Northern California - Tour De Scottsdale - Ride Report

And now for something completely different.

Bored with the mind-numbing monotony of the California landscape, I accepted Old Fat Guy's invitation to weekend in Phoenix Arizona and participate in the 6th annual Tour De Scottsdale road race . That's right - a road race. Those of you that have ridden with me are doubtless chucking to yourself as you read this, but nevertheless that's what I did. 70 miles and about 3,000' of climbing shoulder to shoulder (more or less) with about a thousand other riders.

Now - I should state up front that the real racers start first from a slightly different location, and the "citizen" racers start together from the shotgun a short while thereafter. The race organizers attempt to stratify the starting chute by rider average speed, but that is an impossible thing for them to evaluate so folks just estimate where they belong and things pretty much sort themselves out in the first few miles. Me? I lined up with the shaved leg crowd, and after the gun hung on for a few miles before filtering back. The starting lane is sort of a rolling parade anyway, so it was all good and I got to enjoy the roar of the crowd for a little while before sinking into obscurity.

We played hide and seek with a weather system from the get-go, but other than suffering a pretty good wind we managed to get away without experiencing rain or thundershowers. But we did suffer in the wind for most of the day.

After rolling out of the starting gate, the course begins a gradual climb for about 9 miles, hooks right, climbs a hill, then hooks right again for about a 3 mile shallow descent before another left turn and the final climb on the first half of the course. I hit the climb pretty aggressively, figuring I could catch my breath on the downhill run. too bad I forgot about the wind - when I made the turn downhill, it was right in my face and blowing pretty briskly. As I gritted my teeth and cursed the unfairness of it all, a line of behemoths crept up from behind. Four men, none less than 6'4" tall, slowly passed on my left. As the last of the four glided by, I simply moved out to get behind him and immediately got sucked in. It was a wonderful 3 miles.

After we made the turn left for the coming ascent I dropped off because I could not easily hang with them on the climb, so I thanked them for the pull as they thundered off and left me in their wake. I summited in short order, and dropped down the other side for a long shallow glide down to the mid-course aid station at the 37 mile mark.

After a quick stop to refresh myself, I was off again to tackle the 2nd half of the course. This pretty much consisted of a long, stair-stepped and windy climb out of the valley I had just descended into, followed by a sort, steep climb before dropping back into the Scottsdale Valley and turning for home. I won't bore you with the details, but it primarily consisted of hopping from group to group while battling cross and headwinds for a couple of hours.

Similar to the beginning, the end featured another 9 mile shallow climb back to the finish. For once, I was in a tailwind - but this came at a price. It was now near noon and hot, and the following wind gave the feeling of dead air. So, I baked and toiled my way up the last series of grinds before eventually crossing the finish line and calling it a day.

My main goal on the day was to finish the race with a sub-5 hour time. I accomplished that goal...... barely. I'm officially in the record books with a time of 4:59:43.1, finishing 758 overall out of 1117 finishers, and 174 out of 209 for my age group. Woot.


And now for the pics:

The starting chute:
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t267/jd6572/2009%20Rides/Tour%20De%20Scottsdale/PA040047.jpg

OFG awaits the bell, with one of his beautiful De Rosa's:
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t267/jd6572/2009%20Rides/Tour%20De%20Scottsdale/PA040045.jpg

We're off!:
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t267/jd6572/2009%20Rides/Tour%20De%20Scottsdale/PA040048.jpg

Descending to the valley, below:
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t267/jd6572/2009%20Rides/Tour%20De%20Scottsdale/PA040049.jpg

Climbing back out:
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t267/jd6572/2009%20Rides/Tour%20De%20Scottsdale/PA040054.jpg

The wind, she blows:
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t267/jd6572/2009%20Rides/Tour%20De%20Scottsdale/PA040053.jpg

Chasing down some old guys:
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t267/jd6572/2009%20Rides/Tour%20De%20Scottsdale/PA040057.jpg

The Sonoran desert:
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t267/jd6572/2009%20Rides/Tour%20De%20Scottsdale/PA040058.jpg

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t267/jd6572/2009%20Rides/Tour%20De%20Scottsdale/PA040055.jpg

Fini - couldn't quite catch #757 in time:
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t267/jd6572/2009%20Rides/Tour%20De%20Scottsdale/PA040059.jpg

That looks like an excellent adventure. I wish I knew of something like that here in California. I could satisfy my inner poser, I mean racer, better than in a regular Century.

Do not complain too much about the heat, I rolled out on the Harvest Ride Century at 39 degrees on Sunday morning. It was a bit brisk.

Do not complain too much about the heat....

Our little Napa adventure the weekend before set me up pretty good for this. The heat really wasn't an issue - probably high 80's/low 90's. The wind was a different story, though.....

That does look fun. The closest thing we had was Levi's Gran Fondo.

@lanceoldstrong... you should at least try the Early Birds if you want a taste of speed. PizzaMan's Polo Field training rides are good too.

Nice job BBM. Way to represent for NorCal! :thumb:

Did you end up bringing one of the bikes from your quiver or did you have to tough it out with a borrowed racing bike with a 12-21 corncob cassette?

OFG awaits the bell, with one of his beautiful De Rosa's:
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t267/jd6572/2009%20Rides/Tour%20De%20Scottsdale/PA040045.jpg




Meh. It's only some Italian steel *** . . . . :innocent:

Nice job BBM. Way to represent for NorCal! :thumb:

Did you end up bringing one of the bikes from your quiver or did you have to tough it out with a borrowed racing bike with a 12-21 corncob cassette?

I didn't have a hard case, and was reluctant to ship one of my prized possessions in a cardboard box. So, I rented a Giant Defy from a local shop. It was a full-plastic bike, with a 12/26 and a compact double.

It did the job ok, but the tires were crap and the stock saddle was a torture device - I have saddle sores for the first time in my life. :twitchy:

I just don't dig the Shimano stuff any more - I prefer how the Campy feels and works. Also, this was the first time I've ever ridden with a compact crank. I gotta say....... meh. They really are just a compromise, and don't do anything incredibly well. A lot of double-shifting on rollers, good on the flats (like anything else), and ok on climbs until you run out of gears. The last issue could be easily addressed with a Campy compact and a 13/29 cassette, but still....

I much prefer the triple crank, as it runs like a standard double with the bailout option included free of charge if you need it. :)