January 31, 2015, BioPark Blast Crit, 55+
Tucson, AZ   30 minutes
Report from Lionel Space, Phoenix AZ

This race was in Tucson, over an hour and a half from home, but started very reasonably in the middle of the afternoon. The 55+ race was run with the 65+ race and 75+ race.

The main factor of this race was the weather. Our normal sunny warm weather decided to give the Super Bowl fans a taste of Seattle and we had rain and cold temperatures for Friday and Saturday. There was a chance that the storm cell was moving North at a rate that would leave the course dry by mid-afternoon, so we drove through heavy rain on that hope. As we approached the course with an hour before the race, we could see patches of dry on the road and the rain had ceased, although it was still about 50 degrees. Four pre-registered riders did not start, probably in fear of slippery conditions on the course. The 45+ race soon started as I completed my registration in non-raining conditions.

However, about half way through the 45+ race, the drops began to fall again and was fairly heavy by the time they finished. We were allowed one preliminary lap before starting the race and that was enough to soak us through and through. I had 2 layers on my legs, 3 on my arms, and 4 on my torso and they acted like a wet-suit, keeping me adequately warm through the race. I only put 110 psi in the tires to keep them as grippy as possible, which worked quite well.

Of the two main contenders only one was starting the race, Andrew Hosterman, who had beaten me in one sprint last year. I started at the front in the middle and quickly clipped my foot into the pedal. Dave Rackoski immediately took off and I was quick to get on his wheel, which resulted in a face full of water and grit. He took the first two corners very fast and I took them slower, wanting to learn the limits first without exceeding them. I have plenty of snap, so it was no problem to get right back up to him. By the time we got to the 3rd corner, the small field of 10 starters (3 in 65+) was already strung out.

I had hoped to push the pace to break up the field so that there would be less riders to potentially crash in front of me and Dave did a good job of accomplishing that. I took some turns with him and we were soon joined by his team-mate, Andrew Hosterman. Great, I then had to watch for team tactics where they could work together to try to get one of them away and make me chase.

I was on Dave's wheel a few laps later and saw him leaving a gap on Andrew. I was suspecting tactics and prepared to jump up to Andrew if the gap increased too much. Andrew kept pushing the pace and on the next lap Dave had left such a big gap after my turn that I immediately got onto Andrew's wheel. Dave kept falling farther behind as Andrew pushed the pace and destroyed his team-mate. That was fine by me. So for the last 22 minutes of the race it was just Andrew and me and we lapped several of the slower riders, most who were riding solo. The pace wasn't all that hard and there was no reason for me to push it, since I should be able to take the final sprint and the fresher I was, the easier that would be.

I was trying to figure out the best time to start my sprint, but the rain complicated things. Primarily, the last corner had about 4 inches of water on the inside and I wasn't sure how safe that might be at full speed.

There was a head wind on the back stretch and I was able to set up our rotations so that Andrew took the head wind section and I'd lead from turn 4 in the tail wind; this should tire him out more than myself. Although a few times he refused to take his turn after I pulled over, I just continued coasting until he did, and we continued on.

We finally got the 5 lap to go board, although the officials did not yell out the announcement to us. As we came around the next lap, the 5 to go board was still out and they quickly changed it to 4 as we crossed the line and yelled that we had 4 to go. On the next lap, the lap board said 2 to go. One lap later it also said 2 to go and this time the official said "Yes, it's 2 to go". We passed a few more riders and finally got the bell lap for one to go.

My plan A was to stay in second position until after the final corner and just out accelerate Andrew to the line. Rather than take my normal turn on the front stetch, I simply stayed behind Andrew. We passed a rider just before turn 1 and after turn 2 Andrew pulled a bit to the side and slowed, hoping that I would take the lead. I didn't and we slowed so much that the lapped rider caught back up and actually passed us down the back stretch. Andrew was still turning a pretty small gear, so I only put mine in a 50x17, just slightly larger than what he was pedaling. Andrew got behind him and I saw an opportunity to use that rider as interference and jumped up the outside just before turn 3 where Andrew would have to go around the other rider in the turn. I looked back on the stretch before the final corner and saw Andrew several lengths back. So I took the last corner conservatively and avoided the puddle. Once straightened out, I looked back again and Andrew was still several lengths back, so an easy sprint allowed me to maintain that gap to the line for an easy win.

I had plenty of energy for two races, but I didn't want to have to put on soaking wet, cold clothes to do a second race, so it was a short day at the office. I was able to get enough money out of the race to pay for the entry and gas, so another free day of racing.

Even though I had charged my cycling computer overnight, the battery couldn't even last a 30 minute race and died, so no statistics. Guess it's time to shop for a new battery for the Garmin 500.

Noel and I had some fun shopping in Casa Grande on the way home and having dinner at our favorite Chinese restaurant.

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