Four Races in Two Weeks

It's barely February but the racing calendar is pretty busy. I had started the MTB racing season a few weeks ago but the road racing season got started on Super Bowl Sunday with the Avondale Criterium, put together by Procon. My last road race was the Summit Center Stage race back in June 2008, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I toed to the line with about a dozen or so "old" guys in the 30+ category. I mainly hung in the back trying to get comfortable and stay out of trouble. After 20 some minutes of racing I decided to make a big effort but was quickly brought back by the bunch and we stayed together until the end. With half a lap to go, Swiss American and Bicycle Haus formed their trains and picked up the pace. I was planning to just watch from afar and stay out of trouble but when both teams hesitated waiting for the other one to launch the sprint, they left the whole right side of the road open. I saw the opportunity and gave it a go! I even attempted to throw my bike forward at the line and it seemed to have paid off as it required a camera review to confirm that I had won the race. Yeay for me! Later in the day I also did the 3/4 race. Procon had a huge showing on this race, so we knew it was a race that we could easily control. After a few timid attacks, I chased a few of them but tried not to work to much then on one of the primes I chased two guys and beat them for the prime. We had also opened up a pretty good gap on the group, so I put my head down and gave it all I had. With all my teammates blocking and marking in the back I was able to get up to a half a lap gap on the field then we started to count down the laps. With 4 to go the gap was shrinking but I felt I could hold them off then with 3 to go I hit one of the road reflectors with my rear wheel and pinch flatted. I tried riding it in but I had too many laps to go on a rim and was quickly picked up. Unfortunately for my team, they all had done a lot of work so our highest placed rider was 5th.
Sorry no pictures of that weekend.
We did take Koko out to McDowell for our MTB pre-ride and he loved all the attention.

Then this Saturday was the real thing. I had Koko for a warming up partner at the Team Adrenaline set up then it was time to head to the start of the 2nd race in the MBAA series.

Norma race too. Although she was dissappointed with her finish, she was able to shave 10 minutes off her best time on this very same course, so kudos to her. Her she is with Wendy and Lisa from Adrenaline who did the 1 and 2 in the Cat 2 Women.

I had a great start and managed not to blow up in the first part of the race. All position chances took place during the first lap. I started the second lap in 5th place and that's how I finish, not before having to push really hard to keep Eric Neat from catching me. Here I am coming into the finish and you could see Eric getting to the corner a few yards behind.

Lance Runyan, Tim Allen, Scott Keller and Kam Reedy (not pictured) rounded up the top five.

Then on Sunday it was time to head back to McDowell again but this time for a road crit. RPM team put together a race up there and eventhough it rained a lot earlier the skies held up at least for the majority my race (30+ again). The field was a little bigger and with the wet and cold conditions I wasn't too concerned about attacking, however I gave it a try once and got a little gap but couldn't hold it.In the end Jeff Kluve, Jarrod Barnes and I ended up policing the front while teammate Ryan O'Connor was up ahead with another rider. Unfortunately for him his gears weren't working so he lost the final sprint. I completely lost track of the laps and when the rang the bell for the last lap I thought it was a prime and tried to go for it, but decided to sit up at the end just to find out that I could have gone a little longer and get 3rd. Three other guys went by me within yards of the finish so I came in in 6th.
Overall it's been two great weeks of racing. Now it's time to start looking forward to this weekend's mega event at the 24 Hours of Old Pueblo. Chris Sutter and I are teaming up with the Schultz brothers (Andy and Sam), so it would be interesting to battle it out against the always strong Kona Team. It sounds like both Barry Wicks and Ryan Trebon will be in attendance, so that makes things more exciting.

Stayed tuned for updates!

Pura Vida!