January 16, 2016 North End Classic 45+
Yuma, AZ   30 minutes
Report from Lionel Space, Phoenix AZ

This was a 0.84 mile counter-clockwise course with 10 corners involving a climb to turn 1 and to turn 3. The final stretch is just slightly uphill and about 125m to the finish. Corner 6 is blind and tighter than 90 while going through a parking lot, so it would be easy to overshoot the turn if one didn't brake and didn't know how tight it was. The weather was 67, sunny, and calm, requiring an extra layer of clothing for me on my legs and arms. 8 riders were in our race. 2 of them were Category 1 racers, James Kramer and Brian Lemke, so they'd be the ones to watch.

My intent in riding this race was to get some more training after driving 3 hours from home. Prized only went 3 deep, but there would be 2 prime sprint laps. If luck was with me, there was a chance I could also win.

We started at a moderate pace that was easy for everyone. At the beginning I stayed at the back to watch James, who had done an early attack in the 35+ race earlier in the morning. At the start of lap 3, Brian did a mild attack up the hill, to which everyone responded.

A lap later the officials announced a prime and a couple of guys got excited immediately and got a small gap up the climb to turn 1. After rounding turn 2, James yells from the back "Let them have their prime" and the attack was not countered. By the time the riders got their prime, they had about 5 seconds on us and decided to try to make a go of it. Surprisingly, nobody in the pack seemed to want to race and the pace slowed substantially as we watched the first 2 places just walk away.

A couple of riders started to pick up the pace a half lap later and I got in the mix, taking some turns; better to work in hopes that we can catch the escapees than just give up. A few laps later, James yells from the back "Somebody give them some help", but he just rode the back, taking it easy. I got in as much pulling as I could muster and we were doing laps between 2:05 and 2:09, but never saw Brian or James taking any turns.

With 5 to go out of our 14 eventual laps, James attacks from behind just after the finish line and gaps us up the hill. I try to close it, but had expended too much during the middle of the race. Eventually I had to concede and dropped back, eventually working with Gary Raymond and Marco Bonelli, with Gary be the strongest of the three of us.

Gary was riding strongly up the hills and I was just barely hanging on, gasping and coughing as we rounded the final climb at turn 3. I took some short turns where I could and Marco hung behind us. James was hovering a few seconds in front of us, but we were already pushing our limits, as we had for many laps prior.

I decided to begin my sprint a little earlier and jumped half way down the stretch to turn 9 and immediately got 3 lengths on Gary. They never got close to me before the line and Marco somehow was able to pass Gary before the finish.

So some good training, but I was surprised that James seemingly was not racing for the win, but just to beat me. Maybe he was exhausted from the 35+ race and that's why he rode the way he did, but it didn't make sense to just let 2 riders ride away for the top money.

This is not a sprinters course and the hills look mild from the sidewalk, but definitely were taxing me. Possibly I was not in shape for endurance or climbing, with my last race being 7/30/2015 (last AZ race was 4/12/2015) and the last time climbing any hill was a race on 3/21/2015. I wish Arizona had more races for me throughout the rest of the year, as it's expensive to have to go to California to get more racing in.

Summary
Start
Time		 Distance
(Miles)		 Starters Duration Weather
(Deg F, mph)		 Speed avg
(MPH)		 Speed Max
(MPH)
11:50 am 11.7 8 30:53 67, Calm 22.8 30.5

Results

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