Yuma!

The first race of the year went decent but not great. Josh and I rolled into Yuma about an hour before the crit after a steady 4 hour drive. Nothing too exciting except for seeing blatant boarder jumpers running out of the bushes into parked cars on the side of the road.

The Crit in downtown Yuma was super, super technical. It took me awhile to get the hang of things being on the new bike. Right off the gun the race started on a climb and we charged in the pack into the super sweeping corners, with surprisingly decent pavement. Most crit organizers I find try to kill to riders putting these races on roads that wouldn't be fit for a mountain bike.

About 20 minutes in I found myself in no-mans land between the front group and the back group. I charged with all I had to try to bridge up the split then BAM! I blew. We came around the corner to the climb and I was dropped. I finished the rest of the race with a group of guys who were also dropped and sprinted to a meager 15th place.

Josh had a great race making the split and working like a dog to get 8th.

Last year this race had over 100 people in the Pro/Cat 1 pack. This year because of a race in California on the same weekend and the fact most people got shelled the year before only 20-25 people showed in the Pro/1 pack. It made for some interesting racing.

Some of the guys were on top form and have been in Tucson since October training(?). Then there are guys like myself who was hoping to hold on to get some racing experience.

The main point of the race for me was to build leg speed for the upcoming bigger races like Redlands and San Dimas, along with getting some longer racing miles. The best way to build the speed is through racing. But is kind of a bugger to get into the swing of things.

The road race went better. It was 112miles of pancake flat roads. The biggest elevation gain was over the overpass. This can be deceiving though as the winds in the area are sometimes insane!

We started at a brisk 7:15am. Anyone who has been to the dessert knows its FREEZING this time of day. It was so cold I could see the riders breath as we rolled on the first lap.(Later that day it was 90degrees).

Because there were only about 25 guys in the race it made for some odd dynamics. The first 80km were basically just an attack fest. Breaks would form then get brought back then counter attack upon counter attack would come. The pack would then settle down and more attacks would come. I sprinted full out as fast as these legs could spin probably about 139 times in the race.

Halfway through two guys went up the road and the pack simply didn't chase. It was kind of odd actually. Then Josh decided it would be a good time to try something and took a flyer off the front. Later on another guy went a bridged up to him and this was basically the race. From that point on it was pretty chill. I still had to sprint like a madman to stay in the first 10 guys as there was a lot of cat and mouse games, but my work day was over after Josh went for it.

His little legs managed to power out front with the other guy who bridged up to him and he took 4th.(Two guys were up the road from earlier).

The last 45 minutes the notorious winds picked up and I found myself in the gutter with a crazy cross wind just trying to hold on until we made the turn for the sprint finish. The last 10km were crazy as we had a downhill sprint, with an insane tailwind. I was maxing out the 53x12/13 just trying to keep up with the attacks.

In the end I sprinted for 7th in the pack, which placed me 11th in the race(I think).

Josh got 8th overall, and I took 13th.

(This is the only picture I took all weekend... of our hotel room. I think we got the porno sweet as it was one bed, with one wall covered in a huge mirror, then a pretty big mirror on the other wall. Besically you could watch TV facing anywhere in the room. I'm surpried there wasnt a mirror on the ceiling.)

Overall it was a good weekend. I'm happy with how the legs faired out and I definitely built up some speed and intensity in them. Josh I'm sure is super happy as he had a great race. Today, I'm crazy tired from the longer miles, travel, and bump in intensity. I went to bed pretty early last night and woke up super early. That just means I waste more time on the Internet and drink too much coffee. Ahh my stomach is hurting.

Next week we have to Tucson bicycle classic which is a Crit, RR, and TT. I don't think my TT bike is going to arrive in time.....hmmm.

Man, the dollar is taking a beating. I'm too scared to look.