by Coul Hill Time TrialThe 2016 Valley of the Sun stage race is in the books. I started the weekend very well, as the race leader, by winning the time trial! Road RaceThen came Saturday, which brought me a whole new world of experience: a defense only style of road racing. With the leader’s jersey on my shoulders, and no team either, I found that I not only had no friends in the peloton, but that no offensive maneuver on my part would be allowed. There were a few guys, like 2 or 3, that tried to work with me, but anything with me in it was quickly wrapped up by a plethora of blockers whose seemingly only mission on the day was to hold me back. So, a break away did get up the road. It was not a group all at once, but an eclectic set of one and two guys at a time…the only ones I didn’t chase. I chased most of everything, but it wasn’t enough. In the future, in the same situation, I’d need to chase everything without exception. Anyway, I stayed with the group until the last climb (about mile 90 or so), when as we started to ascend, another rider took out my front wheel in an aggressive maneuver, seemingly intentional, that slowed my momentum and cost me about 15 bike lengths. I dug in to catch the momentum of the group and then about 30 seconds later there was a big crash right in front of me which forced me to brake and go around it (still on the climb) and thus had me finish about 39 seconds behind pack. My 9/10 of a second lead turned to a 1:51 deficit that had me in 14th place overall headed into the final race, the criterium. CriteriumI had a good strategy lined up for the crit, and as we were in the opening turns I was making good progress up the pack (having started in the very back), when on our third lap I was on an inside corner and I needed only an inch to get past a curb, but the other rider (who had many inches to give) would not budge, thus causing a large crash with me, him, and about a half dozen other guys.
We jumped back to the pit, checked in with the ref, and got reinserted on the following lap. From that point on I really struggled, I mean HARD, to stay with the pack. My wattage was really high, but I couldn’t get past the back of the pack. So, I finished with the pack (back of the pack pack-fodder) and thus received a pack time, but it wasn’t until after the race that I discovered that both my wheels had been knocked out of true in the crash. My front wheel was hard on the brake pad for about 90% of each rotation and my rear was also having some rub action as well. I effectively rode to a pack finish while essentially riding my brakes the whole time. That’s a good workout. At any rate, despite sub-par finishes on Saturday and Sunday, I managed to hold on to 14th overall for the weekend which sends me home with 2 upgrade points as a consolation prize. That, and of course, Friday’s victory—my first win of 2016, AND a leader’s jersey. I didn’t get the big win, but huge off season gains are evident and I’m excited to be looking down the barrel of a strong 2016 campaign. It was a great weekend. I’m thankful for the victory, the experience in the leader’s jersey, the upgrade points, protection amidst the crash, minimal bike damage, my Christian Cycling comrades from Tucson, my wife, my mother-and-father-in-law and my dad who came to see us here in Phoenix. I’m thankful for solid coaching that has already paid huge dividends. I’m thankful that I’m not satisfied—I am hungry for victory and I will prepare accordingly to achieve it. I’m thankful for the salvation that Christ gave me freely, how that so radically changed my life, and that God has blessed me with drive, determination, discipline, and ability to do this and excel; I pray that I use those gifts to bring honor and glory to Him. Also, I’m thankful, blessed, and honored to have the incredible support of my loving wife and best friend, Collene Hill.
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by Ken Huizenga This race was a must do for me as I really enjoyed it in 2015 and wanted another chance to mark some improvement in my Cycling. I had my Training Peaks Calendar fully filled out for January to be in the best form ever for this race. VOS was to put this to the test. The best laid plans do not always work out. I fought a month long cold for much of January and my lungs took a while to heal from it. I did try to force the body to train, but all I did forcing the issue was set myself back. Not being one to quit, I still did sign up the race and gave it a shot. Time TrialThe weather could not be more perfect. No wind, sunny and 65 degrees. I started off shooting for FTP and focused on steady power. I wanted to be careful to not blow up on the uphill first section. I was 1:10 ahead of last year at the half way point. I made the turn and mentally was ready to empty the tank. My speed increased and I felt ready to push hard to the line. I miscalculated my effort and when I hit the 3km to go sign I had about emptied the tank. I struggle a few more remaining minutes and crossed the line empty. I was :22 faster than last year and sat 22nd out of 27. Not great and definitely not as well as I had hoped. All I could take from this effort is that I had improved over last year, but again proved that a few weeks missing from my planned training had hurt this effort a ton. Road RaceThe starting line was the first time I saw the group of guys in the Cat 5 group. My first impression was that there was a lot of youth this year. My racing age is 50 this year and the one thing I lack is twenty year old energy. I sensed that I was in trouble. After a longer than normal neutral start, we were off. I was happy to have stayed attached to the group at the end of the first climb. Upon the start of lap two, they turned it up a notch. I stayed within eyesight of the peloton but slowly started to fall back. I was hoping to have a few guys to work with but seemed I was in the middle of two groups, kind of flying solo. I knew at some point this was going to be a mental game so I settled into a manageable power range and just keep a strong tempo. I finished strong with a guy from the 50+ masters and was happy with my effort. All in all I had some personal bests and enjoyed the race. CriteriumI was in the first group and racing was to begin at 7:15 am. Many of us were out warming up on the course even before the sun came up. Today I felt strong and confident. The race started and I saw 230 Watts pretty constantly for the first few laps. I faded to the back third of the pack. It was comfortable there. The GC Leader was back there beside me most of the race as he had an 8 minute lead and wanted to stay out of trouble. I encouraged him to get in front of me as I did not want to in anyway interfere with in carrying out his plan. He said he was comfortable with me and to carry on, so with this off my mind I continued to work. About 20 minutes in, the group was pushing 240 watts and things were picking up. I began to think for the first time about what I was going to to on the last lap. This was a different mental place to be for me because i’m usually a little off pace by now. Was I actual going to contend for the final sprint?
The last lap bell rang and I was hanging on the main pack. We were down to the last 4 turns. I felt the pack begin to slip as they put on a surge and off they went. They put about 20 yards on me with a 325 watt burst. I did not have that in my tank at this point. I fell back about 30 seconds and finished strong as I could. This day I was close but the kids did me in. Oh to be young again. I felt good about my effort and the progress I had made. Overall it was a great trip and three awesome days of racing. Thanks to my teammates for their continuing encouragement and congratulations to Coul for grabbing a leaders jersey. Thank You Collene for all the great photos including the one below! by Buzz Wright Time TrialAnyone who knows me knows that I absolutely love TTs. This one in particular was incredibly exciting due to its complex course design, technically challenging terrain, and the unlimited number of available team tactics that would no doubt be a huge factor. First, we lined up in numerical order and waited for our turn to climb up some stairs onto the platform. It was really, really, really cool to figure out where my place would be in the line. Once it was my turn, one of the officials held my bike steady while I clipped into my pedals, which was awesome. I clipped into the left pedal first and then the right one, which is exactly how I had planned on doing it while rehearsing it waiting in line. Another official gave me the 10-second warning and them counted me down from five. It. Was. Such. An. Epic. Count. Down. Buzz about to do what he truly loves Coming down the ramp from the platform is extraordinarily dangerous but I'm happy to report that I did not crash. Once I was safely on flat road I consulted the TT plan I had taped to my top tube. It read, "Start, ride, turn, ride, stop." I did some quick math in my head and determined that I should be in "ride" mode. So that's what I did. After [who cares] minutes I arrived at quite possibly the most exhilarating, thought-intensive, tactically challenging portion of this particular TT. The turn. Luckily I had poured over the TT section of the Technical Guide and knew, without a doubt, that I would be making a right turn. This is where things got really dicey for me and I almost made a huge, enormous, gigantic error. Apparently, in my excitement for the TT I had misread the Technical Guide and did not realize that the turn would be to the left. Fortunately though, there were around a dozen course officials with red flags yelling and pointing for me to turn left. My mind raced as I immediately assessed the situation, made a swift course correction on the fly, quickly re-positioned my body in order to take the turn on the most optimal line, and just completely railed that corner. It. Was. Oh. So. Thrilling. I checked my top tube notes once again to see if I was at the "stop" part yet or not. I was supremely delighted to find that I still had another "ride" portion to thoroughly enjoy. So again, I rode. Unfortunately though, all good things must come to an end. And for me, this meant only getting to experience [embarrassingly high number] minutes of this amazing TT. I crossed the finish line to thunderous applause and what appeared to be a penguin marching band. I consulted the top tube notes once again, and proceeded to "stop" just as I had planned. I learned many new things during the TT and am very happy with my performance in almost perfectly executing my plan to start, ride, turn, ride, and then stop. All joking aside, TTs are tough and kudos to the guys that actually do well in them. I am very proud that Coul took 1st in the Cat 2 TT. Buzz really, really enjoying life (photo by Collene Hill) Road RaceMy legs were a bit sore from the TT and after my mediocre performance in the Oracle road race I didn't have much hope for this one. Luckily the climb isn't very long and I thought that I would be able to hang with the group until the last lap. Unfortunately, even though I positioned myself at the front when the climbing began and then drifted back during it, I did not have enough strength to maintain contact and ended up in a chase group of around 15 guys. I was happy though that both Jimmy and Gary where in the chase group with me. We tried for a bit to catch back up to the main group but it became apparent that it would not happen. I was red-lined again up the climb, losing contact with the chase group but able to get back on during the descent. The final time up the climb I did my best to hold a decent position but didn't have the strength to avoid being at the back when we crossed the line. I figured I would be a few spots up from dead last but to my surprise was 37th out of 53. My lap times were 3% faster than last year and my average power was 26% higher which suggests that the competition in the 4's this year is pretty dang strong this season. Napping after the road race CriteriumAfter a very fun 4th place finish in this crit last year, I had high hopes for a decent race this year. While my fitness/strength is still not back to where it should be, I felt I would be able to hang with the group for the duration. Unfortunately there was some pretty poor decisions made by other racers (one in particular) during the crit, which caused multiple crashes -- one of which took out Gary. I was agitated and frustrated with 3 laps to go but was able to get into a decent position for the final lap. The group slowed and bunched up though and I fell back without much desire to regain my position. I was sitting 15-20 back for the final corner but sprinted anyway, taking 17th out of 47. I was happy that I had done pretty well in the race but was upset with what had happened to Gary. Overall it was a fun weekend of racing with great friends. It was a blast to see Coul again and I can't wait for this race next year. Carb-loading at Buca di Beppo
by Buzz Wright Masters 35+ Cat 4/5I've been able to somewhat regain my aerobic endurance the past few weeks but my legs are still pretty weak and I have no jump right now. No jump at all. No sprint either. No power, no speed, no acceleration. It will come back after I get some solid interval training in, but for these races I had little hope of avoiding being pulled again. My hope was to hang with the group as long as possible and I really wanted to see Jimmy gain confidence in crits. The plan was to stay near the front to minimize the surging and have Jimmy stay on my wheel. If I were able to hang on for the finish I would do what I could to give him a leadout for the sprint. As it turned out, I was able to stay with the group for the entire race which was a nice surprise. With a couple laps to go I made sure Jimmy was on my wheel and worked as hard as I could to keep us in the top 5. I knew we needed to move up to the front on the bell lap but I just didn't have the power to get up there and we remained in 5th place going into the final corner. Out of the corner I tried to give Jimmy a leadout but I had nothing to give. My "sprint" was horrendous, only taking me from 27.7 mph to 30.6 but it was good enough to hold my spot (5th). Cat 4/5My legs were done after the first race. The plan for the second one was just to hold on for as long as possible. The field was pretty big, resulted in a lot of surging which just annihilated whatever remaining strength I had in my legs. Lap after lap I lost positions until eventually I fell off the main group, resigning to riding out the remaining time in a smaller chase group. The chase group was never organized enough to avoid being pulled and after a few more laps that's what happened. It was frustrating to be pulled from a race after 20 minutes but it meant I could watch and cheer for Jimmy. Photo by Nick Wilson
by Jimmy Davis This year during our team meeting to set up our race schedule I selected 26 races to compete in...obviously that is way too many races for a year. I knew there would be some races that I would not be able to compete in but I wanted to make sure I had them on my radar. The Sun Devil criterium was one of those races that I really wanted to do but did not know if I will be able to squeeze it in. During our team photos and after being assured that Ken would race (not) I decided to go ahead and sign up. I just bought a new bicycle (Propel Advanced SL2) and I was eager to try it out in a race. Eric and Buzz also had planned on doing the race so I looked forward to racing with them. Masters 35+ Cat 4/5During the first race we had a very simple plan; I would simply stay on Buzz's wheel for the entire race, for the most part that's exactly what I did. Buzz and I lined up on the outside because the first turn is a right-handed turn and pretty sketchy and bumpy. Eric lined up on the inside but we were all pretty much on the front row. As the race began we made it around the first corner and soon we were up to speed. I had decided that I would use the first few laps to see how I felt in the corners and whether or not I would be able to stay on Buzz' wheel. This plan worked out really well for me as I was able to gain confidence on the course. When we came around for the final lap I felt great and sprinted to hold my place. I did make some tactical mistakes in that I was in the wrong gear to sprint but every race you learn a little something. Photo by Nick Wilson Cat 4/5The second race we did was the cat 4/5 race. Buzz and I lined up in the second row on the outside so that we would be in position for the first right hand turn. Right after the first lap or so I noticed that the pack was beginning to split up. While there were 56 people in our race I believe there were 72 people at the start line and I knew with such a big group they would have to start pulling riders out of the race fairly early. At some point, I saw the pack was beginning to break apart and I made an effort to get back on with the lead group. Throughout this race there were many times when the pack broke apart. Each time I would work with other riders to reconnect with the lead group. During one of the laps there was a crash in the first corner, there were many crashes in that corner throughout the day. This crash broke up the pack again and it caused me and several other riders to have to work really hard and long to reconnect with the lead group. Photo by Nick Wilson With about 7 laps to go we reconnected and I knew that it was important to move up. It was very encouraging to hear my teammates yelling, "Jimmy, move up!" I knew that I needed to move up but after doing all the work to reconnect I was nervous about putting out any more energy. Also, I was not willing to risk anything to gain a few positions although I wish I would have been a little more aggressive during that time. Finally, with two laps to go I realized that I felt pretty good but I didn't take any risks in the corners and on the final lap I sprinted and only gained two more positions. I finished 24/56 (72).
by Buzz Wright Since I am always bugging the other IC3 guys for race reports I suppose I should set a good example and post mine. Even though I don't feel my weekend warrants any sort of publication. CriteriumI knew I'd be hurting based on how poorly I've been doing at crit practice the past couple weeks. It is awesome to see so many guys gain strength from the Crit Training Series but it also means that my competition becomes that much more difficult. My plan for the crit was to stay at the front to avoid the leg-scorching surges and hang on for as long as I could. I did so and held a top-10 position for a handful of laps, feeling pretty decent actually. But my leg strength is definitely not where it should be and I started having trouble closing gaps. I let the group slowly pass by me rider after rider, trying to keep my power constant and within my bounds. The group was nice and big (60+ riders) so I had a lot of buffer room to try to recover. By the time I reached the back of the group though I was still at my limit and my legs were not interested in providing any more power than what they were giving me -- which was about 30 watts less than what was needed to stay with the group. I settled into a sustainable pace and after a couple laps joined up with some other riders. We traded pulls and did the best we could, but ended up getting pulled after 17 minutes of racing. I was pretty bummed but all the encouraging shouts from spectators and other racers (as they passed me) really made for a fun race that I can honestly say I enjoyed. The weather was beautiful and even when you are pulled from the race halfway through, coughing and hacking with legs burning... shoot, that's a great day in my book. It was very, very cool to see so many newer racers from our Crit Training Series racing in a criterium for the first time. I have a lot of respect for anyone brave enough to try bike racing. It can be a very intimidating sport to get into and it takes real guts to pin that number on. If you were out there and I didn't get a chance to say so in person -- congrats and nice job! Road RaceI didn't have much hope for this race. In addition to not training, I added about 15 lbs over the winter and definitely felt that extra weight on the climbs. The plan for the road race was to kill myself trying to stay with the group for the first lap. I surfed the group on the rollers to conserve as much energy as I could and that worked pretty well but soon after we turned on Webb road I found myself steadily slipping backwards as the pace was just too high. I settled into what I could do and tried to keep the group in sight. I was able to pass a few riders here and there and having riders to catch kept me motivated. The second time up Webb I was able to catch up to Gary and David and that helped keep the motivation high enough to keep pushing. Once we were back in town I slid up next to David and said, "let's go" figuring we might as well have some fun with the finishing sprint. It was amazing to see how little power I was able to produce during that effort. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication to gain fitness and strength. It only took a couple months off the bike to erase it. The good news is that I know how to get it back. Buzz, Michael, and Gary
Photo by Damion Alexander by Buzz Wright Honestly, I don't feel like giving a report for this race. I was pretty disappointed with the results. No. I was extremely disappointed. I love crits. Love them. The speed, the technicality, the tactics, the intensity. I've thoroughly enjoyed every crit I've done and always look forward to the next one. This year, I came so close to getting on the podium so many times. I got 5th at Avondale, 4th at BioPark, 7th at Sun Devil, 4th at VOS, 6th at Tolero, 7th at Avondale, 5th at Avondale, 5th at Hungry Dog, 4th at Hungry Dog, 5th at TBC... and after every single one I would think, "There's another race coming up, I will podium there." State Crit Champs. On my radar since January. I wanted so badly to finish the season with a podium. I felt good, I felt strong, I was ready. I was so ready. Sitting 4th wheel with 200 meters to go, ramping up my sprint, in the 53/12 ready to burn it into the 11, accelerating into the wheels of the 3rd and 2nd place riders, strong, so strong. Confident. Fast. Sure. I would be on the podium. I have that podium. Today I get it. It's mine... Another racer crashes right in front of Buzz, 200m from the finish A couple decades ago I was the eldest of 5 children, and the only boy. When the news came that my mother was pregnant with the 6th, I immediately started praying for a brother. I wanted a little brother so badly and I just knew -- absolutely knew -- that if there was a God, He would let me have a brother. I prayed, more than I had ever prayed in my life for a boy. When the day came, I went to the hospital to meet the baby, certain -- absolutely certain -- that I finally had a brother. My father met me in the hallway and told me the news. Her name was Christina. I remember the scene to this day. My dad took me to the hospital cafeteria and bought me a Tab soda. We sat and I cried and he told me that it was alright; that my job was to take care of Tina and keep her safe. To protect her and be a good big brother for her. And that even though things didn't turn out the way I wanted them to, later I would understand and would be glad. But that day I was heartbroken. For months (years if you ask her), I dressed Tina in boy's clothes and introduced her to everyone as "Chris", my little brother. I included her in everything I did, from riding bikes to rollerblading to playing ice hockey... and that initial disappointment faded very quickly. As I matured I realized that having a brother was no better than having a sister. And that I was fortunate -- extremely fortunate -- to be given the opportunity to be the big brother to so many beautiful, intelligent, caring girls. One week prior to the State Crit Champs, on Easter Sunday, I got to do something amazing. I got to officiate the wedding for Tina. I'd already performed the wedding ceremonies for two of my other sisters, but I was still very nervous for this one. During the ceremony I talked about the time in the hospital when my dad bought me that Tab soda. I looked at Tina and she laughed. I fought back tears and held my composure the best I could. It was a beautiful day -- the exact opposite of disappointment. Buzz performing the wedding ceremony for his sister, Tina Sometimes, well -- most of the time... things don't go as planned. Sometimes instead of finally getting to step up on a podium you're picking yourself up off the pavement. But disappointment today can turn into overwhelming joy tomorrow. I'll podium State Crit Champs... just stay tuned...
by Buzz Wright With the Tucson Bicycle Classic approaching, many of my teammates were focused on tapering/peaking for those races. While I'll race TBC and hope to do well, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to race 5 crits in two days. San Tan Criterium (Saturday)Cat 4/5 The course was a pretty cool figure 8-ish layout similar to the one at Valley of the Sun. There was some wind at play and the laps were long (over 2 minutes). I chatted with Lynn, Lonnie, and Kelly from Tolero prior to the race and we sort of planned out a few breakaway attempts. I didn't pre-ride the course so the first couple laps were spent trying to figure out what lines to take through corners and which side of the group I should be on to avoid the wind. My legs felt a little sluggish but I wasn't too worried. I went with Lonnie to attempt a break and we stayed away for a bit but were brought back. I recovered and kept an eye on Lynn who was looking strong. Lynn and two other guys ended up getting off the front after a prime and it seemed to be somewhat sticking. I decided to bridge and when I reached them I yelled "let's go" to Lynn. We were able to rotate a couple times through but the other two guys didn't seem too interested and I was running out of gas. We were caught after a few minutes. I didn't have a great position heading into the final lap and ended up waiting way too long to start my sprint. I ended up getting 9th. Cat 3/4 My legs weren't feeling great but I was able to stay near the front and move around well in the group. I didn't try to go with any breaks and didn't go after any primes -- just held on and waited for the finish. On the final lap I held a good spot but a huge surge came and my legs were just done. I pushed hard to finish strong but didn't have much left. Placed 17th in that one. Hungry Dog Criterium (Sunday)Cat 4 The legs felt better today and the course was less technical, just an oval really. Evan and his family were up for the day so I was much more motivated for these races. I spent most of the time in/at the front of the race and was in a decent position to take the second prime so I went for it. Got a decent gap, took the prime, and then soft pedaled to wait for the group because there was no way I would be stupid enough to try a breakaway on this course after racing twice yesterday and then still having two races later today. "Hey! Let's go!" Oh great, someone bridged up to me and wanted to try to stay away. In a split second I made the decision to go ahead and jump on his wheel and commence with the stupidity. So I did stupid for a couple laps, and each time it was my turn to pull I thought, "this is stupid" and of course I was right -- it was stupid. I felt bad for the guy I was with because he wanted the break to work and I was secretly praying that the group would hurry up and catch us so the pain could end or at least be diminished slightly. We were finally reeled back in after a couple more laps and I did my best to recover and stay near the front again for the finish. I was in a good spot for the final lap but didn't have much of a sprint. I was gaining ground on one guy but ran out of road, taking 5th. Evan took 3rd because he knows how to get on the podium. I haven't figured that part out yet. Evan takes third! Cat 4/5 The legs felt pretty good heading into this race. I stayed mid-pack for the entire race just conserving as much energy as I could, knowing that the 3/4 race was coming up next. With two laps to go I made my move up into the top 10 spots and then on the final lap I put in a hard effort and railed the final corner heading to the line. I passed a few guys in the corner and ended up right in third position for the sprint. I jumped hard but stayed wide on the swooping corner to the line, which unfortunately meant I had further to sprint. I could sense a guy coming up on my left and didn't want to cut him off and he was able to get by me before the line. He was wearing an ASU kit, which I believe is a high school up in the Phoenix area. Or maybe it's some sort of post high school college prep center, who knows. Anyway, so I managed to grab 4th in that one, slowly inching my way closer to that elusive podium. Buzz oh so close to the podium Cat 3/4
The legs felt as though they'd already done 4 races this weekend. Which is to say, they were toast. There were more than a couple times during this race that I thought about sitting up, but Evan was in it still so I was able to fight through it and hold his wheel. A break went and I remember looking at it and thinking about bridging up to it but decided that it would not last. It ended up lasting, but I doubt I would have been able to stay with it anyway. Near the end of the race the main group started trying to get organized to chase down the break but there were a couple guys who would not cooperate. I was red-lined for that entire portion and had to stop looking at my computer, which was displaying heart rate values in the thousands. I pushed hard to maintain a decent spot for the final sprint and ended up taking 6th in the pack, 10th place counting the 4 guys up the road. Brownies Evan made brownies. Yeah, that's right. Epic brownies. I ate one. It was delicious. Maybe two. Oh... so good. Ok, maybe three. My legs were trashed but I was really happy with the results from the weekend. I was able to collect a couple envelopes with dollars in them, get a couple more upgrade points, and place top-10 in four out of the five races. And even better, I got to hang out with Evan and his beautiful family at the race and afterward for some food before heading back to Tucson. Alright, maybe I had four. by Michael Hast Cat 4/5The Tolero crits were on a tough course for me. There were a lot of awkward corners and a little incline towards the finish. I loved the fact that the crit was in the Casa Adobes Church parking lot. Our team set up in the race course parking lot and it was great to see so many Cat 5 riders that are new to crit racing. My first race of the day was Cat 4/5 which was 30 minutes long. I had a very good start and was in the top 5. After a few laps Kyle made an attack, a prime was announced and I attempted to bridge to Kyle. I was not able to catch him to contend for the prime, but was in a great spot for the next couple of laps. Being up front meant for me to take the corners the way I wanted to take them, but tired me out immensely. For the last 5 minutes of the race I was in the back barely hanging on. Michael working hard in the Cat 3/4 race Cat 3/4My goal for the next race, Cat 3/4, was to stay in the middle of the pack and get comfortable there. Between the Cat 4/5 and Cat 3/4 race was only 20 minutes of rest and the next race was 40 minutes. Those 40 minutes were a race of perseverance. Gary's Valley of the Sun road race came to mind which reminded me of Romans 5:4,5 "knowing that racing produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us." I was in the back of the pack, catching up to the pack after most of the corners. Buzz attacked to bridge to Kyle which tore the pack to pieces. At that point I lost the connection to the pack and was riding for about 12 minutes solo, working hard to not get lapped and pulled from the race. I succeeded, and had a sprint finish with an ASU rider, praises be to our Heavenly Father! Michael sprinting for the line
by Buzz Wright Cat 4/5My legs weren't feeling great for these crits but I was excited to be racing with so many friends. It was awesome to see so many guys and gals showing up and a handful of them were from our Wednesday night Crit Training Series, which was fantastic. I stayed up near the front for most of the race and could feel residual fatigue in my legs on the slight climb every lap. A little over halfway through the race the group bunched up a bit before heading into the "dumpster corner" and I saw a guy two wheels in front of me looking pretty nervous. Just as I was thinking about it sure enough, there was a bit of contact and he ended up going down. Unfortunately I was not able to get away from him and ended up going down too. I hopped up, checked the bike (it was fine), and went back to the start/finish to get my free lap. After re-joining the group I was able to stay near the front again. I marked Kyle and Erik and noticed that Ryan was working to get on Erik's wheel. I figured that Kyle would be leading Erik out and Ryan would probably release them on the final lap. Turned out to be a good guess and even though I knew what was happening I just didn't have the legs to get on Erik's wheel once they went for it. It was a great move but unfortunately they took the dumpster corner a little too fast and both ended up in the hay bails. I was so bummed for them I sat up a bit and finished somewhere in the top 10 I think. The Robold brothers: Evan, Ryan, and Buzz (adopted) Cat 3/4My legs were pretty sore and the slight climb on every lap was definitely hurting me. With some 3's in the field I expected the race to be hard and it was. I again stayed near the front and did my best to hold wheels and conserve energy. Kyle went off the front and had a decent gap and I mentioned it to Evan saying, "Kyle's up the road a bit." A moment later I decided to try to bridge up to him so I jumped on the climb section and pushed hard to reach him. I was able to get on his wheel but was pretty gassed. A third rider also bridged up to us and he was super strong. He and Kyle continued but I looked back a the group and decided that I needed to recover and re-integrate. Just not enough strength to make that work yet. I think I stayed away for two laps. Buzz bridging up to Kyle Near the end of the race a couple guys went down on the dumpster corner. Luckily I was able to stay up but had to scrub so much speed to avoid the crash that I lost contact with the lead group. I didn't have the legs to work hard enough to get back up there but I had Evan with me so I was happy. We worked together along with two other guys but then Evan fell off after taking a big pull. When I saw him dropping off I let the other two riders go and waited for him. Once he was back on my wheel I put in a decent pull to get us back up to the other two riders. That worked but then on the next lap I cramped up really, really good -- both calves and both hamstrings just locked up. It was excruciatingly fun! Evan looked back and saw that I was dropped back and so he sat up. I yelled at him to "get up there and sprint it out" but he wasn't listening. We sat up and rode the last lap together and the cramps faded. On the final climb there was one rider coming up on us so for funzies I did a half-hearted sprint to the line. Not sure what I placed but I didn't care -- it was a really fun day of racing! Evan and Buzz chatting on the last lap
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