come surging out of the pack. At this point there was 8 minutes left in the race.

As we started to reach the end of the long curve, sure enough, Keith was storming up at full speed. James was only doing 24 mph, so I'd need to pick up speed to latch onto Keith when he came upon us. I dropped the gear into a slightly larger gear and got out of the saddle for a strong jump to try to match Keith's speed as he came by. As Keith approached, all of a sudden it felt like I had the brakes on. I looked down and saw that my rear wheel was crooked in the frame and the tire was severely dragging on the left chain stay. Whoever told me that Semi-vertical drop outs never slip in a sprint obviously has not been able to produce the same power I put out. Semi-vertical drop outs are actually angled forward about 30 degrees and there was enough force on the chain to force the wheel down the slope and push the wheel out of alignment using a standard aluminum faced quick release. My regular bike that is in the shop, has horizontal drop outs with stops screwed into the forward portion, making it impossible for the wheel to move forward. I'll be very reluctant to buy a bike with semi-vertical drop outs in the future.

I quickly stopped the bike, undid the quick release (which was actually pretty tight already), straightened the wheel and tightened the quick release up some more and really clamped down on it. I looked up and Keith had a quarter lap on me and the others were spread out all over the place. I chased as much as I could, closing down the stragglers and eventually getting to the front group, but there was no way I could out time trial Keith to bring him back, especially with that kind of handicap and very limited time left in the race.

The only other competitor for me was James, so I sat behind him and easily took the sprint finish at 32.7 mph for second. Fortunately there was prize money down to 3 places, so we all got something.
Summary
Start
Time		 Distance
(Miles)		 Starters Duration Weather
(Deg F, mph)		 Speed avg
(MPH)		 Speed Max
(MPH)
7:18 am 9.8 3 25:00 63, W @ 5 23.5 33.5

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