I haven't gotten a chance to post a race report from Valley of the Sun yet, so here goes:I left on the Thursday morning before the race, carpooling with some ex-teammates to help keep the cost of gas down. Riding down in a lifted Toyota Tacoma with 32" off-roading wheels wasn't exactly the most efficient way to travel, but it did the job. One of the guys in our party split off to go stay with family, leaving myself and two others to split a hotel room. We got along great and each focused on our respective races. My races were all very early in the morning so I tried my best to have all my stuff packed and ready to go on the eve of the races so that I could wake up and get out of the door without waking my roommates up. Our hotel was right off a large freeway in Chandler, Arizona. This was helpful because each stage was 30-60 minutes away and it was nice to be able to jump right on the freeway and cruise there.
I was nervous about this being my first stage-race ever, but I also was confident in my abilities because of how hard I've been training and how well I've been taking care of my body by stretching, eating well, and getting plenty of sleep. "A winning effort begins with preparation."-Joe Gibbs
The first stage of the race was a 14.5 mile time trial. It was on a mostly flat, out and back course with gentle rollers. This was my first time trial ever. I don't have a time trial bike so I had to put a disc wheel and clip-on aero bars on my S-WORKS Tarmac SL4. I didn't get a chance to do a proper fit for the clip-on aero bars, but I still feel like it was better than using a standard road bike with no modifications. As I was warming up on my trainer, I calculated what pace I needed to ride at in order to match last year's best category 5 time of around 34:30. A few miles in, I realized that I was feeling strong enough to do better than that time, and upped my pace by a few miles per hour. I managed to pull off the 3rd best time of the day (in my category), coming in at 33:32. More than anything, this was a great learning experience. I made several rookie mistakes that tacked on a few extra seconds here and there, and I felt like I could have gone a bit harder, but overall I was happy. Two really strong riders, James Walsh and Anthony Moye, put up really fast times, which really set the tone for the rest of the weekend.
The second day of racing was comprised of 2.8 laps around a pretty fun course, totaling 46 miles. This course was fairly straight forward, and had a medium hill on the final stretch that played into my favor. From the get-go, the pack stayed together pretty well. I felt like I had a firm grasp on how this race was playing out. Although this was my first road race, I had done dozens of tough group rides which gave me a lot of confidence. On the second lap, there was a King of the Mountain bonus. I broke off with a small group and managed to kick it on the last part of the hill to win the sprint and get the bonus. I was really happy about that as I really enjoy climbing and feel like it is one of my strong points in cycling. The race slowed down significantly after that, with one lap left until the finish. The group got to the final hill together, and no real attacks were made on the climb. This is where I went wrong. I was worried about attacking, being followed, and wasting all of my energy. In reality, I would have had better odds of winning had I kicked it on the hill, taking only the true climbers with me, rather than letting it come down to a short sprint on the line. The top guys rolled in together. I knew who I was marking, but with 200m or so left, a guy came up from behind us and sprinted hard (I had not been watching him). By the time I reacted to his sprint, I was a bike length or two behind him. I closed a part of the gap, but was not able to get the win. I was happy with 2nd place, but felt like I let an opportunity get away. The top 3 in the general classification stayed the same after the road race. A few small time changes were factored in, but it was not enough to do anything significant.
Day 3 held the final stage, a 25-minute criterium. It was fairly obvious going into this race that I was racing to keep my 3rd place general classification standing. The race was too short and the course too flat to hope to break away and get much more than a few seconds on the leaders. This was one race that I had some confidence in, not because I feel like I am necessarily skilled at criteriums, but because I at least had done 3 or 4 of these in the past and knew what to expect. The race played out fairly conservatively. Each of the leaders took a couple of pulls, but no true breakaway was formed. The last lap was super sketchy. I got elbowed a few times and my wheel was touched on a couple of the tighter corners where everybody was scrambling for the inside line. The race came down to a sprint. Anthony Moye, the 2nd place guy in the general classification, kicked it hard and won by a few bike lengths. I was able to sprint well enough to get 2nd place. Honestly, I was just happy to not have gone down on that last lap!
All in all, the time trial decided the general classification for the whole weekend. I pulled off a 3rd place general classification finish which I was very happy with.
Photo credit to the two top pictures go to Zazoosh. Other photos are from my iPhone, and from a couple of other racers who tagged me on Facebook. I will post better podium shots as I get them.
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