May 13, 2006, Summer Heat Crit, Masters 50+
Chandler, AZ   13.9 miles

I felt pretty good after last week's race and although my lungs had been going at full capacity during that event, my legs really were not taxed. During the following days I kept thinking that I could have probably won that race if I just had a bit more mental toughness and I needed to find ways to push myself a bit more. However, I did have some coughing for the following 24 hours, so I'm not sure if I could have caused more harm than good by pushing myself, but I bet I could have tacticly maneuvered the race better to my advantage. So a week later there was this race on a race car course just South of Phoenix. It was going to be a 50+ age group race, so a bit different crowd of participants and more Phoenix than Tucson racers. This time I was going to try to make life hard on them (and me) and see if I could use some of the strength I had to an advantage.

Although this was a 50+ race, the 40+ race was scheduled to start at the same time and both were listed as 40 minute races. At registration, I was told that we would all be starting together, but scored separately. Unfortunately, there was no way to differentiate the different classes and the numbers were just handed out sequentially. This always creates a mess as you don't know who you're racing against and if riders go off the front, one doesn't know if they should be a concern or not. It also drastically changes the tactics, as instead of trying to run the other 50+ riders into the ground, the tactic is now to stay with the lead 40+ riders and get away from the others. It would also have other consequences later on.

Then at the start line, everything changed. The 40+ race would start and then we would go 30 seconds later and there was no mixing allowed if anyone caught up with a different class. OK, back to plan A: go all out from the beginning and then hammer on them as much as possible. Also, the 40+ racers (about 15 of them) would do 40 minutes and our race was reduced to 35 minutes (21 of us). The officials said to the 40+ riders "when you see the 5 to go lap board for the 50+ racers, you'll have 7 to go".

We would be using just the larger loop of the course, from turn 1 to 6A and the 9/10 loop was available for warm up. This was a 0.82 mile course and not nearly as tricky as last week's race. Turn 4 was pretty sharp, but turn 5 was tougher to not stray off the course after the turn. Turn 6A would be critical for the finish, but one could set up pretty well coming into it and pedal right through it at any speed and it wasn't extremely close to the finish line. It was completely flat, with a bit of a tailwind on the finishing stretch, but very light. Temperatures were in the mid 90's, but very comfortable and a gorgeous day. I'd be wearing my red, white, and blue skin suit again, just because the Phoenix boys weren't used to seeing me in these colors.

So the racing begins. The 40+ riders are sent off and we roll up to the line. We were given our pre-race talk, which seemed to take longer than 30 seconds and then we were quickly sent on our way. I blasted off and didn't look back until after turn 4. There were two guys hanging on to me, David Bixby and Larry McCormick, both of Team RPM. I kept the pace going into the headwind past turn 5 and then pulled over to see if they were willing to work. They came through and actually set a decent pace, but Greg was able to catch up to us just as we approached the finish of the first lap with several lengths back to the next riders.

The first half of the second lap, things slowed down a bit and two other riders latched onto us for a total of 6. We had a sizable gap on the rest of the field already and it looked like they would never be able to join our lead group. I took a bit of a breather for a lap to see how everyone was functioning. David and Larry were willing to work the hardest and Duane seemed unable to contribute at all. Although they were working somewhat, the pace wasn't intense enough, so time to pick up the pace. I did a bit of an attack to stress them out. I wasn't able to shake anyone from our group. I'd attack again about every lap or lap and a half, but they'd all latch on and then they'd just do nothing once I pulled over to see if anyone else would join in the action. So sometimes I'd pick up the pace, leading them for about half a lap to see if they'd continue on, which they would not. However, these efforts were apparently having their toll on the others. Larry, who had been rather energetic in the opening laps, was usually sitting towards the back and David refused to take any turns at the front.


After 13 minutes of racing I had switched my computer over to race time so that I'd know how close to the finish we were. Although I was having an effect on the others, I also had to be careful not to over stress myself at the wrong time. I was feeling fine and my breathing also was not taxed, so I was doing pretty well. I looked down and saw that we had been racing for about 23 minutes and figured I had just enough to time to really try to shake these guys up before we got too close to the end. However, when we crossed the line, the officials put up the 5 laps to go sign, which I thought was a bit early. Now I had to figure if there was enough time to put in some more big efforts and not exhaust myself in the case that it came down to a final sprint.

Yet just as I was trying to make this decision, a major complication came our way and everything was about to change. The 40+ class caught up to us and we had to let them go through. So how do I attack at the same time that I'm letting the other race pass us. If I did, I'd pull us all into the fray and we'd be all mixed up as we took the corners as there's not enough width in the proper line to fit multiple races. So we let them blast on past. As we came up to the 3 to go lap, the 40+ riders all eased up (apparently they had just had a prime earlier and that's why the were flying by us). So now we're catching back up to them and we're all looking at each other wondering if we should pass or ease up. Heck there's only 3 laps to go and things are going to heat up with us pretty quick. Yet we currently hung out just behind the 40+ racers, knowing that eventually we'd have to do our finish ahead of them.

Then another complication arose. When we get down to the final 5 laps, my habit is to remind myself along the back stretch of the half laps to go and then under 3 laps, I do it for every quarter lap. This way I can't mess up on how many laps there are left, as sometimes it's impossible to see the lap board due to obstruction by other riders or officials and sometimes things get too hectic to glance over to look for the lap board. As is the custom, when there is one lap go, a bell is rung (the bell lap) signifying the final lap. So 2 3/4 to go. 2 1/2. 2 1/4 to go and we round turn 6A. We're starting to creep up onto the 40+ riders and it's looking like a mess is inevitable. As we cross the finish line, a half hearted bell is rung and the announcer does NOT announce the usual "ONE TO GO, ONE LAP TO GO", but instead right after the aborted bell, mutters "or is that two laps more". Great, the officials are also messed up. At the time I was in third position, Greg leading with David on his wheel. I figured that as long as we the racers were all on the same page, that the officials would go with our decision as to the final contested sprint. So right after turn 2 I yelled "That's two to go, right? Two to go" holding my hand up with two fingers in the air. I heard a confirmation from David and another behind me, so I thought everything would be OK. However, right after turn 4, Greg started really picking up the pace and blasted us right past the 40+ riders. I thought maybe he was doing an early attack and hoping to get at least himself on the front side of the 40+ riders. David stuck to his wheel and I stayed behind David figuring I was in the golden position for this stage of the race. But after turn 6A, Greg really poured it on, crossed the line several lengths ahead of David (not surprising since the rest of us were not sprinting) and the officials didn't give us a bell! What the heck is going on???? We tell Greg he sprinted a lap early and he replies he heard the bell on the previous lap.

Then while we're having this discussion, the 40+ class catches back up with us and starts to envelope us. I was at the front and didn't want to get too crowded, so I picked it up and screamed through turn 4. Then I hear a crash behind me and Larry had gone down, surrounded by the 40+ racers. All you could hear after that was the 40+ racers yelling "GO GO GO" as they went blazing by us with half a lap to go of our race. As we round turn 5 for the final time, David is in second position and I'm on his wheel. I get out of the saddle to jump around David to beat him to the final turn, but he jumps at just the same time and I'm not going to be first to the last corner. So I swing out wide a bit as we approach the corner and I'm able to take the corner without having to coast. I start my sprint and quickly start to pass David, but my main problem is that I have to find a hole in the back of the 40+ group that we're running up the back end of. I find room on David's left and squeeze through a hole and beat him by a length, raising my hand in victory.


Now as we cross the line for what should be our finish, the lap board is showing 1 to go for the 40+ race. They were supposed to be 2 laps longer than us, so that means the official never corrected our final lap or they've also screwed up the 40+ race. The leaders in our race decided we needed to discuss the situation immediately with the officials and we rode to the finish line en mass. At first the officials said that they gave us the bell and that Greg had won. After listening to our group, they began to realize that they made a goof. One official went to a rule book and presented us with three options.
1) Greg wins because he sprinted after the official's bell.
2) We do a re-ride amongst our lead break.
3) Our lead group all agrees that the second sprint should be the official placing.
The third option would be unusual in that the officials confess that they were no longer watching our race (which is also apparent in the photo) and have no idea how we really finished on that lap. However, after about a half hour of wrangling, it was decided that the second finish would be the official finish, which meant that Greg finished fourth (which is a real shame since there is no way he would normally be out sprinted by any of those other guys beside David and myself).

So I didn't get to continue with my plan A, but I still was able to get the win. After the race, David Bixby commented "I think that's the hardest 50+ race I've been in".

Apparently the 40+ racers were pretty upset as well, as the same confusion with 2 to go was changed to 1 to go. They were not happy campers and I don't know what resolution they came to as no one immediately approached the officials after the race as we did.

It would be nice if classes were going to be mixed, that the numbers could be grouped to identify the various classes. Better yet, give out numbers with different colors, like a background color, to make it easier on the racers and the officials. Hopefully they'll learn, but this has been a problem previously that has not been addressed by most promoters in this area.

Noel and I had a great time and had some left over time in the early afternoon to do some sight seeing together. A very enjoyable day as things turned out.

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)
9:14 am 13.9 21 34:00 89, light NE 0 24.5 35.4 174 192 47 293

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