April 10, 2015, Mesa El Tour Criterium 45+
Mesa, AZ   30 minutes
Report from Lionel Space, Phoenix AZ

This was a Friday afternoon race over a 0.96 mile counter-clockwise course with 4 corners and a U-turn right after the start. The final stretch is fairly long at 280 meters. Most of the corners were fairly safe with turn 3 entering into a narrow road and turn 5 also limited due to to only half the roadway being available. The weather was wonderful, in the upper 80s and just a slight breeze coming down the home stretch. 15 riders were in our race and we'd be riding with 5 more riders in the 35+ class.

I'd be looking to ride a bit conservatively, since this race was two days before our State Championships and the 45+ class can sometimes have some powerful competition. I'd be keeping my eye on James Kramer and Mark Fosenburg, two experienced riders also with a good sprint. I was not looking to join any breaks which might exhaust me too much for Sunday.

Having not ridden this course before, I started on the front line and lead the field past turn 4, then pulled over to join the pack. The first 3 laps were rather brisk, averaging over 25 mph. There were a few attacks throughout the race and I was unfamiliar with who the riders were, not normally riding this age class. The pack was fairly strong though and the gaps would not get very large and we'd eventually absorb the escapees.

We had two primes in our race, where the first went to a 35+ racer in a furious sprint. I had decided to conserve my energy and was very far back from the contenders and hoped that we would all group back together afterwards, which did happen. The second prime was more interesting in that we rounded the last corner and nobody had made a move and the speed wasn't all that fast. I could have easily jumped and taken it, but I kept my energy in reserve for the final.

I was surprised when I heard the 5 lap to go call by the officials. I had thought that this was a 40 minute race, but it was actually a 30 minute race and the officials called it a lap early as well.

With 4 to go, I was sitting too far back in the pack, so I started moving up. Mark was sitting tight to James' wheel, so I took Mark's wheel for the next several laps. I moved into my sprint gear of 50x14. The corners at turns 3 and 4 were tight and positions were difficult to maintain due to the crowding and I'd sometimes lose Mark's wheel and have to work my way back to it. With one to go I had been able to move to James' wheel, but then got crowded out and got back to Mark's as we went down the back stretch between turns 2 and 3. Mark was sitting back farther than I would have liked, but there wasn't much I could do at that point. After rounding turn 4, James was in a good position and made an attack. I was on Mark's wheel and was expecting him to react and chase, but he just maintained his speed. I watched James start to pull away and should have chased after him, but had hesitated too long behind Mark to make it before turn 5. I ended up taking the tight turn 5 behind Mark and then jumped to chase James. I passed a few other riders quickly and was making quick closure on James, but he had been given too much leash and there wasn't enough finishing stretch to catch him before the finish. As he raised his arms in victory, I started to coast, which allowed David Genovese to slip by me and take my second place, leaving me in third. Stupid me.

There were prizes for the top 3, so at least I was in the money. I'm now familiar with the course for Sunday's State Championship event.

Summary
Start
Time		 Distance
(Miles)		 Starters Duration Weather
(Deg F, mph)		 Speed avg
(MPH)		 Speed Max
(MPH)
3:50 pm 11.55 15 27:58 88, SSW@4 24.8 35.2

Results

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