Anyway, there was a little bit of drama the week leading to this race. It involved me, my new Titus Fireline frame, a chisel, a hammer and a trip to the Titus factory here in Tempe. It was a mix of not knowing, getting wrong advise and the desire to ride the new bike prior to the first race. Here is a picture of the titanum frame and its "sexy" chain stays.
Thankfully the guys at Titus were really cool and got me back up and riding. I went home and move all the parts from the trusty ol' Trek and this is what I ended up with...
I got to ride it a little on Friday just to try it and it went really well. It's maiden ride was at Desert Classic. I figure that trail would be a close test for the White Tanks course on race day. Here it sits atop the Helipad with the TV towers of South Mtn as the backdrop.
On Saturday we had to leave our house at o'dark thirty to make it to the race venue on time for Norma to warm up and get ready for her first race as a Cat 2 rider. Here she is at the start of her race. She completed the three laps to the whole course. No skipping the tech sections when you ride as a Cat 2. She seemed to be having a good time and kept her lap times very consistent for an 8th place finish. The rest of the Adrenaline Team had a great results too including a podium sweep in the Women Cat 2 40-49 class. Way to go ladies!
As for my race... well, this picture pretty much sums it up...
(My camera has been acting up, so I don't know what's the deal with the pink shade, but it kinda resembles how everything looked from my eyes at the end of the race)
But if you want the read the details, here you go:
It was defenitely a hard race. The Pro field was pretty big not only in number but in talent too. There was a crash on the second corner which I was able to avoid and ride around. I was able to catch up with the lead train and hang on for a few minutes but I found myself doing the rubber band thingy off the back until it snapped. Teammates Tom and Chris came by and I was able to jump on their wheels. Surprisingly we caught back with the lead group going up the technical switchbacks. Chris got a little bit sideways on the following downhill and with no place to go I hit his rear wheel. My saddle got tilted up and it got pushed all the way back as far a the rails would allow it to go. Fortunately we both were able to keep it up right but I had to ride in a completely different position and I never saw Chris again. Tom and I joined forces with Mimo Futia and Rich Weiss and we worked for the rest of the lap and part of the second lap. We caught Kyle Reedy and lost Rich on the second lap. At this point I also started to suffer leg cramps, probably from the new position my legs were forced to pedal. Right before the tech section on the third lap we lost Tom and Mimo, so I hung onto Kyle's wheel and took turns at the front when I could. We caught Ryan O'Connor halfway into the fourth lap. I attacked them going up the switchbacks and was able to open a gap but it was not big enough, so we all started the fifth and final lap together. Kyle and Ryan started attacking each other and while I was able to hang on for the first couple accelerations, soon the lights went out and I had to switch to damage control. With no one in sight behind me, I rode like a child the rest of the lap until Tim Allen came by me and even though he encouraged me to stay with him, I had nothing left. As I was exiting the last tech section, getting ready to just cruise to the finish, I looked back and saw former teammate Matt Connors coming up. I gave it all I had to keep him behind me and came into the last corner with just a bike lenght advantage. I held the inside line and won the sprint for a hard earned 10th place.
Now it's time to recover and get back into training. My program got all screwed up when I got sick two weeks ago, so now I hope there are no other issues in preparation for the second race on Feb. 7 at McDowell.
Pura Vida!
Jeff
No comments:
Post a Comment