Valley of The Sun - Feb. 23-25 - cat3

I broke my wrist a week and a half before I supposed to race with the national team down in Phoenix for the Valley of the Sun stage race. I had never done a stage race, so I was very upset when I saw the X-ray results, but the plans had been made to stay down there for three days so three generations of my family (grandfather, dad, and brother) and I flew to Phoenix the night before the TT. I did not want to miss a chance to meet the national team coach, so I figured showing up just to meet him was a good step towards eventually going to Europe. Anyway my TT start time was 12:10 so my dad and I packed up the bike into the car and drove for an hour and a half to the middle of the desert for a 30 minute bike race. As I warmed up my huge cast got some funny looks, but at least it was blue so it matched my bike and helmet (by the way I was borrowing both of those because it was only my second TT ever). It was an out and back course with a headwind on the way back. The national coach, however, told me before the race that the headwind was on the way out so I should hammer to the turnaround and then ride the wind back. It would have been good advice if it was correct. So I rolled up to the starting line with the mindset of going hard for the first half. I caught my 30 second man in no more than 2 miles of the 13 mile race. I didn't feel a headwind, but I decided to trust the NATIONAL coach and push hard until the turnaround. I caught my minute man in sight of the halfway mark and was feeling very good. Once I made that 180 degree turn, I was not comfortable. I was blasted by the headwind right as started in the other direction and started to wonder where the coach got his info. I saw my minute and a half guy right in front of me so I had something to shoot for my legs ached and my broken arm was starting to feel uncomfortable. I caught the minute and a half guy with 1000m to go and almost caught my 2 minute man on the line. I did not stick around for the results because I went off pretty early in my category and my dad had a golf tee time so we hustled back to the hotel. I finished 22nd, about 2 and a half minutes off the pace. More importantly, though, is that I was 9 seconds behind the closest junior in my age group.

The Road race was a different story. It was the windiest day that I have ever been on the bike and I made it halfway through the 70 mile race when I called it quits because my hand hurt and I had been dropped. It was a good experience to ride with the junior national team, but a mostly unsuccessful race. Hopefully i will be back racing soon because the doc says that I should stay off teh bike for a couple weeks.

-Charlie