Greetings from Arizona!
Mary and I are recovering from a full weekend of racing in the beautiful Sonoran desert located in the foothills just outside of Phoenix. The Nova Desert Classic was the second round in the seven-race NORBA Series. This was a true desert experience complete with 30+ foot Saguaro cactus, desert tortoise, rattle snakes, and coyote. Not so true to form were the mild 60-degree temps and overcast conditions that persisted throughout the weekend, which made things easier on us northern-blooded racers.
The locals claim that the desert is the greenest that it has been in 30 years and that we are lucky to see it in such an explosion of color. I can’t help but wonder if they are just making excuses in order to keep this beautiful place a secret for themselves.
If you are looking for some flat fast single track with hospitable temperatures during the winter months, McDowell Mountain State Park would be a good choice. Mary and I spent the race weekend camped in our trailer right across the street from the venue, reacquainting with old friends, and taking the time to make some new ones. Our trailer, though slightly damaged, is turning out to be a really great race accessory. It’s a bit more to handle on the road than the stock van and now we rarely miss a gas station, but it makes up for all this by being much more comfortable to live out of (once we are parked). It has all the amenities that we need to be comfortable and at our best on race day.
This past weekend we competed in a three-day stage race. Friday was an 8-mile time trial contested over a twisty and technical 99% single track course. We were sent out in 1-minute intervals to tackle the course alone, left to push our limits and minimize our time based on strategy and some personal suffering. Mary ended up finishing the course in a respectable 33min 11sec, which gave her 6th place for the day. I ended up turning a 29min 24sec that was good for 19th on the day. It was amazing to see that mere 100ths of a second separated many of the top athletes after the rugged prologue event.
Saturday was a super competitive 25 minute short track held on a .5-mile spectator-friendly dusty loop through the venue. Mary led the women’s race for as many laps as she could hold onto, preferring to stay out of the enormous dust cloud that enshrouded the following riders. This strategy also allowed her a clear line down the courses tough drop, but also gave several of the other women an opportunity to hold onto her wheel and save some energy for a final effort. Mary ended up 9th place, only giving up a few seconds in the overall GC time for the weekend.
The 98 strong men’s field was deemed too dangerous to race all at once on the tight course so we were split into 2 groups based on our time trial finish times. I went off with the group selected from the top half of the time trial finishers, and even with the reduced numbers several managed to find a way to hit the ground on one lap or another. With all the dust and the confusion created by splitting the group, I don’t even know how I finished; but I managed to move up to 18th place overall for the weekend after the times for the first two events were combined. I was just glad to make it through the short track keeping the rubber side down. I’m sure it was pretty ugly for some of the others.
Sunday was the cross country, which we consider the main event. This course was 6 miles of exceptionally fast loose single track. In short, it was much like a road race where drafting was key. Mary made a decisive move in the first lap that separated an 8 women group, which would stay away for the rest of the race. Mary and the other independent riders suffered from some Luna Team tactics, which made for a difficult race. The women completed 4 laps on the course, and by the final mile, the top 5 were within 20 seconds of each other. It was really exciting to watch and I was hardly able to warm up, but I think that the adrenalin more than made up for it. Mary ended up finishing 5th on the day.
I had a great start considering I came up from the second row—I was able to sneak up the right side and drop into the single track in 6th position. The pace was really fast and I was able to hang on mostly because of my technical skills. After a lap up with the lead group, I was forced to reconsider my strategy, tone it down a bit, and consider that we still had 4 laps to go. From there I was on my own for a good bit of the race and able to appreciate the awesome riding even while pushing myself near my limits. I ended up with an exciting and hard fought 15th place on the day.
In a stage race, the times from the 3 individual races are added together into an overall time for the weekend. As we added together our times, we realized that Mary was only 3 seconds out of a 5th-place podium spot for the weekend. Although it is always great to get some podium time, Mary was happy to come out of our New England deep freeze winter and snow training and be competitive so early in the season. To be honest, we don’t really know how I finished overall, since everyone just packed up and left after the top five results were figured out. I really enjoyed the racing and was happy to feel competitive throughout the entire weekend.
RV life remains a constant test, as I guess we should have expected when buying a considerably used second hand rig. This week a blown fuse kept us from using our battery power, and I am just about to get into the issue that caused a small flood inside our home last night. One good thing I am sure is that the pipes didn’t freeze. I have learned once again that diagnosing the problem is more than half the battle. Before I start imagining and expecting a huge fissure broken into in our holding tank, I am hoping to find a loose pipe or fitting.
Mary and I are looking forward to some fun travels exploring the southwest and lots of serious training time over the next few weeks. We are going to be slowly making our way towards Marin County CA to visit Mary’s family and take advantage of the training grounds that we know so well. We are already looking forward to our next competitive event: the 4-day stage race The Sea Otter Classic in Monterey CA April 14th -17th.
All the best!