Week 7: Valley of the Sun Stage Race

I have gone through a life-changing experience, the magnitude of which is just slightly overshadowed by my marriage and my children.  That's right, the Neti Pot!

I spent the majority of week 7 sick and in bed.  I missed work twice and was completely useless the days I did work.  For the first time since March of 2016 I had to take medication.  First, decongestants, and later, antibiotics.  But I'm glad to have access to such things.  I'm not anti-medication by any stretch, I've just been healthy enough to not need any for almost a full year.

One thing I've learned is not to take opportunities for granted.  While sick, I could still ride and had already paid the money to race at Valley of the Sun.  I figured I'd see how day 1 went and if I felt the same or better on day 2, I'd participate, and then again for day 3 the same.

For those that don't know what Valley of the Sun is, allow me to explain.  VOS (we'll call it), is a 3 day stage race where lowest cumulative time of the three races (stages) determines the winner.  It's Arizona's biggest race, attracting people from all over North America.  Day 1 is a time trial, where you race a distance for time.  There is no drafting off of other riders (which means it's a true test of strength).  Day 2 is a road race with a climbing finish, which favors smaller riders.  Day 3 is a criterium, which is fast and flat, which favors bigger riders.

Sick or not, Thursday after work I loaded up the car to head to my brother-in-law, and teammate, Gene's house in Phoenix.  Gene was racing with me, Men's Category 4.  That's a developing level cycling category, not beginner, but not advanced either.  It's often a mixed bag, with some guys that have topped out and will be there forever, with some guys who are "sandbaggers," and stay there because it affords easier winning opportunities, and some guys that are just moving through on their way to high categories.

I think I'm in the last group here.  I just moved into Cat 4, have potential to be a good bike racer, but need to learn to race and have some things to develop along the way.

Weather was to play a big role all weekend.  For the time trial (TT), on Friday, the weather was very windy.  If memory serves, the wind was 22 - 25 mph with gusts 35+ at race time for me.  The course was 7.3 miles out, slightly uphill, with the wind being helpful.  Then, 7.3 miles back, slightly downhill, with the wind making life suck.

My game plan was to hit 380 to 390 watts on the way out, and 340 to 350 on the way back.  I know that if I'm healthy I can hit those numbers.  I also knew, at the time, that I was going for broke trying to do it sick.  If I went too hard, I'd be slower than if I was far more conservative.  But, VOS is training for me and sick or not, I'm going for it.

People lined up for miles on the sides of the road warming up!

I could NOT hit my numbers, not even close.  Based on what I know I can do, this was my worst performance ever in a time trial.  I was 2 minutes slower than my conservative estimate.  But, that was good enough for 2nd place on the day in my category!  How lucky is that?  Pretty much any other category and I wouldn't be top 10!  Craziness.

The situation did upset me though because I want to see where I stand with riders in other categories.  I want a measure of how I'm progressing and the VOS TT was my best chance to do that in 2017!  But, there's nothing I can do about it.  Even healthy, things could happen.  I know of some friends that got flats on the race, so their day ended even worse than mine!  Gene got a cramp in his calf so bad, that he had some muscle tearing!  Bring what you have race day and see how it goes!

My visor after the race...this is the inside of it!

Going into day 2, the road race, I was 30 seconds down from 1st and about 20 seconds up from 2nd place.  The winds were in the high teens, swirling, and it was raining most of the day.  With temperatures in the mid 50's, and being sick already, this proved to be a miserable day for me.  To make matters worse, after the race I realized I had forgotten my change of clothes at home and was staying at the race for another 4 hours to help out my teammate Tim!  I was able to borrow a pair of shorts from my 135 pound brother in law so at least I was able to get out of my wet kit, but I started with a fever after I got done shaking for a solid hour sitting in the truck with heater blasting!  But I'm getting ahead of the story ...

The race was three laps, just under 17 miles each.  There are about 3 kilometers of climbing and the rest is wide open down hill.  The terrain and the wind make the race rather dull for 14 miles of each lap because without a crosswind, which can be used to get away from other cyclists, there's nowhere to attack.  People tried anyway, but nothing stuck.  The second lap had a KOM time bonus at the finish line of 10 seconds.  I had hoped that a break would form then and perhaps I could join in and work with that group to catch the leader and hop into first place.  If not, I'd wait to do an attack on the last lap.

I had a couple of people reach out to me before the race with encouragement and advice, which is way cool.  These guys know what they're talking about, too.  One guy is a Cat1 pro rider currently, who before this did a lot of track riding and was an international level triathlete.  The other person is a retired world-tour rider.  Believe me, when they offered me advice, I listened!

The small mountain we did laps around during the race.

The advice was basically about positioning, patience, timing of work and making an attack that just brutalized the field.  "Make it a blood bath!"  I followed the advice perfectly in the road race, until the last part.  I just didn't have the legs (or maybe it was the lungs) to punch.

The weather proved enough to keep everybody very cautious, people slowed down for obstacles, called everything out and didn't use these things as opportunities to attack.  It was like a friendly group ride in that respect!  I just hid from the wind until the second lap and stayed position near the front to watch for a break to form.  A small one had, but when I bridged up to it, the others shut it down.

On the last lap, going up the hill, I just didn't have the legs to do anything meaningful. I was left doing exactly what I was told not to do, surfing wheels hoping they'd respond to the meaningful attacks at the end.  I was left reacting instead of instigating and it cost me some time.  But, I kept 2nd place in the GC!  I was 8th in the race, but really never figured into the outcome of the day in any meaningful way.

After the race I got pretty sick.  I couldn't get warm, and once I did, if I stepped out of the truck for more than a minute or two, I was right back where I started.  I'm a burly 200 pound man, I don't get cold!  So while I sat in the truck shivering, Gene, who tore his calf in the time trial and further injured it in the road race, forcing him to abandon, stood out in the wind and rain and handed water bottles off to Tim!  I felt like a schmuck not helping out!  I did get a few videos of various groups going by and was able to cheer on some friends, at least in my mind, as they raced.

Here's a video of the Pro/Cat1 group on their first lap:

A kid ready to go in the kid's race!  Criteriums are so fun to watch!

After we got home and ate some real food I felt a little better.  I tucked in early Saturday night and slept well.  I woke up Sunday morning feeling okay, but still sick.  I was in second place and was sure that even sick, I could ride wheels and finish in the pack and probably hold onto second place.  Sunday was a criterium.  Criteriums are short course races that are fast, punchy and tactics are key.  Crashes are frequent in criteriums and the day called for, you guessed it, more rain!  Those things, in combination with advice I failed to execute on Saturday, started a seed of understanding that blossomed during the race.

The criterium was in downtown Phoenix. Criteriums are awesome to watch.  There is great people watching and the races are exciting!  Here are a couple of pictures I took on the day.

Cycling problems #TanLines

The course is wide open, except one turn that gets a little pinched, and the course is fast.  I hit 41 mph and averaged just shy of 26 mph on the day.  For the first three to five laps I was responding to other people being aggressive.  I didn't chase, but I followed wheels and hopped around, moving up, sliding back, moving up and so on.  It was hard.  As I did this I thought about why taking initiative is important.  Reacting is sometimes harder than dealing the punishment.

When the first prime lap came around, if you finished 1st or 2nd on the prime lap you get prizes or money, I decided to go for the win.  The effort lined my pocket with $50.  Not only that, I got away!  I had a glimmer of hope that if I could get some help and stay away that maybe I could move into 1st place in the GC?  I was away for a couple, maybe three laps with one other rider.  Eventually a 3rd guy joined us and then the group decided that was enough of that nonsense, and brought us back.

When the time is almost finished the race goes from a countdown of time to a count down of laps.  With three laps to go there was another prime lap.  Here's a video of me getting that prime, too.  These were my first ever primes, I've only done a handful of criteriums, never tried to get them before.


During my time off the front and getting those primes the advice I received really clicked.  When I was making the race a blood bath, I dictated how hard we went, for how long and so on.  When I let off the gas, everybody just relaxed a bit.  It's one of those things that you learn by doing ... can't read about it, watch it or be told and really get it, kind of like playing an instrument.  But it clicked!

On the back half of the second to last lap, for the first time of the day, things got sketchy.  People were twitchy, not holding lines through corners and of course, all of this, when the speed started picking up.  So with one lap to go I took off.  I didn't expect to get away, but the safest place to be is on the front and I just needed to finish the race to keep 2nd place in the GC.  So, that's what I did.  I kept the pace high and with a quarter lap to go, some attacks took off and I just surfed wheels into the finish, coming in mid-pack and securing my 2nd place overall.

I felt proud of 2nd in GC after the criterium.  Before that, I didn't feel like I'd done anything to deserve it.  That doesn't make much sense, but it's a feeling, not a thought...they often don't make sense.

Still, it was a great weekend of racing with a favorable result.  But, big picture, I got some great practice getting ready for Tour of the Gila.  The logistical part of racing stage races is tricky, and I was pretty organized and had my food and equipment in order, so that went well.  Also, my training is coming along well.  I have not done any sprinting, 100% effort work yet, actually ever in my life, and that's what I'm heading into next.  So, I'm looking forward to the weeks ahead.

In all, I won $120, a tube of chamois cream and a case of Gu gels.  The thing I was most excited about winning, however, is this:

I don't have any races for a few weeks so I can get in a solid block of training.  Gila is about 60 days away so I'm going to start getting into some intense training, the stuff that really hurts.  We're talking max short efforts, little to no recovery and do it again ... repeat for an hour or so.  You know, the kind of workouts that might make me reconsider my goals.

The next big race is the Tucson Bicycle Classic, another highly competitive stage race.  I'm excited about it!  Until then, thanks for following along.

Here's the video of recap of the entire weekend.