Tucson Bicycle Classic

12321_395781912111_672592111_4944379_5547448_n, originally uploaded by jtenright.

Stage 1: 3mi TT
Placing: 15th
Report: The TT course started off with one mile of flat followed by some rollers and then 3-4% grade for about a mile then a 6% kicker for about 1km to the finish which was about 500m past the top of this kicker. The weather was great and I was slotted to go off in the late afternoon so I unfortunately did not have a chance to preview the course. I feel I paced myself well and may have been a tad conservative in places because I was not 100% sure what was coming next. I caught my 30second man about 2/3 the way through the course and at the finish I had a substantial gap on him. The rider starting just after me had lost time on me too, so that was a good sign. I was happy with my effort and it was my first time racing on my TT bike. My time was 8:44, good enough for 15th only 24seconds off the Cat 3 yellow jersey.

Stage 2: RR
Placing: 20th (in lead bunch)
Report: The 60mile Road Race was rather uneventful for most due to some rather gently climbs, wind, and very narrow roads on the 20 mile loop. My race on the other hand was pretty interesting. I was riding well and conserving energy, but with 2 laps to go I notice my front derailleur is not shift all that great. With 1 lap to go I could not even shift into my big ring. I reach down and check the cable tension and yup it is very loose when in my small ring and barely has any tension on it when I attempt to shift up. I begin to panic a little because the finish is after a FAST decent and then one small roller before the line. ALL categories were hitting about 40+mph with 400m to go. Luckily most of the race was a tea party so I went to the back and started to come up with some MacGyver ideas as fast as I could. After pulling on the cable housing at the shifter and at the downtube to see how much slop there was I realize I just need to get a spacer in there somehow. Well I have some Cliff Blocks, a ¼ of a PB&Honey sandwich, and my number with twist ties to my saddle. So the twist ties have a wire running through them… DING…OK quick take the twist tie off my number with the support vehicle and official thinking I am having a nervous fit. So twist tie off and in my teeth I start playing with the cable housing to see where this may work. At the downtube the C-Dale has a slot in the housing stop so I ball of the end of the twist tie, pull on the housing and stuff a small wire ball into the cable stop, then twist the tie around the housing just in case it comes loose. By this time we have finished the long gradual decent that made it possible for me to do this and were half way down flat windy section on the backside of the course. CLICK…it WORKED!!!! HELL YES….I jam on it and move up from the rear to mid pack. Now with 5mi to go I try to move up but this is the narrowest part of the course and everyone was content with the pace at the from so it was bunched up and I just was not making much progress. Some chose to go in the dirt shoulder and almost crash. Others took the easy rout and blatantly went over the yellow line and move up like 10 spots…The officials took down there numbers but no penalties were giving. So I ended up moving up but it was too little too late. I ended up 20th but was pretty satisfied that there was not a crash in the really sketchy final 1km and even more excited that I was able to fix my front derailleur on the fly.

Stage 3: Circuit Race
Placing: 9th
Report:This course was FUN..7 laps of a ~6mi loop and about 450’ of climbing per lap. The climb was not as tough as I would have liked, but it was significant and hurt many people’s legs. It was really windy so that neutralized the race a bit. I stretched my legs a few times on the climb about half way through the race to try to get something going. I tried to go off hard but not too hard that no one follow. Unfortunately no one followed and only one guy was trying to bridge. So I just ride tempo up the climb letting the guy catch me so hopefully we could get some more firepower. When he arrived we had about a 300m gap on the pack, but this guy looked like hell….So I let him come to the front and I let the pack catch us just before the decent. On the last lap I managed to stay near the front and tucked in 4th wheel around the last corner at full speed. With less than 1km to go I am sitting 4th and then the swarm comes from behind and I am stuck in the middle. I manage to get out of the left side finally, but am now about 20 back w/ 250m to go. So I open up the sprint from way back but have daylight ahead of me. I ended up 9th, it was a really close finish, getting boxed in sucks.

Overall GC: 13th Place
This was a great event and I can't wait for the 1011 edition. Congrats to by buddie BW for winning the Circuit Race and getting 2nd overall. He is in the center of the photo above.