Quarterly Recap

I wasn't planning to take so long between blog updates, but the short Facebook updates were a lot easier and reached more people that this, however today I figured it would be good time to recap what has happened over the last six weeks and what's coming up.
I had so much fun at Bonelli, where Velonews got a picture of me passing JHK and put it in their May edition, that I decided to race the second ProXCT at Fontana. I got a couple weeks of decent training in Phonex before heading back to California for a showdown in Funtucky. The weather on the days before the race transformed the normally dusty, bumpy course into a tacky, velcro like type of course. In addition to that, organizer added a few more switchbacks to the already long climb which made it a real tough course.

On race day, I found out I would be starting off from 3rd row which was a great morale boost. I lost only a few spots during the prologue lap, however I gained them back on the long climb.



Long train of riders going up the hill on lap 1,



By the end of the first lap I had moved up to the top 20 and rode steadily for the next couple of laps. By lap 4 of 5, I had moved up to 13th place and things were looking great however exhausting was settling in and I probably missed a few opportunities to eat. Once I got to the top of the long climb I felt the bonk coming on but I figured I would recover on the technical downhill and eat something. Unfortunately, shortly after that I cut a corner too short and sliced my rear tire. It took a few stops for the tire to seal at about 15 psi then I redlined for too long trying to regain the lost time and got a full bonk. Going up the hill on the last lap was painful and I had to dismout. Nursing a leaky rear and an engine running on fumes I made it across the finish line in 50th place.

Next day I somewhat redeemed myself with an 18th place finish in the Short Track event. Battled most of the race with this group which included former World Champion Bryan Lopez but he still got me at the end.



Chase group trying to get into the top 10

A little dissappointed, I went home and cranked another two weeks of hard training in preparation for the AZ State Crit Championship. Training included a couple of visits to the highly competitive Tuesday Night Worlds Crits at the Phoenix Municipal Stadium parking lot. Getting a couple of top 3 finishes at those weekly races gave me confidence for the two-day crit event.

Friday before the race, the skies opened up and it rained for most of the night and onto the next morning. That drove a lot of Master racers away as only four of us took the start of the 30+ Masters race. My teammate Craig took off after a couple of laps. Once he had a significant advanted over our group I attacked the remaining two riders and went onto finish second on a wet day on the bike.



Craig and I on the top two podium spots.



Next day, it was the Category 1 and 2 event which was made up of nearly 60 riders. Lost of nerves and lack of confidence kept me in the back of the field for most of the race except for one attempt to join a break that lasted for only a couple of laps.

Finished safely in the pack and avoided some last lap crashes.

The following two weekend I race a couple of criteriums, however at that point my training was completely focused on preparing for the Whiskey Off Road 50 which had a $20000.00 purse and was attracting high caliber riders from all over.

One of those training crits was the Old Pueblo Grand Prix which also had a nice $10000.00 purse on a sold out Pro,1,2 event made out of 100 riders.

Racing at speeds of 30-35 MPH around the a twisty, pot-filled, manhole infested course in downtown Tucson wasn't my cup of tea, however I maintained contact with the main group for 90 minutes of fast and furious racing.



That's me in the caboose position trying to stay in the race



By the end, the peloton had been whittled down to about 50 riders and I finished in 31st. however I felt great about my fitness considering I had been battling a bad cold since the rainy race at the State Crit.

The other training crit was the Focus crit. in Gilbert.

That's me pulling a line of riders from what's left of the Master race after the wind and a few attacks blew the race apart.

At this one I only did the Master 30+ race and although the course was flat and windy which really didn't suit me, I managed to walk away with two prime prizes and a third place. Most importantly I felt all my preparation for the Whiskey had come together and from that point on all I had to do was rest a recover for the big event.

So that's what I've been doing for the last several weeks.

There are some major developments that I'll announce on the next post then a full recap of the Whiskey 50 once it happens.