January 24, 2010, Avondale Masters 50+
Avondale AZ
(Most images can be clicked on for a larger version)
Many thanks to Rick Giordano for the photography.

The first Arizona Criterium of the year, held in Avondale, just West of Phoenix and this year they had a 50+ Masters category. Last year I had won the Category 4/5 race at the same location.

 

The course was exactly a half mile per lap and perfectly flat, with basically 3 right turns and a long curve. The final straightaway was 160 meters with a slight headwind coming into the finish by the time this event happened. The headwind would make the sprint essentially longer and most riders would wait until hitting the straight before going in earnest for the sprint to the final finish. Even though we had some vicious storms during the previous several days, this day was sunny, but a little cool, with a temperature of 57 when my race began, so I covered my legs and arms, as well as wearing a cap and gloves. The organizers were doing an excellent job at keeping to their schedule and the appointed length of time for the races and we started only a few minutes late for our 30 minute race.

Being a masters race, new faces drop into the categories each year. A couple of racers that I had previously competed against in 45+ racers were now amongst us, the biggest threats being Jim Pongratz, Joe Cunningham, and Corky Kurtz. David Bixby was with us again today, as well as a very proficient 2009 winner, 51 year old Keith Brodhagen (who also competed in the 3/4 race earlier which might wear him down some). Steve Cullinan had also won a few races at then end of last year. So a good group of about 28 racers would make it interesting.

I had expected to start in my usual aggressive fashion from the line, but I am using a new pedal system this year and it took me four tries to get my left foot in, despite much practice during the week prior. So I was mid-pack when we entered the first turn for the very first time, but had moved up to about 6th by the next go around as seen in the photo above. I stayed at about 6th position and there was not much attacking for the first six minutes. I looked around for the bigger names to see how fit they seemed. Pongratz seemed ok, but didn't look at his peak. Cunningham also. Kurtz seemed to be struggling. Bixby was near the front as usual as was Brodhagen and Keith would be the main man I would be watching.

Turn 2, Keith behind me, Bixby on the outside. Turn 2 again. Keith leading after turn 2, Space resting in 8th.

Turn 3. Heading into the bend. Watching Keith as we enter the front stretch.

Brodhagen, Space, & Bixby. Keeping an eye on Bixby. Heading down the back stretch.

There were about six mild attacks over the next 14 minutes, several due to some primes, and I let the pack chase them down and conserved my energy, keeping Keith within contact. Then a little past 20 minutes into the race, someone gave a strong attack from the inside towards the end of the straight on the back stretch and Keith jumped after him. I started to immediately pursue and another rider got in front of me and basically towed me up to the two leaders and within a quarter of a lap we had a nice four man break. We started taking turns pretty well at first and extended our lead, but then only Keith and I were doing the pulling and the other two were actually disrupting our flow. After about three and a half laps, the pack was able to capture us back just as we entered the home straight and the officials presented 5 laps to go on the board.

The 4 man break gets underway. Kurtz (in black) bridges the break as I take a turn. Next lap as the break falls apart.

Now I needed to try to recuperate before the final sprint and only had about 5 minutes to do so. Interestingly, Keith went to the front with 4 to go with Bixby closely monitoring him. Not wanting to be put into the lead, I dropped back to about 7th and carefully watched for any attacks from in front or behind. I was surprised that Keith did not relinquish the lead and continued taking the front position, lap after lap. But his pace was not high, so this gave me great opportunity to rest. With one and a quarter laps to go, I had to keep him closer in control and moved around on the outside of the big bend to be just behind Bixby and off to his left, anticipating that they would shift left right in front of me as we set up for the first turn after the line with one to go.

So as we began the final lap I was in good position, about fourth, and the speed picked up through the final turns. We did not bunch up and positions did not change along the back stretch (my fear was a crowd coming around and boxing me in). We then began the final long bend and I could start to feel the slight headwind. Last year Keith had beaten me in several sprints as he got a head start and we drag raced to the line without my being able to gain anything on him to the line. So I figured I needed to start ahead of him if a similar situation occurred here. Thus I started my jump right at the apex of the bend, probably with about 240 meters to go, which is much sooner than anyone would have expected. I had plenty of room to drive through on the inside of the riders in front of me and quickly gained a couple of lengths and it seemed a long time to finally get into the straight. Now I just had to try to hold that advantage into the headwind and hope nobody had a second jump behind me to pass me. I still had the lead with 100m to go and shifted to a bigger gear, but went too far, dropping the chain onto the 12 tooth cog in back, and thus had to really plow that huge gear into the headwind. As I approached the finish I could see with my peripheral vision that I had the win locked and raised my right hand in victory, which then had to quickly come down to man the brakes as we quickly approached the first corner of the course.

Crossing the line in victory. Second, third, and fourth place. Keith (732) coming in fifth.

Bill McDorman took second followed by Steve Cullinan, so the old guard of 55+ riders beat the babies in the 50+ class this time.

Summary
Start
Time		 Distance
(Miles)		 Starters Duration Weather
(Deg F, mph)		 Climbing
(Feet)		 Speed avg
(MPH)		 Speed Max
(MPH)		 Cadence avg
(rpm)		 HR avg
(BPM)		 HR max
(BPM)		 Calories Burned
(Kcal)
3:26 pm 12 28 30:00 57, Sunny, NW@6 0 24.0 36.3 101 164 190 350

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