April 26, 2014, Tolero Criterium #2, 35+
Oro Valley, AZ   30 minutes
Report from Lionel Space, Phoenix AZ

This race started immediately following the 50/60+ race in the morning. Only 3 of us started the race and we were all over 45 years of age. Lynn would be the major threat, although I didn't really know the capabilities of our third companion.

One factor that could enter into this race was a chance of cramping. Thursday and Friday I had done work standing all day and my legs were really tight. I got mild twinges of cramps after arriving home and my legs were complaining all night, where I would wake up several times to massage them to relieve the pain.

The race started off very relaxed. We were to have 3 prime sprints and I used the first one to test out the abilities of my companions. I came off Lynn's wheel just after the final corner, easily got ahead of him and then just held it to the line, keeping an eye on him to see if he had anything extra. So a sprint seemed like a good opportunity to win this race.

Lynn passed me after the prime sprint and gave an attack. Fortunately I was not spent after the prime and quickly latched onto his wheel. He went for a bit over a lap and we lost our third rider. After Lynn saw that he wasn't going to shake me, he eased up a bit and we became a group of three again.

I didn't want to hog all the primes, so on the next prime, our companion took the front at the bottom back stretch and I sat on Lynn's wheel. Nobody contested it and he got his prime and thanked us, knowing that we could have easily taken it from him.

We got 15 minutes into our 30 minute race and my right ham strings began to give indications of cramping. Great. I had hoped I could keep it at bay until the finish of the race and I began using more of the left leg for my pedaling. I went up to Lynn and said "I guess the last prime is yours" hoping that he wouldn't need to go real hard and save me from abandoning the race with a cramp. We eventually got the bell for the third prime and I sat behind Lynn as he easily took it with 8 laps to go. However, soon after crossing the line, he dramatically picked up the pace and I had to work hard to keep him in contact. This was a good move on his part as he knew if he just let me easily survive to the finish, that I'd easily take him in a sprint. He kept the pace up, leading all the time, for the final 8 laps. There was no advantage for me to take a turn and it would only risk cramping out of the race.

The headwind on the bottom of the hill back stretch had picked up and I didn't want to do a long sprint into it and then risk cramping out before even getting to the hill where the finish line was. So I let Lynn lead through the final corner, took a slightly better line on the inside so that I could start pedaling sooner, and got out of the saddle to out-sprint him. All the major muscles in both legs started cramping, although not to the point of locking up. It was painful all the way to the line, but I was able to hold Lynn off to take the win.

The prize for this race was a choice of another cake and I selected a carrot cake that I was able to share with friends at dinner that night.

Soon after the race, the winds really picked up. On the drive back to Phoenix we experience big dust storms, blowing over 30 mph. So we were fortunate to squeeze our race in before things got really bad.

I was massaging my legs for much of the drive home and also during the evening, hoping they would recover adequately to do the two races on Sunday.
Summary
Start
Time		 Distance
(Miles)		 Starters Duration Weather
(Deg F, mph)		 Speed avg
(MPH)		 Speed Max
(MPH)
8:20 am 11.9 3 28:36 62, S @ 15 23.8 32.6

Results

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