The road race was a killer! The climb is relentless and there were many great climbers out there! I ended up 6th and lost 2 minutes overall in the GC and dropped from 3rd overall to 5th.
Today’s crit was a different story. I felt strong from the start, and I love doing crits! There were 52 in the combined field of M55+, and M65+. Everything went pretty steady during the race with all riders behaving themselves. I was able to stay in the front third of the group throughout the race and began to move up in position on the second to last lap. During the last lap Ken Louder passed me (he had told me later that he had been marking me throughout the race). I waited for my opportunity and went around him just before the final sprint began. I was able to win my M65+ category and and came in about 8th overall in the combined field. This moved me up to 4th in the GC.
Overall this was a great stage race and I’m glad to have done it … now just need to work on those long climbs!!
-Doug Perry
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This 3 day stage race – biggest one in Arizona – starts with a 14.4 mile Time Trial. I’ve done this race two other times in 2009 and 2011. The M65+ had a good field of ten riders, three of which have consistently finished in the top 5 nationally – Ken Louder from Utah (his son Jeff Louder is a pro), Richard Shields from California and Franz Hammer (32 time national champ) from Arizona. I had a good outing this time, the quick details and the data follow:
2013 VOS TT; 3rd place M65+, 35:48, 24.1mph ave. Outbound 21.3mph, 151 HR, 67 cadence, 20:19; Return 27.8mph, 154 HR, 73 cadence; 15:29; 12 seconds out of second behind Jack Dillon; Ken Louder all alone in first. About 8-9 mph headwind going out. Coming back it was a tailwind, but changed back/forth to a crosswind. Pleased with this effort today … wanted to average >24 mph, and averaged 24.1mph – best I’ve ever done in a TT (except the downhill Sonoita Patagonia). Took 2 minutes off my previous best time in this race back in 2011.
-Doug Perry
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Aggressors:
Sunday at McDowell felt a little better (then the SunDevil Crit). I worked with Roy Quade and Robert Tompkins to hammer the modest hill every lap, alternating pull intervals for the hill climb. For the last lap there were only half a dozen of us remaining and I attacked off the front on the hill climb, achieving a 50-60 ft gap just before the turn at the top of the hill. After the turn, the grade flattens out for the last quarter mile or so to the finish, and I could hear them coming. With about 100m to go, a 3-man train (Puchi, ??, Snyder) powered by me and I could do nothing about it, so I ended up 4/13. I do feel that I managed this race as well as possible, I just wasn’t quite strong enough to build up an insurmountable gap when I attacked on the hill. I am pretty sure the hill was hurting them worse than it was hurting me.
Looking forward to VOS.
Rick E.
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My morning started off with a nice cup of coffee. Fresh off the White Tanks mountain bike race my legs were feeling great. Yes, I did say my legs were feeling great. As I walked out the door to drive another 125 miles to McDowell Mountain Park my 4 year yells good “luck racing daddy!” Ah, a smile crest my face and I say thank you.
I don’t know how much snow Tucson receives but it was snowing in Cottonwood. I was looking forward to a warmer day in Phoenix. When I drove to McDowell MTP it was about 55 degrees. Nice day for a race. Much better then snow.
I did my usual pre-race set up. Grabbed my number, set up the trainer, ya da ya da ya da. I saw Mike ride by the van and said “hi.” He seemed pretty focused. I finished my warm up and headed down to the line and saw Peter and Richard.
The McDowell Mountain Crit is not really a crit. It is more like a short circuit race. The course is 1.6 miles and climbs 48 feet per lap. Just enough for a little pain. This was also the first race that I’ve been at that used chip timing. That was pretty cool for the results at the end of the race. The weather was overcast and light wind.
We started right on time. Not much of a pre-race wait. Bonus! The first lap a rider went off the front. The course starts on a slight decline. This makes for a 30 + MPH start. It reminds me why I do a good warm up. Plus, the course serpentines down to the first right hand corner. This was not technical at all. When the turn was made we rode on a flat section for about a quarter mile before the small climb. The climb was about 0.4 miles. Not really that bad. The guy who went off the front was nowhere to be found. That was not going to last that long because of the speed of the west side of the course. On the down hill we regain contact.
There was no excitement until the 5th lap. This is when a prem was announced. Some guy went off the front. I didn’t know who he was but the rest of the racer seemed excited. We were averaging 3:53 per lap and now the prem lap threw us down to 3:38. Nice! I didn’t feel any particular distress but my highest watts of the race came with that attack. We caught him right before the turn to the start finish. It was perfect time to attack and sure enough someone blew off the front to take the prem.
Now, I’m guessing but the next 2 prems were on lap 9 because on lap 10 I attacked on the first part of the east side climb. I tried to bridge up with 2 guys off the front. To no avail I was put back in my place. I didn’t have the snap to gap the group. The penultimate lap was followed by some lazy riding and some attacks. The 2 guys were still off the front.
The last lap was our fastest of the race. We averaged 27.6 MPH and during the climb we didn’t drop below 22 MPH. 3:26! The 2 guys were caught just before the last corner which kind of sucks for them. Mike and I were in poor positions to sprint and so we rode in at the middle of the pack. I ended up 19 and Mike was 15.
-Jeremy Wilson
Overall results for the day:
Racer |
Group |
Placement |
Rick Ellwanger |
Men 60+ |
4/13 |
Mike Misevch |
Men 3 |
15/34 |
Jeremy Wilson |
Men 3 |
19/34 |
Richard Horn |
Men 3 |
31/34 |
Peter Michaud |
Men 3 |
32/34 |
Richard Horn |
Men 30+ |
19/32 |
Peter Michaud |
Men 30+ |
31/32 |
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Aggressors:
And the Angel declared “thou art become race fodder,” and said “it is done!”
I feel cursed……I cannot seem to get myself onto the podium. I’m right there at “stand & deliver” time, yet I’m letting them slip away. Sat at Sundevil was dicey. There was a nasty crash which I barely avoided in the combined 50/60 peloton with about 1 1/2 laps to go. 8-10 riders (all 50+) ended up on the pavement. A couple of them were still laying there during the cooldown lap. TruComposites/RPM now has 3 riders in 60+ (Norm Kibble, Joe Puchi, Larry McCormick) who managed to control this race and assure their mutual presence for the final (downhill) sprint to the finish line, which suited these power guys perfectly, Robert Tompkins and I could only watch while they powered by to take 1-3, relegating us to 4/13 & 5/13, respectively (My sprint still sucks).
Rick E.
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Wheelman strikes again! Liz and I arrived early, around 8AM, for our 9:25 starts. Plenty of time for our setup and warmups. Gus was there to help me pump my tires and things were looking good. Completed my 30 minute warmup on the trainer and hopped off with about four minutes to get to the start line. Just the way I like it. Kurt and Elliot Anderson were walking by and were giving me encouragement when I began to have trouble clipping in and my front wheel was wobbling. A guy on a trainer yelled, “Hey you’ve got a flat” … I thought, “yes, of course, for I AM THE WHEELMAN!” We tried to replace the tube, but none of them fit my HED tri-spoke. Liz comes up to me and said, “you’ve got two minutes!”. Ugh!! A guy underneath a canopy says, “I’ve got a spare wheel, but it’s not very good”. I take the wheel, Kurt puts it on and I’m off to the start line. They’re calling my name for the last time, I race to the front, they say I have 5 seconds and to put my foot down. I glance at my HR monitor and it is already at 152bpm, my max is 160bpm. Ugh! The rest of the story is pretty mundane, but the lead up was pretty exciting!
I ended up getting second behind Jack Dillon, and edging out Tom Wallace by 23 seconds. I finished in 31:26, 23.7mph average, 20.0mph going out, 29.2mph coming back.
Kurt has his own start time story, Liz did great, Gus was fantastic on, and off, the bike, and Kerry did his first official race! I’ll let them tell their own stories. All, in all, a great day for Aggress!
– Doug Perry
——>
Doug sure lived up to his moniker: the Wheelman.
Lesson of the day for me, again… Never change up anything the day before a race. I put on a new tire on my new disc. I warmed up, had plenty of time and I put the disc on and rolled up and down to make sure the shifting was dialed. I listened to my Ipod and did not hear the tire rubbing on the frame… until it was near my start time. I did not have a small enough screwdriver and by the time I got my hands on one, I cranked out the limiting screws a solid turn, slammed the wheel home and dashed for the line. I started with my 30 second guy. I passed about ten riders, and felt good with my outing. No real results this weekend, but a very solid training block.
Well done Liz and Doug. It was good to see the flames glowing brightly today.
– Kurt Garbe
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Results for the day:
Rider |
Group |
Time |
Speed |
Placement |
Liz Perry |
Women 55+ (20K) |
35:11 |
21.19 |
1/2 |
Doug Perry |
Men 65+ (20K) |
31:26 |
23.72 |
2/5 |
Gus Amado |
Men 40+ (20K) |
30:49 |
24.2 |
2/3 |
Kerry McLaughlin |
Men Cat-5 (30K) |
52.48 |
21.18 |
9/14 |
Gus Amado |
Men 40+ (30K) |
46:43 |
23.94 |
5/7 |
Richard Horn |
Men Cat-3 (30K) |
46:19 |
24.15 |
7/9 |
Kurt Garbe |
Men Cat-3 (30K) |
46:30 |
24.05 |
8/9 |
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