Race Type: Road Cycling
Distance: 70 miles
Participants: 1017
Overall Place: 266th
Time: 3:12:21
Avg. Speed: 21.6mph
El Tour de Mesa is a cycling event that is now in its 24th year. The turnout is pretty good and the support is great. It begins in downtown Mesa, at 6:15 a.m., and winds through some of the most beautiful desert in the area. There are very few turns and a minimal amount of climbing; about 2700 feet.
The course followed the same route as last year and I went into the race with the belief that I could improve upon last years time of 3:14:27 That said, I was a bit nervous as I hadn't been riding with groups consistently for about 7 months. There is a skill set with group/team riding that I was never fantastic at and was certainty weaker at now. I did believe my overall strength and endurance had improved from last year so I was excited to test this out.
My plan for the ride was to stick at the back of a pack of riders so that my lack of groups skills wouldn't impact anyone and I could reap the benefits of drafting.
Like last year, the start of the race was fast with riders jockeying for position. The first few miles are always the most dangerous with everyone packed together, bottles flying, and people working into their pace. I found myself between the 1st and 2nd pack of riders and I attempted to catch up to the lead pack. After a few minutes I gave up with the knowledge that even if I did catch them I would likely not be able to hold on for the entire race.
As the second pack passed me I latched onto the back. They were keeping a steady pace of ~23mph and this felt very comfortable for me. Being in the back does have one downside; there are ebbs and flows that can speed and slow the pace as people rotate through the front.
About half way through the ride our group was still averaging 22.5mph with me jumping up in the group during the climbs and then dropping back again on the flats to relax.
I was happy in the knowledge that there were only about 15 more miles of mixed climbing and then the last 20 miles would mostly be downhill. There was even a decent chance to finish the race in <3 hours.
Well, that didn't happen. On one of the descents coming into the last big climb I started to lose control of my bike. The front wheel felt wobbly and I had a hard time turning. I chalked this up to my lack of downhill experience and pressed on. A short time later while ascending the last climb I realized that my front tire was mostly flat. Uugh.
I executed a relatively quick tire change, about 3.5 minutes, with the knowledge that I had lost my pack. Unfortunately, there were no other large groups to ride with the last 23 miles of the race.
I picked up a couple of people and we occasionally worked together but I lost a lot of time due to headwinds.
I finally came into the finish with a time ~ 2 minutes faster than last year. No too shabby. This was a fun race for me and other than the descent with a flat tire there were no times when I felt uncomfortable with the ride.
I look forward to doing this one again next year and hope that I can make that sub three hour mark.
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