February 24, 2013, Avondale Masters 45+
Avondale AZ
Report from Lionel Space, Phoenix AZ
The 45+ races started about an hour and a half after the 55+ race I had won.
The winds had slightly increased and the temperatures had not.
There were more riders in this race and I had thought to take it easy in hopes of a bunch finish that I could win.
This was also a 35 minute race and only had a handful of better riders to be concerned about and the top 4 55+ riders also riding in it.
The first couple of laps were very easy.
Bixby informed me that he had put on a lower profile front wheel than the previous race and it was handling the cross winds much better.
The next 4 laps were a more moderate pace and then a small break started and several of the lead riders started coasting to let the gap increase.
I accelerated around them to join the leaders and soon we were all together again.
We had another 2 moderate laps and then some riders drifted off the front, scattered, and then some riders in front of me started coasting again.
This time they had left a much bigger gap and I went quickly after the second turn to pursue the escapees (hitting 32.7 mph),
but after a bit more than a lap I saw that I was not going to close in on the leaders, of which there were about 5 or 6.
Eventually I caught up with Keith Brodhagen and the two of us started working together.
This was a lot of work and I hoped that the leaders might ease up a bit, allowing us a chance to join them.
Alas, they kept the hammer down and they slowly gained on us and we still had about 20 minutes to race.
Keith and I kept going, with Keith being stronger than me.
A few times I lost contact and thought of waiting for the pack, but they were out of sight, so I pushed on.
Occasionally we would catch a rider that had been shelled from the lead group and that group whittled down to 3 eventually.
The last rider we caught with about 6 to go could not contribute to our chase and just sat on.
As we hit 5 to go, Keith started forcing me to take the turn into the headwind.
I could see the pack slowly clawing their way back to us and I did not want to sacrifice all the effort I had put in during our chase.
I was also concerned about our tag-along friend, as he might have been saving his energy to jump us at the end.
As we hit one to go, the pack was nearly nipping at our heels; we could not play cat and mouse.
Keith led down the back stretch with me on his wheel.
Before the final turn finished into the straight, I jumped to the inside and the calves in both legs gave stabbing pains of cramps, but I kept going.
I was able to beat Keith to the line for 4th and our tag-along guy got swallowed up into the middle of the pack.
As it turned out David Bixby who I had just beaten in the 55+ race, won the race, followed by Mark Fosenburg.
I should have been much more attentive to their positions when they made their escape as I would have been able to do the speed of the break and probably out-sprint them all.
Both Tod Smith (3rd) and Keith Brodhagen (5th) had also ridden the 70 minute Category 1/2 race that was held just prior to the 45+ race, taking 13th and 14th respectively; strong guys.
Summary
Start
Time |
Distance
(Miles) |
Starters |
Duration |
Weather
(Deg F, mph) |
Speed avg
(MPH) |
Speed Max
(MPH) |
HR avg
(BPM) |
HR max
(BPM) |
| 4:25 pm |
14.3 |
20 |
34:02 |
61, Strong headwind |
24.4 |
32.7 |
171 |
187 |
Results
Racing page Bike page