El Tour de Phoenix

Hammy gets a 2nd!!!

Here is an Inside View of the race from Dan McGehee ... read on...

Dan_etp

Great to finally ride with some of the new compliment on the RideClean squad this last weekend at the 18th el Tour de Phoenix. RideClean moved directly to the front and controlled the tempo through the construction zone on University Dr, about 8 miles in. Attacks by Marcotte (Bicycle Haus) and Forbes (RideClean) started the fireworks, Jensen (RideClean) and Butkiewicz, then Carney (RideClean) and another rider peeling off the front. David Bierne and I tried to control the front end of the pack to not let anyone else off, with help from a few of the numerous Bicycle Haus riders. The tandems posed the biggest threat as they continuously attacked in attempts to bridge - which had us yo-yoing closer to Carney until the pace finally settled at the top of Heyden.

Shea Blvd was uneventful. David and I continued to sit close to the front, or on the front, to monitor and stay out of trouble. The Shea hill was taken aggressively by the better climbers as I drifted from the front five to chase group over the top with a bridge before the Bline turn. Then, back to the front to control the pace. same issue up the Bline to the Bush turn and down the Bush to the short climb over the dam. each climb shedding a few more off our group.

I was sitting on the front with Taylor Hansen as we came past the parking lot were Bush crosses the river and we got a chuckle from see a female Forest Service ranger, all decked out in the issued forest green, smiling and cheering as we passed. She probably had no clue how her superiors had treated the PBAA.

I tried to cover the break, that I knew was coming by Susco and Cook, as we started up Usery - but that just wasn't going to happen. Instead I struggled to not get spit off the back of the chase group until the false flat and there was about 25 of us that regrouped over the top of Usery. A little cat-and-mouse until the sprint and then I just tried to use up the fumes I had left and stay out of the way of the two lead females sprinting to the finish.

Good day. Solid suffering.