4, 3, 2, 1

Those were the results from this weekend racing the Summit Center Stage Race in Flagstaff.

Norma and I left Phoenix and its 100+ degree temps on Friday to go up to Flagstaff and its 7000+ feet of elevation and crisp air.

So this is how it went...

4th

My placing on stage one. Snow bowl hill climb. I rode with the leader group then at 3k to go tried to chase the winner just to blow up and get passed by two other riders.

3rd

Finish on the Lake Mary road race on Sunday. The race was pretty uneventful for the first few miles, then a group of eight of us went on a break but couldn't get organized, so we got caught by the group.  Jonathan and two other guys gave it a try about 4 miles before the turn-around point but he and one of the guys gave up on one of the climbs. The other rider which was wearing a Discovery Team jersey stayed just off the front. No one was interested on chasing him so he slowly build a pretty good gap. A few miles after the turn around an NAU rider went off the front and I followed him. Surprisingly no one else came with me, so we worked together until the spring on my right Quattro pedal broke. I considered waiting for the group but seeing how big of a lead we had, I continued just pushing down with my right leg and making the left leg do the full circles. Eventually I lost the NAU on one of the hills, so I put my head down and did my own Time Trail. The leader of the race and a couple of other guys finally decided to chase me and two of them caught me at the 3k to go sign. I stayed with them as we started the final climb. We never caught the Discovery guy but the leader and I dropped the other guy on one of the switchbacks. I couldn't get off the saddle, so I pushed the pace as hard as I could seated to try and drop him but at 200 meters he went by me.

Jonathan clawed his way back to 5th.

2nd

After counting the points I finished 2nd overall, not without a little help from....

1st

Place I took on the intermediate sprint. The sprint line was a the top of a climb just 8 miles after the start and I timed it pretty good and started the sprint just past the 200 meter sign. I went around two NAU and one ASU guy to take all three points.

 

There were no prizes or medals for Cat 5, except for the overall leader, however they did let us stand on the podium...with empty hands. 

 

I'll add some pictures later.

 

Now that I can say that I have done a road race, it's time to go back to the knobbie tires and train for certain race in August....no, not the Olympics; AMC that is.

Pura Vida!