Faster Grand Prix Crits : Team Aggress!

Faster Grand Prix Crits

Yesterday was a hard day. I did both the M55+ and the M65+ at the Faster Grand Prix Crit in Scottsdale. This is a short course, 0.6 miles, with one unusual 180 degree turn, that comes at the bottom of a hill and you immediately climb out of it. It made it difficult to maintain a fast speed and difficult for people to get away successfully.
First was the M55+ race with Lionel Space and a full cast of fast guys … no Dave Bixby though, thank goodness! I was doing this as a warmup for the M65+ race that followed immediately … we actually had about three minutes from the end of the M55+ and the start of the M65+.  I stayed with the front group until the last lap and then got gapped and didn’t want to spend the energy to get caught up. I think I got 5/6 out of 10.
In the M65+ race there were only six entries. I felt pretty good, and actually got away for awhile, but the group caught me after one lap solo. We dropped Norm Kibble pretty early in the race which was a real priority for me, since although Norm is out of shape, he still has a heck of a sprint (former national crit champ). On the last lap, I made a rookie mistake and let Bill Hydinger and Michael Patterson get ahead of me with two turns to go.  After making this mistake, I had no chance to catch Bill, who is riding very strong this year,  But I was closing very fast on Michael … however, I ran out of race track and he beat me by about six inches! Bummer! But I did get third place (medal and $10 … whoopeee!!), and won a prime lap (got a bottle of bike clothes wash). I also got some good crit experience as I really hadn’t done any crits this year except for VOS.

Overall, this was just what I wanted, a good warmup for the State Crit next Sunday … that will be my third “A” race of this year.

-Doug

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  • Mission

    Aggress is a Tucson-based statewide / regional cycling team formed in January, 2004.
    As a developmental team for both road and mountain bike racing, Aggress continues to actively – yet carefully – recruit according to a philosophy that emphasizes teamwork in both training and racing tactics.
    Our focus is to race as a team, utilizing team tactics to get our man the win. We ride in support of our designated racer, with each member in turn supported in the key event(s) of his choosing.
    We are aggressive when we race, but we behave in a courteous and sportsmanlike manner at all times. We also have team training rides that we utilize throughout the season.

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