Prologue – Twelve minutes of uphill–that’s my kind of race.

Stage 1 – I started the race wearing the neon green leaders jersey, custom tailored with twenty safety pins. The goal–to start Stage 2 wearing the leaders jersey. With just two seconds on Maria Monica of Touchstone Climbing, I figured I needed to cross the finish line ahead of her, and ideally contest the sprint for a couple time bonuses. I kept out of the wind for most of the race, missed out on the sprint time bonuses (Monica did too), but finished second in the sprint for the stage win. That gave me an extra 10 seconds in the GC.

Stage 2 – Ouch, time trialling hurts. I’ll post a photo of my time trial rig when TJ sends me the right picture. I think the Mavic Comete Disc kept me in the running for the GC. A minute and seven seconds down after 8.3 miles hurts. That put me forty-seven seconds back from the GC and in third position. I think flat time trials are the most challenging discipline on a bike I’ve attempted yet. I’ve heard people say a mountain bike race is a little like a time trial–but you have to consider that mountain biking is fun. Anyway, I have mixed feeling about time trialling.

Stage 3 started out with a 10 minute neutral climb to the summit of Mule Pass outside of Bisbee, AZ. Then riders were waved on by the pace vehicle to begin the race down the pass at 50+ mph. Two ladies were off the front pretty quick and for the next thirty minutes the chase group struggled to bring them back. Once the group was back together, we made a turn into a strong headwind and the following 40 miles were so slow at times it was hard to ride in a straight line. My strategy for the day was to stay out of the wind, try not to get outsmarted and then attack early on the final climb. I needed 40 seconds on the race leader to take the GC and something like 20 seconds on the second place GC rider to take 2nd overall. When we finally reached the last six miles of uphill racing, we were still in a headwind and the hill was not as steep as it seemed driving up it in my old car. This turned out to be a bit of a problem. No one was making any moves and we weren’t even going hard! I figured the Touchstone ladies (sitting 1st and 2nd GC) were waiting for me to do something, and the other ladies just waiting for someone else to make a move as well. I was pretty concerned about the time needed to take the overall. I was confident I could win the stage, but not that sure about the best way to go about putting time into the leader–because she could climb and had been resting most the day like me.

The final climb I referred to earlier also contains close to a mile descent through a tunnel, then you exit the highway onto the prologue course for a steep 1.5 miles to the finish. I attacked about 1/2 mile before this tunnel thinking I could pedal thought it, and considering it a “technical” feature of the course–someone might be hesitant to chase too hard through a fast and dimly lit tunnel. I had a sizable gap on the group leading into the tunnel but quickly realized the descent was too fast to pedal with my compact gearing and 12-tooth cog on the the rear–oops. So by the time I exited the tunnel, there was a small group right there with me. I accelerated again when we reached the prologue course and split the group up, although the top 4 GC riders chased back on. The next 1.5 miles I kept up the accelerations and it seemed each time someone else was gone. With the 200 meter to go sign I put in one last acceleration and put 0:12 seconds into the race leader for the win. It wasn’t the thirty-some seconds I needed to take the GC but I was very pleased with how the training weekend turned out.

Anyway, I feel part road racer now.

Thanks Maggie and the Bicycle Haus team for saving a room in the Oliver House.