March 24, 2013, Hungry Dog Crit, Masters 50+
Mesa AZ
Report from Lionel Space, Phoenix AZ
Many thanks to Julie Morgan for the photography.

About 2.5 hours after the 55+ race, I raced in the tougher 50+ race. I had just enough time to drive the half hour back home, get my Mom out of bed and dressed and bring her and my neighbor Julie to watch this race. We had 20 riders in this race, including my main rivals of Keith Brodhagen and Mark Fosenburg. Three 60+ riders would also be in our group. The weather had warmed up into the mid 70s and the wind picked up a bit as well.

The first lap was rather relaxed, but Keith picked up the pace just after crossing the line. Jeff Biever was intent on Keith's wheel and I was watching Keith and Mark while sitting close behind Mark. The pace eased up somewhat on the next lap, but Keith really pressed it hard as we approached the finish line on the next lap. Jeff was still glued to his wheel and Mark accelerated up and I chased them down, hitting 33.7 mph. As we started down the back stretch, the four of us had a gap on the pack and we began keeping the pressure on to establish the break. This worked well for the next lap, but then two other riders managed to bridge up to us and our rhythm started to break down as the two new riders were too tuckered out to help at the front. A lap later, the pack was right on our heals and we started integrating into one group again. At least four of us did, but Keith and Mark just hung out at the front just a few meters ahead of the pack as I eased into the middle of the pack to recuperate. The pack, including myself, never made the extra effort to latch onto their wheels and they slowly crept off the front. The pace eased up in the pack and Keith and Mark were allowed to get a sizable break and I had foolishly fallen asleep at the wheel again. I went to the front to try to pick up the pace of the pack, but each time I swung over, the entire pack would just drift over the rather wide roads and continue to sit on my wheel rather than follow through. Seeing that the pack was not going to use their available strength to reel them in, at 7.5 laps I gave an effort to solo away to see if I could bridge the insurmountable gap, hitting 32.6 mph on my jump. Four other riders were able to bridge up to me and we closed about half of the deficit on Keith and Mark. However, they would not work together and we quickly failed in our efforts and joined the pack within a lap.
Keith attacking at the end of lap 3. 6 away at the end of lap 5. 5 in the chase group. The chasing pack together a lap later.

For the next several laps, we only averaged about 25 mph. I would occasionally go to the front, just to have the pack pull over with me after taking a turn, so that was fairly pointless. I certainly did not have the ability to be a strong time trialist that could match the efforts of the two ahead working together while I pulled the entire pack behind me. We could still see Keith and Mark up ahead, but the pack would not organize to pull them back and I eventually had to resign myself to third place being the most likely alternative.

The announcers would call prime laps, sometimes for the 60+ and sometimes for the 50+ category. Since the two riders away were in the 50+ category, I couldn't understand why the riders in our pack were sprinting for those laps, since the announcer did not say they were pack primes. But I made sure that nobody snuck away after one of those sprints.

With one lap to go, I still had not decided on the best tactic to use for the finish. There were no exceptional sprinters that I could rely on and the left/right bends in the final stretch could make it possible to get boxed in if some riders wanted to work together to thwart my efforts. The last left 90 degree turn was very far from the finish to try a surprise jump and there would be a slight headwind as we rounded the final left bend. Even as we rounded that last 90 degree turn, I still wasn't sure, but I was sitting mid-pack and the best option seemed to be an early jump on the inside and hope I could create a gap that could not be closed. When I did jump at 600 meters to go, I went from our 26 mph pace to 35.7 mph very quickly, but some riders gave a yell to alert the others and two riders at the front of the pack were able to close in on me. I kept it at 35 mph for the next 300 meters, but as I went around the left bend, the head wind started to kick in. I didn't keep as tight to the curb as I should have on the left bend either, the speed throwing me outwards, which cost me a little time. I could sense someone right behind me (Jim Pongratz) and was concerned about giving him such a long leadout. At the time, I didn't know that Victor Williams (Orange jersey) from Colorado had also been attentive to my move and was in the fray and my drifting out from the curb allowed him to close in on us. I headed for the final right bend, but left enough room on my right so as not to cause a crash if someone was overlapping from behind. I thought I'd try kicking the gear up two notches and get out of the saddle for a final push, but the right bend was too severe to handle the bike out of the saddle, so that was also a mistake. As we approached the line, I was able to just barely hold off Jim on my right, but Victor was able to just edge me out by a wheel on the other side to take third, leaving me with the final money place of fourth.
One lap to go. Keith coming in for the win, Mark giving up.
I'm leading the pack around the bend much further behind.		 Drifting out from the left bend.

Still in the lead for third. Victor creeping around my left. Mom analyzing the action.

So Keith and Mark rode a smart race to sneak away without me and I again let two riders get away by not being attentive enough. Although Mark is generally the better sprinter, Keith was able to wear him down enough to go for the win at the finish and perhaps he would have done the same to me if I had been up there with them.

Summary
Start
Time		 Distance
(Miles)		 Starters Duration Speed avg
(MPH)		 Speed Max
(MPH)		 HR avg
(BPM)		 HR max
(BPM)
10:30 am 14.2 20 32:51 25.8 35.7 161 188

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