February 20, 2005, Valley of the Sun Crit/SR
Phoenix, AZ   14.0 miles

This is the third stage of a 3 day stage race, a 30 minute minimum criterium in downtown Phoenix in front of the state capital, which turned out to be 14.0 miles. I had to complete the previous two stages to qualify for this event and this was my best chance of getting a good placing.

The course was in downtown Phoenix around 3 city blocks in a figure eight configuration, 6 right hand turns and 2 left handers over each mile of the loop. A technical course like this requires one to stay near the front of the pack, because at each corner the lead riders travel at full speed, but the farther back you are, the more braking one has to do because of the slowing riders ahead of them. Thus the riders at the back have to sprint out of each corner to catch back up and it becomes extremely exhausting. Also, since we're going through the turns several abreast, there is a higher chance of crashes and the further one back is, the easier it would be to get caught in one. So it was critical to be on the front line when the whistle blows for the start. A friend of mine from Tucson, Matt Runquist, was right next to me.

After the previous day's bout with the rain, I was hoping that the tricky race would be on dry roads. Earlier in the week, Sunday was supposed to be dry, but as usual, the forecast for rain got pushed further into the week. When Noel and I left Tucson at 7 a.m. we had a few sprinkles, but it was clear on the entire drive to Phoenix. Just as we entered the Phoenix city limits, we hit a deluge (and other category races were already in progress). I wasn't sure if I wanted to race in such a risky situation, but we walked up to the sign-in area in the medium rain anyway, since there was still close to 2 hours before the race started.

There were 81 riders left that qualified for the criterium. By the start of the race, it had not rained for the last hour, but the roads were still wet and would not dry out. I did well to get a start position on the start line, right on the left side. My usual goal in a criterium is to be first through the first corner to avoid any mishaps and learn the lines through the turns without having to bump shoulders at the same time.

With just a short briefing from the officials and not much warning, the whistle blew and we were off. I got a good start, but Matt was quicker and beat me to the first turn. I followed him through and he poured on the effort, so I stayed with him and we were still in the first two positions through the first 6 turns and onto the long back stretch. The roads were wet and the course was not perfect. Coming out of many of the turns were raised reflectors which would send your wheel flying if you hit them. Some of the turns had steel man holes in them, which looked slippery. Between turns 2 and 3 there were cracks in the road that could catch a tire. Just before turn 8 there was wet hay on the road from the protective bales. Turn 8 had a couple of dips on the inside due to drainage channels. There were puddles throughout the course as well, with the largest between the final turn and the finish on the outside of the turn.

Matt eased his effort and we allowed some of the other riders to work at the front. I was able to stay in good position, staying in the top 5 to 10 for the first several laps. Although the corners were a bit scary, everyone was handling them fine. For some reason at about lap 2.6, coming up to turn 7 on the straightaway, the rider just to my left and slightly ahead of me, began to lose control rapidly and went down. Fortunately he fell to his left and his bike did not project in front of me to interfere with me. But he wiped out a lot of riders to his left and those behind them. I continued on with the knowledge that there were fewer riders to have to contend with.

The pace was pretty good, approaching nearly 30 mph on the front stretch due to prime prize sprints. My heart rate was just barely into zone 5 and I wasn't working hard, but my legs still felt some effects from the previous 2 days of racing. Finally the officials announced that we had 5 laps left in the race and the pace quickened. Some of the riders started getting excited and I was dropping too far back. With 3 laps to go, I told myself that I had to move up soon, and with 2.6 laps to go I was first through turn 5 and stayed in the top 6. As we went through the final two turns, I convinced myself that the tires would hold and I could take them at full speed without fear of sliding out. I was still losing too much ground going through the turns and was trying to calculate where I needed to be going through the turn for the final time. Most likely, I'd need to be first through the turn, which also meant being first through turn 7 and fighting for it on the back stretch. It also meant I'd be fighting the headwind in the final stretch which is about 250 meters from turn 8 to the line.

We cross the line with 2 laps to go and I need to start moving up some more. As we go through turn 3, my rear tire starts to feel a little mushy and I wonder if it is indeed losing air, how low it could go before I'd have troubles on the turns. I didn't have to wonder long, as before turn 4, the valve stem was bottoming out and I had lost all pressure. That ended the race for me. I tried raising my hand so that the other 50+ riders behind me could be aware of my impedance, but I had to take turn 4 at the same time with 2 riders to my left and 2 riders to my right. Fortunately all went well, there were no accidents, and I was able to get off the course safely. I was able to walk to the finish line just in time to see the finish and see Noel's face of puzzlement as she tried to figure out where I was in the flurry of racers.

So no glory, prizes, upgrade points, or even a final placing this weekend. At least I didn't shed any blood. The top five places in the General Classification of the race were from outside Arizona, so some tough competition. Matt was able to finish 14th overall out of the 63 finishers. My friend Jesus Lamb did not start the criterium.

Summary
Start
Time		 Distance
(Miles)		 Starters Duration Weather
(Deg F, mph)		 Climbing
(Feet)		 Speed avg
(MPH)		 Speed Max
(MPH)		 HR avg
(BPM)		 HR max
(BPM)		 HR waking
(BPM)		 Calories Burned
(Kcal)
10:57 am 12/14 80 28:10 61, E@3, Wet 0 25.1 30.2 170 179 45 241

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