March 19th Tucson Bike Classic Road Race

Wow..where to begin..

Day started off fine, up at 6, coffee, oatmeal and an egg (seems to be a great breakfast for me) and then off to the race. The road race starts about 20 miles out of town in an area called Green Valley. Our group was set to roll out at 9:15 and we had four 20 miles laps on tap for a total of 80 miles. I was one second off the lead and the leader had his bright yellow jersey on so he was easy to keep track of.

Of course a break went on the first lap and I was in to position to join it. At the same time, half the riders in the group had my number taped to their handlebars as someone to watch, so I doubt I would have gotten away. I was content to sit in the group and do as little work as possible. I spent most of my time sitting right behind or beside the yellow jersey (the leader of the race). The first time through the feed zone, a couple of guys crashed right in front of me and my dad, who was handing me water, luckily it just slowed things down so I got an easy hand off and just simply dodged the bodies.

At this point, the gap to the leaders was around 2 minutes and unfortunately,  myself, the yellow jersey and the guy 3rd in GC were all without teammates. Very few riders wanted to work, so a group of 6 of us ran a nice rotation for the next 12-15 miles. We got absolutely no help, and only took about 30 seconds off the lead group. At this point we sat up, and rolled through the feed zone for the second time. This was where things got a bit hectic, I missed my feed due to butter fingers....and I had half a bottle of water for the third lap. The break was up around 2 minutes again, and I had very little water to work with which meant I really couldn't help in the chase.

I took my chances and sat in for the third lap. Luckily the pace was high enough to keep the gap from increasing. Coming into the final feed, we nailed it, I chugged some go juice, and got to the front. A group of the fastest riders assembled at the front and started taking monster pulls. I buried myself over the rolling hills and we actually created a bit of our own gap. Within about 8 miles we pulled back the break away. There were numerous attacks that followed, most were neutralized immediately. I knew with the yellow line rule in effect, I needed to be right at the front for the final 3-4 miles leading into the finish. I sacrified a good draft, for a better position for the finish. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd at the line would receive time bonuses, which is what I was looking for.

The sprint opened up just before 200m to go and being a bit of a non-sprinter, I luckily had the right wheel and came around to finish either 2nd or 3rd (not sure with no official results yet). Either way the yellow jersey scored no bonus which should put me where I want to be. All in all, it was a great day. I really never had to ride over my head and I am extremely happy with the result.

The race bike

Tomorrow is the final day which is a 5.6 mile circuit. We cover the course 8 times, for a total of roughly 45 miles. I'm sure it will be tough but I feel up to the challenge.

Looking for my first cat 2 win tomorrow!