This time around it was the Tour of the Tucson Mountains, a relatively flat 71-mile course, where we would have to finish in under 3 hours, 2:55 to be exact, in order to get platinum. That meant keeping an average speed of over 24 mph throughout the race.
At 06:30 in Marana, AZ, 600-odd cyclist lined up for the start. The Syncardia team had arrived around 05:15 and were close to the front of the gold group, a perfect position to quickly jump into the platinum group.
It was a slow start to the race. We easily got up to the platinum riders and settled in. What I didn't realise was that one rider, the eventual winner, got off the front in a solo breakaway from Mile 5. I never saw it as I was still working my way up to the front. It wasn't too big of a deal for me. I was focused on racing the clock first, then others second.
Heading clockwise around the Tucson Mountains, the only time within the first hour that the pace became uncomfortable was from Mile 7 - 10. A breakaway tried a move, and I responded and tried to be a part of it. I was a little late to notice the move, so I eventually found myself between the two groups. Realising I wasn't going to make it to the break, I sat up and let the rest of the peloton do the work. The break didn't last long anyway, so I was right in my decision to not waste any more energy.
Mile 12 - 21 featured possibly the worst paved road in Tucson: Silverbell. This road is so rough and broken up, it's amazing that it hasn't been repaved. In this section a cyclist in front of me swerved quickly, and I had no chance but to hit a temporary sign that he just avoided. I prepared myself for the impact at around 25 mph, and managed to stay upright and not lose any momentum. I think the sign came off worse!
The rest of the ride was only difficult because of the other riders in the group. A lot of them clearly didn't know how to ride, and so they weren't holding their line and weaving all over the bloody place. It was at this point that I wanted the speed to be picked up, in the hope that we could ditch some of these crash-magnets. We took it upon ourselves and picked up the pace on Ajo Highway (going around the southern part of the Tucson Mountains). All 4 Syncardia members that were a part of this lead peloton came to the front and started lifting the effort. It must have been a pretty cool sight to see!
It sadly didn't get rid of all the idiots though. 10 miles to the finish, when we were all sitting in comfortably, the cyclist directly ahead of me somehow lost his balance and fell hard. I thought I was going down at 30 mph, but luckily the fallen bike slid by me, inches from my wheels. My teammates behind me weren't so lucky. One was forced out wide onto the dirt, got hit and fell pretty hard. He managed to get back up and finish, but as part of a newly-formed second peloton featuring all those that were affected by the crash. Unaffected, I remained in the lead group.
The final sprint was again not very fast. However, a final corner some 200 m from the line caused my downfall. I went out wide, hoping to keep my speed high, but cones placed out in the road (aimed to funnel riders into the finish) meant I had to brake hard, and a top 15 went out the window. I sat up and cruised in for 24th with a time of 02:53:09, nicely within the platinum time!
My teammates affected by the crash came in 49 seconds outside the platinum time. Pretty upset about their luck, they took solace in the fact that a crash at 30 mph could have been a lot worse.
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| Syncarida after the race! 7th, 24th, 48th and 49th. We really need just one racing kit. |
So for El Tour de Tucson I now don't have to get up at 0230 to sit in the front of the gold group. I can now lie in until 0500 and have a place reserved for me right at the front of the 3,000-odd cyclists. The joys of Platinum!
EDIT: Someone ahead of me got DQ'ed, so I'm up to 23rd!
