C'mon....first race of the year already?

I guess that when in Rome, do as the Romans do.

But the Romans here in Arizona start racing in January, the crazy bastards! Of course I had to see what the inside scoop was.

Matt and I rolled out at noon to ride to the race, a good 2 hour spin to open up the legs. It was a 90 minute glorified criterium in Mt McDowell Regional Park. Actually, it's a pretty decent park north of Fountain Hills with some good dips, dives, and ups downs. If you ignore the chip sealed road, it's pretty top notch.

The race began with 50-ish dudes and progressed as always, fast-ish, hard-ish, and agressive-ish. There were some pretty good riders in the field, which made for an exciting race. After an hour or so and lots of failed attacks, Cole rolled off the front of the field with some good riders and I knew it was on. The next 30 minutes I gav'er hell and chased as much as possible, but the field seemed content to race for 9th. It ended up in a sprint type of finish with me in 14th. Cole got beat and had to settle for 2nd.

Then we rode home, and enjoyed the post race sweat and turmoil the whole way.

More racing tomorrow. Arizona action!