2012 Valley of the Sun Stage Race Report.

It was another rad weekend of racing my bike out in Arizona for the Valley of the Sun Stage race.  The trip started early on Thursday when Pete and I packed 8 bikes, too many wheels, and a crap load of of gear into the truck before hitting the to road for Scottsdale.  The trip was pretty mellow even though I was about 2 seconds from leaving Pete at a Love’s truck stop, and soon enough we were at tom’s and out on our bikes for a quick spin.  After the spin we picked beth up from the airport, grabbed dinner, and then it was time to crash.

Friday – 14 mile TT

I was pretty stoked about the TT.  I have a new bike, position (thanks to Studeo DNA), and was ready to test it out.  Cat 5 was the first group to go and I was the 14th rider off (30 second intervals).  The course was an even out and back and I went out hard… maybe a bit too hard.  I had plenty of minor blow ups on the way out and then put my head down on the way back and tried to hang on.  I caught quite a few guys on the way out and on the way back.  After looking at the times from last year (across all Categories) I had a goal of 32:30 in my head.  I know that would give me a very good shot at winning the TT and setting me up for the rest of the race.  I was more than stoked to clock a 32:19 and win the TT.  TT’ing is HARD!  A lot of people have made comments about I will/should be good at it because of triathlon, but in my opinion there are very few similarities.

cooling down…

Beth also smashed the TT coming in 2nd in her category and Pete smashed me by 14 seconds on the day.  After a hard morning of riding we relaxed all afternoon by the pool at rob’s hotel. living the dream.

Saturday – 46 mile Road Race

It was another early morning with Pete’s racing starting at 8am, me at 8:15, and Beth at 8:30.  Things went smooth pre-race and we were already to go.

pinning pete’s number and rocking the leaders jersey.

Being on the starting line, and in the leaders jersey was definitely something I have not experienced before.  pete told me, based on my actions in my past few races, to not do anything stupid.  I was just to sit in and cover any attacks by the guys near me in the GC.  So I did just that.  We did 2.8 laps and during lap 1 I pretty much just sat in and then did a bit of work on the climb just to feel things out.  On the climb the group split and about 15 of us were off the front.  the other guys with me want to start drilling it to maintain the gap, but i wasn’t interested.  i was confident that I could ride with anybody on the climb so if the chase group caught us I wasn’t worried about getting attacked on the climb.  this didn’t go over well with some of the guys I was racing with.  I wasn’t trying to be a jerk but I was “winning” the race, my closest competitors were 40 seconds and over a minute behind me in the GC and were sitting right in front of me so I didn’t want to sit on the front and “work”.

So I continued to sit in during the second lap until we hit the climb, which was the KOM on the 2nd lap.  Two guys attacked and I jumped on because third place in the GC, Mael, was one of them.  I wasn’t too concerned about winning the KOM but I didn’t want to let them get away.  The 3 of us got a good gap on the rest of the field and I ended up getting 3rd in the KOM.

The third lap was more of the the same, me sitting in, and nobody trying to attack.  Kind of boring.When we hit the final climb we were in a group of 15+ and I was sitting in until 5k to go and then I went to the front.  I just wanted to push the pace a bit and string it out and not let anybody make up time on me.  I lead up to the 200m to go sign and then sprint went… I held on for 4th and finished right with the group.  I didn’t get the win, but I was able to keep the leaders jersey and put some time into second place.

Beth finished 4th in her race as well and then conned Pete and I to let her do the Skirt Chasers 5k in Tempe on the way… on one condition.  While she got ready to run we got go grab some beers in downtown tempe… and I found some green flash IPA and the first bar we stopped at.

after a couple of beers we headed to the finish line of the race, grabbed another IPA, and watched beth cross line in 4th place.  so stoked she is back running… and getting FAST!

then it was finally time for lunch and more good times in tempe.

Sunday – 25min Crit

sunday morning came way too early and lets just say I wasn’t necessarily feeling like a million bucks… wonder why?  my race started at 8:10 and after a solid warm up I was ready to defend the jersey during the final, short stage.  I was only the one racing today.  Pete was there to drink coffee and eat breakfast burritos and beth skipped the crit to get in a long trail run.

My plan for the crit was to just stay in the top 5 to 10 for most of the race and chase down any attacks as quick as I could.  It was only 25 minutes so I didn’t want anybody getting anything significant gaps.  My goal was to win the GC so I just needed to race smart and clean.  Right off the bat a couple of guys went off the front, but of course it didn’t last.  The race was actually pretty mellow.  A couple of attacks by 2nd & 3rd place in the GC but every time they jumped I was right on their wheel.

With 4 to go I was waiting for the attacks to come but they didn’t.  So with 2 to go I went to the front to control the final laps and have the chance to take my lines with minimal traffic in the corners.  I rode pretty hard and went into the final corner into the lead with 200m to go.  Then the swarm came and it got dicey but I was in a good position to just ride unscathed over the line in 9th (in the group same time) and win the Overall.

me, pete “the coach, and rob “the baller” post race.

I am definitely stoked to take the Overall win as it was my goal, but defending the Jersey in the two races on Saturday and Sunday wasn’t as fun as attacking… but I’ll take it for sure.  I am hoping this enough to get my upgrade to Cat 4 in time for my upcoming races.  I filled out the request with USA Cycling and now I am just waiting.

We hit the road immediately after the race.  Bummed I missed the podium but we all had to get back and ready for work on Monday morning.