Southern Arizona Omnium Race Reports

Greg Chmelik

Had a great weekend of racing with the team. Saturday was especially fun -- hanging out for a few hours with Michael, Gary, Margo, and many of our friends in the bike racing community.

The team did very well both days. I didn't quite make my personal goals. Still trying to get back to full health after a salmonella infection. Looking forward to our next big event: Tucson Bicycle Classic.

As always, I felt very proud of my teammates and blessed to be a member of IC3 Tucson.

Jimmy Davis

Forecast
There was a report circulating in the news media. It is not the type of report that you want if you are a road cyclist getting ready for a race. However, it is not the type of news that would deter a die-hard cyclist. What is this news you may ask? It is that the forecast is a 60% chance of rain on race day!  I remember thinking to myself, “I don’t want to race in the rain again” but I had already signed up and was actually excited to see how my training was coming along. This race was a “B” race for me, so that means a difficult training race that I will use to gauge how my training is coming along. I’m somewhat interested in my results but mostly interested in my form and fitness level.

The Assignment
The Colossal Cave road race is an Omnium. So on Saturday there was a Time-Trial (TT) and on Sunday there was a Road Race (RR). I signed up for the Omnium but was unable to compete in the TT. I knew that several of my teammates were in the TT so I was anxious to see the results. I found out that Gary finished on the Podium (3rd place) in the TT so I decided that I would work for him during the RR so that we could get a teammate on the Podium for the Omnium.  I also received an e-mail from Michael informing me of Gary’s spot on the podium and that I should work for him during the race. I was glad to do this because if you get a teammate on the podium it is a win for the team. I used to teach classes in the church and one of the principles that I taught was “Only Fight The Enemy.”  Oftentimes we spend too much time fighting each other and what we really need to do is focus on Christ and resist the Devil. The Word actually says in James 4:7 “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”  So there is an order to this thing: first submit to God, then resist the devil. Order is important because you cannot resist the devil until you have properly submitted to God!  So, my application of this principle today was don’t race against teammates… we are not trying to beat each other!

The Race
On race day I thought that the Lord must have heard my heart because it was only slightly windy and there was no rain. In fact, it was a beautiful day for racing. At the start line I made an assessment of the riders and tried to identify the folks that were on the podium in the TT and also those that Gary would have to watch for if there were any attacks of if a break were attempted. I saw Michael Kothke, I was sure he would do some work and try to tear up the field and also I noted Brandon because I know he likes to climb and that he might “put the hurt on” during the 5 climbs that we had to complete during the race. As the race began I tried to simply position myself in a place where Gary could stay behind me. As far as I could tell that’s where he was for the first couple of laps. However, I know that Gary likes riding on the front and I was hoping that he would not go to the front because then I’d have to get on the front. I wanted to be nestled in a place that would provide some shelter for him and me. I always have this quote in my mind during races, “Energy saved is distance gained.” Each lap seemed to be as hard as the previous lap and there was really no “let up” during the race. On the third lap I almost got dropped on the climb over Pistol Hill and another rider pulled me back to the pack;  I was really grateful for his willingness to get me there!  He said, “Get on my wheel” and he took me up to the pack (rider in the dark kit).

Every lap I tried to block the wind for Gary, especially on Old Spanish Trail. I did not do a really good job at this on the first three laps but got on Gary’s inside on the last two laps because we had a cross-headwind. Greg was in the lead group with us also working hard and riding hard! Finally we came to the last lap and I knew that the guys would try a few attacks; none were successful as the group that remained were able to respond. As we turned the corner to head up Pistol Hill one last time there was still about 20 guys headed to the fish line. Suddenly the pace kicked up and the climbers started getting a separation on the rest of the group, I was done. I told Gary to go ahead and get to the line as he and Greg passed me on the climb. Another rider came around my outside and I got on his wheel. Surprisingly he started swerving around trying to get me off his wheel (I guess he wanted to beat me) so I said to him, “Listen, I’m not going to pass you, let’s get to the finish.”  At that point he just pulled me up to the finish. My assignment was done and I did not want to crash 50 feet from the finish.

Assessment
All in all it was a good day of racing; it was a harder race than last year. For example last year I finished in 9th place and our time was 2:14:42 with an average speed of 20.9 mph. This year I finished in 17th place and our time was 1:55:24 with an average speed of 23.1 mph. It is good to see that riders are getting stronger and the Cat 5 field is riding hard. I was also glad to see some of the JKG riders animating the race and using a little strategy to produce results. It was fun riding this weekend and I look forward to the Tucson Bicycle Classic in two weeks!

Michael Hast

It was cloudy, it was very windy, a perfect day for a time trial. That is how the Southern Arizona Omnium started with the Flap Jacks 20k TT. We had to drive to Picacho which is about a 40-minute drive from Tucson. We didn't set up our Christian Cycling tent and flags due to the wind. Margo, Greg, Gary and I nonetheless got ready for the battle against time and wind. During the warm-up, I had trouble getting my Wahoo Fitness HR monitor to work and display my heart rate on my Wahoo display. As with many TT's it was an out and back course. The "out" part was into the wind and on the way back we had a great tailwind. Once the race started, I accidentally pressed the pause button rather than the lap button which messed me up for the first couple of miles. I tried to un-pause which didn't work at first, so I fiddled with my device for a bit. Not good when you're supposed to stay in the TT position. About 2 km before the turn-around point I was passed by the rider who started behind me. It felt as I was standing when he rode by. I for sure thought I could keep him in sight to the turning point and then on the way back, which was a fine thought. Reality was different. With the tailwind on the way back, I hammered as best as I could and finished 7th that day.

The Colossal Cave Road Race on Sunday was the second part of the omnium. The Cat 5 race was about to finish when I arrived at Pistol Hill near Colossal Cave. They started around 7:30 am, and our Cat 4 race didn't start until 10:53. Praise the LORD, I got to sleep in. After talking to the guys about their race, I got ready and warmed up. Our race was 54 miles (or 6 laps). The 1st lap of the race was pretty casual, even though Colton tried to break away on the 1st lap. We wheeled him in slowly but surely. On the 3rd lap a group of 3 broke away and stayed away for a little over 2 laps. Team Trisports worked hard with the winner of the road race to catch that breakaway. It was very tough to even hang on. After catching the breakaway, there was 1 lap to go. Initially the speed slowed for everyone to catch their breath and position themselves. With 4 miles to go, Kyle broke away and his team was blocking. With me in his tow, Buzz launched an attack to bridge to Kyle, which we did successfully. Kyle was startled when we passed him and I had to laugh out loud. With 2 miles to go, Ryan, another strong Trisports rider, launched an attack and stayed away to the base of Pistol Hill. This time Buzz launched another bridge attack with me, which was not so secret as we had hoped, because I wasn't looking at Buzz. So he had to call out my name. Hey everyone, we are about to launch an attack :-). Well, the gap to Ryan was bridged and the sprint up Pistol Hill was on. It was a tough uphill battle and I placed 8th that day.

On my way home I listened to Pastor Jons sermon "Forgiven!". "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit." Psalm 32:1-2

Ken Huizenga

I really had the Colossal Cave RR pegged as a must participate race. I am out at Pistol Hill riding weekly and I consider this my home course. This race requires five laps. I never do five laps around this course in practice as it can be very tough. Today I felt prepared and ready to attack. The race started and I took off with my group. Everything went well until we reached the first turn onto Old Spanish Trail. Traffic was backed up at the stop sign and our spread-out peloton had to narrow and squeeze into the bike lane. I drifted back to allow Gary and Fernando safe entrance around the cars and fell off the pack a little bit. I tried to stay on Greg’s wheel as he drifted back with me. He was able to bridge back up to the group but I was afraid it was a little early to burn that match. This was my huge error for the day. I could not close the gap and this cost me dearly. The next four laps were completely on my own. I passed a few Cat 5 guys and the only other person I saw was Lonnie Poarch. He had an amazing break going off the front of his group, and still said "hi" and was encouraging me to press on. It was a long hard day but I did finish.

Ken pushing hard up Pistol Hill

Bottom line here is that having to work solo for so long took its toll on my back and my pride. This is not how I envisioned this race going at all. I am no quitter, so I did finish this race off. It took all my mental fortitude to do so though. I will certainly be re-evaluating my race preparation and my training schedule. This is the first race that I have had that I can take nothing from. I had no good usable data, no personal bests and not one lap that showed  improved fitness or progress. I was ten minutes slower than last year in this race. Now the decision needs to be made to just shrug this one off or re-evaluate my entire training routine. At this point I will try to remain optimistic and press on.

I am very proud of my Team. They all put in hard efforts and had our Cat 5 group well represented up front. I am getting to know a lot of other riders and I have to mention what a great group of people I get to hang with at these events. Carolyn and Scott, Jason, Rafael, Margo, Robert, I heard you guys every lap. Thanks so much for keeping me going.

Gary Schobel

Another good weekend of racing, a time trial on Saturday a road race on Sunday.

Saturday morning one the drive out for the TT I just had a feeling it was going to be a good morning. The wind was a little stronger than what I would have liked and the clouds look like they could be carrying a little bit of rain, but I just had this feeling that I was going to do well. Meeting up with the team getting our numbers and encouragement from my teammates is indescribable.

One by one we took off on the 20 km time trial course, hoping to catch the guy 30 seconds ahead of you and praying you're not caught by the guy 30 seconds behind you. It was tough going on the way out. The winds were 15 mph in the south-southwest. The hard effort on the way out was definitely paid back with it as a tailwind on your way in. I reached the turnaround in 20 minutes, 20 seconds and made it back to the finish in 11 minutes. I crossed the finish line at just over 32 mph. I finished the 20k in 31:20, which put me in third place for the cat 5 category. It was my first time finishing in a podium position. What a great feeling!

Second day was a road race. It was an early start. We rolled out at 7:25 a.m. I was so excited to be one of the five IC3 members racing in the Cat 5 category. I felt I started in a good position to start the race. By the end of the first lap I was falling towards the back of the pack. Just before reaching the finish line of the first lap I heard Buzz from the sidelines yelling, "get up in there!" The second third and fourth lap went much better. I stayed in the top 6. I thought I was playing it smart conserving as much energy as I could. End of the fifth lap on the final hill climb I just didn't have enough left in the legs. I fell from 6th to 14th finishing side by side with Greg.

There was a lot to learn in this road race. I look forward to using it in the next road race. Now that my work was done, it was time to enjoy watching Michael and Buzz race the course with one extra lap. Buzz led Michael out for a ninth place finish. I am so proud to be part of the IC3 Tucson race team.

Buzz Wright

I didn't do the TT because I'm not a fan of them and would rather save my money for crits. I was also not interested in the omnium so my plan was simply to do whatever I could to help Michael place well in the road race. TriSports had around 15 guys in the race (plus or minus) including Kyle "The Killer", Ryan "Bitter Hatred", newly upgraded Erik "Pain Dispenser", Dan "Hammer Dropper", and Josh "Yay Crits". I've submitted upgrade requests for all of those guys and am waiting to hear back from USAC. Not sure if you can request an upgrade for your competition or not but we'll see...

I felt pretty good despite not getting a great night's sleep. I'm not a very strong climber though which was bad because we were doing eleventy laps (plus or minus) and unless I could find a non-flat-inducing shortcut through the desert that meant eleventy times up Pistol Hill. I love climbing up Pistol Hill though because it always reminds me of my "comeback" ride. https://www.strava.com/activities/119166978

The "o" in "Welcome Back Buzz" written on the Pistol Hill climb

The first couple laps were not too bad. The group split up a bit on the climb but came back together on the descent and across Loma Alta. At some point during the third lap three riders went up the road and held about a 30-second gap for a lap or two. I wasn't too worried about them because TriSports wasn't in the break and they had enough horsepower in the field to reel them back in. The majority of the race for me was simply staying on wheels, staying near the front, eating, drinking, and trying not to puke on anyone.

We caught the break after a few hard pulls during the 18th or 19th lap (I lost count). On the final lap as we were heading down Loma Alta, Kyle managed to get a bit of a gap. It looked to me like he was trying to prompt some moves so I decided to stir things up a bit for Michael. I rolled by him and told him to get on my wheel and that I'd launch him up to Kyle. I held back a bit on the jump because I didn't want to gap Michael and so while he was able to get up to Kyle unfortunately so was everyone else. I recovered for a minute and watched TriSports like a hawk. Ryan got away and Kyle did a great job of blocking on the front. I watched Ryan and waited until he had a decent gap before I started setting up to launch Michael again. When I felt it was a good time, I tried to get Michael's attention but he was busy on the wrong side of the group dreaming about German chocolate. After a couple minutes of trying to get his attention without alerting the entire field I gave up and shouted, "Michael!" and then motioned for him to come over to the correct side and get on my wheel.

Pro tip: If you don't want to surprise anyone with your attack, yell out your teammate's name when it comes time.

Once Michael was on my wheel I pondered announcing to the field that we would now be attacking, but decided to just keep my mouth shut and go for it. And of course, as soon as any movement is detected in the field, there will be at least 4 guys who will shout, "On the left!" as a sort of public service for the group. So while our attack was completely expected, it was just sharp enough to give us a little separation. Maybe a bike length. I put in a good dig for about a minute but could sense the group on Michael's wheel so I backed off just a touch to re-evaluate and think. I can't think when I'm going at 100%. Actually I have trouble thinking at 50%. So I did some math in my head and determined that since this was the last lap, there would be zero more laps to go. Then I tried to convert kilometers to miles and then miles to feet. That resulted in just 7 feet to the finish and I was pretty sure that was incorrect as we hadn't made the turn onto Pistol Hill yet. So I abandoned all that and came up with a simple plan -- push hard until about halfway up Pistol Hill and then puke everywhere. The intent would be to shed a couple riders and give Michael something to launch from. My hope was to give him a top-10 finish. Unfortunately, this meant that we, along with the group, would likely catch Ryan near the finish. I felt bad about that -- but teammates come before JKG (slightly).

We ended up catching Ryan at the turn onto Pistol Hill, I yelled for Michael to finish strong and then I sat up to the finish. When I crossed the line I asked our teammates on the sidelines if Michael had placed top 10. I was super stoked to hear that he had. Fun day of racing, and some great results for IC3!