Racing in the Valley of the Sun

Hayden and I have done it again. We packed up and winged out of DC for greener pastures. Well, in this case it wasn't greener but was definitely warmer. The Valley of the Sun is a three day, three stage race in Phoenix, AZ. It marked the beginning of the season for me but not for the boys in the desert.

Life is going to be tough when you roll up to the line and the guys around you are talking to each other saying "dude, I haven't seen you all season." By the time I went to this race I had put in about one week worth of intense efforts so my top end was still developing. The desert boys have been putting in top end efforts for well over a month longer. To say the least, they had access to power that I was only just beginning to understand. I guess it's the price you pay for our season running into September and their season ending long before then.

I finished in the top 50 on the GC largely because my time trial, while better than normal was still weak. My time trials need to improve. The big action came in the 79-mile road race. An amazingly simple triangular course of a little over 16 miles that we did four and a half times. The course featured a 3-mile 400-foot climb. The finish line was a little over a km after the crest of the climb. The field was geared up and over 90 guys.

I found myself in a spot of trouble on the second lap going up the climb. Somehow I had let myself get behind a few too many people and got gapped off the back as people sprinted for one of two king of the mountain sprints. The gap had dropped about 30 guys off the back of the field and I was one of them. I chased back on for 3 miles and then reintegrated. As soon as I caught I rode right up to the front and stayed there for the rest of the race. I was determined not to get caught behind any more guys with jerseys from Utah.

I followed a couple breakaways up the road which I thought might catch the field off guard but got quickly swallowed up. Our average speed on the flat sections was just too fast for a breakaway to develop unless it's members were dedicated to destroying themselves. The last climb was were the race turned into a twisted mess of carbon and aluminum.

One of my teammates had come down from college in Colorado and was determined to show his climbing prowess. Russ jumped at the base of the climb and the 50 or so remaining guys struggled to stay on his wheel. Russ couldn't get away and he couldn't get the field off his back. He jumped again and the field dragged him back. The efforts proved too much for Russ and the field swallowed him whole and spit him out the back just before the crest.

I had been riding in the front half but a surge on the opposite side of the road pushed me way too far back to make a go of things. Especially since the race officials decided that the final km was not going to have an open road. So 40 guys were sprinting down a slight hill on a one-land road. You know what happened next. A couple guys surged on the left side of the field with about 500 meters to go. Some other guys saw an opening and wanted to join the train only to run smack into other guys moving up. Wheels touched, handlebars locked and bodies hit the pavement.

I jumped around a wreck barely missing the outstretched limbs of one guy and landed up on the white line ofnthe wrong side of the road. I looked up at the field about 5 meters in front of me and saw it literally explode. I didn't bother to stick around and find out what the total count of guys involved in the wreck was. I finished with the same time as the field and ended up 34th, which is pretty good given that I had to dodge bikes in the last half km. A pretty good start to a season.