You'll have to excuse this post being out of order - the Valley of the Sun race was in mid February, before my levels of self importance rose to the blogging-point ;).
Anyhow, I'm finally getting to this one, as I plan to have all race reports of 2011 up on here as a sort of history of flame-outs, repeat solo wins using only one leg, or whatever else might happen. I'm really not in the prophecy business.
So the race breakdown:
Valley of the Sun Stage Race. One flat 23km time trial, one 145km circuit race with a 3km climb to be done 5 times, and then a 7-corner criterium on the last day, all in/around Phoenix.
The plan was to still race cat2 at this point just to get more experience before the cat1 races we'll be doing as a team later on in the year. Also for the first stage, I did not have a time trial bike to bring in, putting me in the vast minority as disc wheel after disc wheel (and full TT setup) rolled down the start ramp, so the plan was to basically NOT finish last, and hopefully not kill myself to accomplish that. I went out with my regular equipment, pushed, but not too hard, and finished 69/85. Remarkably, that was a minor success. I even passed one guy in full TT setup - must not have been having a nice day.
The next day for the road race there was no holding back, so I ate my wheaties that morning and went in feeling ready to go. Along with the hill there was a tricky crosswind section that smushed the peloton over to one side of the road, where there happened to be a rumble strip on the road too! That was definitely interesting.
Anyway, trying to make/get into the first good break the first time up the climb, I bridged up to a group of about 8 guys who had made a gap, and sat onto this move to catch my breath and see what would happen after that. And we got caught. First break, too many guys, maybe my dead weight at the back, peloton too happy to chase.
Going on like this, following individual attacks or making my own, then resting during the next one, was the pattern for the first lap and bit (of 4.5). Of course a move of 5 guys gets away while I'm catching my breath a few rows back in the group. Great. More attempts a little later using the crosswind section to make a split almost worked, we got a gap with about 10 guys but again, collusion was not there and the gap closed up after not too long. It goes to show how easily crosswinds can make splits though. If only we were more organized and committed, you don't even need the strongest guys to do it, just some cooperation.
Then slowly on the 3rd time over the climb, a few guys were dangling out front while some team set tempo on the front of the peloton, I thought, those guys will get eaten up, we have a very long, fast, straight descent and they don't stand a chance against a peloton there. Well, once over the top of the climb, the team workhorses who were chasing sat up, the peloton slowed, and the 2nd group of those danglers got away! I couldn't believe it. Props to those guys for sticking with it. They were so close at the top of the climb but the chase just gave up and there I was stuck again behind the move.
Being so close to the finish now there was no point in attacking since teams were getting more attentive and drawing in all flyers that went out, I just positioned for the sprint and tried to be as fresh as possible after all this messing around. So we approach the climb the last time, where the finish line is at the top. Teams still on the front, pace not too hot yet but still firm. 2km left, and the first jump goes. You could tell everyone was waiting for it, but didn't want to be the first to do it. This draws out a stream of riders, including me, past the teams train and the leadout starts. It was quite a drag, since we had so long to go still and all uphill. Immediately people start popping and throwing elbows of desperation all over the place trying to get every ounce of energy out of themselves. After going around some riders I latched onto the small leading group here and just hung on until the finish. We were all redlining so hard there was no real sprint at the line, I don't think anyone even changed position/order in the last 100m. I look back and there was a small gap to the peloton from the group of about 12 that I finished in.
So overall it was 25th/85 for me that day, tried to make some kind of result after missing the breaks. Ah well, live 'n learn.
Lastly the crit the next day in downtown Phoenix. Fun course with all the turns, hadn't done a crit quite as technical before. After settling in with the pace on the first few laps, decided to go out and make an attack and was joined by two other guys. We made the one and only breakaway of the race for a few laps, and although we were going full out we just couldn't get away from the teams that were chasing to secure the lead of their teammates. Easy to defend a general classification lead in a crit, very hard to get time out, although that's not really what we were after.
After getting caught, a bunch of uneventful riding around, then went out for a prime and scored some cash:
If anyone reading doesn't know what a prime is, its when the organizers decide to say there will be a prize for whoever crosses the start/finish line on the next lap first. Usually its just to make the race more interesting and keep everyone from just sitting in all race waiting for the final sprint. I made a few more attacks after this to try and get another break going with no personal interest in the sprint this day. Once the finish came all my matches were burnt so I just rode in safely at the back of the pack.
Pretty lean on results from this race but lots learned, gained some good experience that will come in handy for the more important targets of this year.
Didn't mean to turn this into a novel, I'll up the brevity for the next ones ;)
