January 16, 2016 North End Classic 55+
Yuma, AZ   30 minutes
Report from Lionel Space, Phoenix AZ

This was a 0.84 mile counter-clockwise course with 10 corners involving a climb to turn 1 and to turn 3. The final stretch is just slightly uphill and about 125m to the finish. Corner 6 is blind and tighter than 90 while going through a parking lot, so it would be easy to overshoot the turn if one didn't brake and didn't know how tight it was. The weather was 48, sunny, and calm, requiring several layers of clothing for me. 8 riders were in our race, 7 of them pre-registered. I had failed to check the registered riders at the start and the new rider was Lou Waugaman, a strong Category 1 racer.

None of the pre-registered riders seemed to be a threat. I led the first lap at a moderate pace, just to make sure nobody crashed in front of me. Just as we crossed the line, Lou attacked and I tried to match him up the steepest hill of the course. He pulled away, but I continued to try to close the gap. As we hit the climb between turns 2 and 3, he easily put more distance between us. By the time we got to turn 5, he was gone. I tried for the rest of the lap to make up ground, but he just added more distance between us and I realized I was not going to win this race.

With another race to come later in the morning, finding myself alone and me not being a time-trialist, I eased up to wait for someone to work with. Half a lap later, Marco Bonelli joined me and we took turns together, working at a steady, but not monumental pace. We did not see any other riders until much later when we started to lap some slower riders.

With about 5 to go out of our 13 eventual laps, Lou lapped us. I got on his wheel to see what kind of pace he was doing and our lap time went from 2:25 to 2:06. Marco also hung on and after a lap, Lou pulled over for me to take a turn. I did a short stint, but decided to save my energy for the next race and let him ride off solo.

Marco is not a sprinter, so I waited until just after turn 9 on the final lap to begin my attack and quickly left him behind for 2nd.

The last race I had been in with Lou Waugaman was the 4/12/2015 State Crit Championships and according to his USA Cycling record, he had not raced in between. He had won the sprint for the 55+ category, with me in second winning the 60+ category in that race, so he's also a strong sprinter. Strangely that was the only race Lou entered that day and he is from Tucson.

Summary
Start
Time		 Distance
(Miles)		 Starters Duration Weather
(Deg F, mph)		 Speed avg
(MPH)		 Speed Max
(MPH)
8:10 am 10.9 8 30:49 48, Calm 21.2 30.1

Results

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