Tucson Day 4 TBC Stage 2

Today was the last day of the Tucson Bicycle Classic, a 50mile circuit race only about 1 mile away from our house. Was awesome to sleep in a bit, and ride to the race. Thanks to TJ, I have a new favorite breakfast food. Some old-fashioned oats, raisins, honey, cinnamon, banana, like normal, but I never thought of mixing in some peanut butter as well. It was delicious! Adds a couple hundred calories, but not bad!

Anyway, rode to the course and signed in, and rode with the guys in the reverse of the course. We had 8 laps of a 5.6 mile course, with a 2.5mile climb through the feed zone that was a long grinder. Right from the gun, the pace was pretty high up the climb, but my legs have been getting better and it wasn't to bad to sit in. A break of 6 eventually rolled up the road with the #5, and #7 on GC. 1,2,3 all missed the break and had to chase the rest of the day. I thought Chad had gotten up the road, and so I just resigned to sit in and roll it. After 6 of the 8 laps, I saw him come up to the front of the field...DOH! Looks like we have some communication skills to work on :) The break was already 2minutes up the road and wasn't going to get away. Eventually the #1 guy on GC got away with 2 other guys, and stayed away. Over the course of the day, the wind picked up from about 5mph to a 20mph headwind up the finishing stretch. The final corner was hot, but I don't know why, we turned the corner and the wind hit, and slowed everyone down to about 12mph up the hill. Chad and I rolled the sprint and came in mid-pack, solidifying the finish of our first races in 2011.

Congrats to Michael Sencenbaugh (Zealous Racing) who actually won the overall, with a 2nd on the day. He is originally from Tucson, but now lives in Carroll, IA. I think he has been down in Tucson for most of the spring training, as he is rolling really well. Gonna be someone to watch this season. Chad finished a respectable 19th overall for the weekend and I moved up 15 spots in the last two days to finish 30th, out of 45 starters. Much better then 45/45 that I was sitting at the end of Day 1!!!!

I was very happy with how my legs responded today. Much better then the TT, and better then yesterday. Boosts the confidence, as I was able to set PR in power and hr two days in a row. Legs are coming around for sure, just took a large shock to open them up. Overall, this past week yielded the highest mileage, TSS, IF, KJ for the season!

Now spring break is over technically, but I am out here in Tucson for another week. Going to do Mt. Lemmon a couple days, which is a 100mile day, and the Shootout on Saturday before I leave. Hopefully another great week of training to get me ready for the April/May races! Finally got some batteries for my camera, so I will be posting some pictures over the course of the week!

Now on to some homework, it is hard to concentrate out here though. But grad school calls!

Big congrats to TJ Tollakson for winning the Cat 3 GC and getting his Cat 2 upgrade! Gonna be some serious HP added when he comes back in May!

Later!