Race Report: Tucson Bicycle Classic 2023 - Women’s Cat 3/M
Race: 2023 Tucson Bicycle Classic W Cat 3/M
Date: March 3-5, 2023
AVRT racers: Kelly Brennan, Skyler Espinoza, Alana O’Mara, Niky Taylor
Results:
Day 1 Time Trial: Alana 1st
Day 2 RR: Niky 1st
Day 3 Circuit: Skyler 1st, Kelly 2nd
Overall GC: Niky 1st, Alana 2nd, Kelly 5th
Recap: Tucson Bicycle Classic is a three day stage race in (you’ll never guess) Tucson, Arizona. The first stage is a 3.4 mile time trial, the second stage is a 60 mile road race, and the third stage is 9 laps around a 4 mile circuit. We’ve split this race report into three sections to describe each of the stages.
A lot went into this race and this trip. The success that our Cat 3 squad had was made possible by the huge logistical effort coordinated by the group. Getting 15 people and 15 bikes to an out-of-state stage race was no simple task and we had our fair share of challenges. Highlights include but are not limited to: building 12 bikes in the front yard of the Airbnb because we were locked out until 2 hours past check-in; driving to multiple bike shops in an attempt to fix Kelly’s seatpost (we never succeeded); discovering we didn’t have enough beds and buying a couple air mattresses; stacking bicycles in U-Hauls to transport en masse; Alana’s bike breaking right before stage 3, and so. Much. More. Seriously not sure how to put into words what an amazing team effort this was. We are incredible. Feel free to applaud.
Within our Cat 3 squad, we learned once again how to support and be supported by each other. Not only in the race but in the lead up to racing and the aftermath. We dealt with a lot and also accomplished a lot. It was a whole dang journey. Please enjoy our race report!
Chapter 1 Day 1 Stage 1 Time Trial: Written by Alana
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/8654249192
Nutrition: Prerace: LMNT salted watermelon for my water, and some of those cheap Belvita granola bars because they are tasty. Nothing on the bike because the ideal is to be light as possible.
Course and Recap: The course is 3.4 miles of smooth-like-butter road, one open right turn, and an average of a 2% (i think according to Shane’s pre-race calculations) grade with some rolly bits. The first half was more flat, and the last mile was up a ~mild~ hill (yay for me!).
Prior to the time trial, we all chatted about goals. I was coming into this race really as my last. This was a huge goal of mine for the season, upgrade to Cat3 and do one big last race before residency starts. So I let the girls know that I wanted to go all out for the race. Prior to the race, Alex plotted out the course on a website and showed me my ideal power to target throughout the race, so it gave me an idea of what I could hold. I was super excited - I love punchy ten minute efforts especially with a little elevation involved. When I got to the course, Skyler gave me the extra tid-bit of useful info which was, when you turn right you still have a bit to go. I probably would have gone out too hot if it weren’t for this advice.
I was feeling really ready and rested when I got to the line. Having a bike hold is also the coolest thing (because if you don’t know this yet, I suck at clipping in). When the beeper went off and they let me loose, I just immediately felt so dialed in. I settled into the exact power that we had predicted and got into a TT position on my bike. Everything felt super smooth, I pedaled hard on the little down hills, gaining speed to carry me through the little kickers. With one-mile to go I just put as much pressure on the pedals as possible. I kept seeing flags on the side of the road, but really had no idea what they represented. I pushed super hard to each one - finally getting to the finish.
I finished and felt completely juiced. It was the best feeling. I just felt that I had timed it perfectly; I didn’t die at the end but knew all my muscles were screaming. I noodled on down back to the start, peering at the cactus and the amazing views with no idea how I did compared to the field. Alex met me and said he had good and bad news - now i was GC. I was pumped, it felt really good to start the weekend like that. I hung around and got to watch Alex race (he also did super and beat me which was supposedly his goal 😈) then we went to find lots of food and go to the AirBnB to discuss team tactics.
Chapter 2 Day 2 Stage 2 Road Race: Written by Niky
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/8660794814
Nutrition: I ate so much. 3 clif bloks before the race, a syrup gel, 2 sleeves of clif bloks during the race, a Kate’s bar, a kid’s clif bar, and 2 large bottles of skratch.
Course and Recap: The TBC road race course was a 20 mile square-ish loop with about 900ft of climbing per lap. The course starts out on some winding rollers, then turns into a straight section of rollers. Then it’s a right turn onto a very straight downhill section that is one of those roads where you’re like “it’s cool that I’m going downhill but gee I’m still pedaling quite a bit.” Then you turn onto a very flat very straight road and then you turn onto the final stretch of overall uphill rollers to the finish. Hands down the best part of this course is that it was completely dry. All the rain this year and then racing Huffmaster had really tanked my mental health. Being warm and dry was my favorite part of this whole race.
Alana was sitting pretty in 1st in GC with 40s on the field. Our plan was to force a break with Alana in it, plus either me or Kelly or ideally both. There were bonus seconds on lap 1 and at the finish for the top 3 positions and we wanted them. I was feeling hyped because did I mention how happy I was to be warm and dry? Kelly and Skyler recognized my hype and told me explicitly that I needed to chill in the first lap and let Skyler set things up on the front. Kelly said we could put the pressure on in lap 2, but no real attacks allowed until the beginning of lap 3. They told me if/when I felt antsy, don’t attack, eat something instead.
When the race started I focused on taking care of Alana. I kept tabs on her and tried to keep her on my wheel and make sure she was protected at all times. The pace was quick which was nice. Skyler controlled the front. Kelly floated between helping her and checking in on Alana and me. I remembered my instructions and every time I felt antsy I ate something. I ate a lot.
At the end of lap 1 I got boxed in on the inside, which I didn’t care about until I realized I’d forgotten about the bonus points. Skyler led Alana and Kelly out to cross the line first and second but I was way out of position. I sped up but was too late for third. I felt kind of dumb for forgetting the plan and getting complacent. But it made me more determined to do my job right for lap 2. I ate some more food.
We had decided to put the pressure on in lap 2, and that’s what Kelly did. She got out front and started pushing the pace on the rollers. Skyler and I touched base, and we worried that this plan was maybe having Kelly do unnecessary effort in the wind. I felt antsy and wanted to get Kelly off the front. So on the next roller instead of eating I attacked.
I blew past Kelly, who immediately dropped the pace. I got a gap, then kept it steady out ahead. A rider who we had marked as a threat bridged up to me. I got on her wheel and stopped working. She was super strong and kept us out front for a few minutes. Since we knew she was a threat, I attacked again up a small roller and into a downhill curve, again getting a gap. She worked to catch me and then again I sat on her wheel until the group reeled us in.
I regrouped with the team on the downhill section. I ate some food. It seemed like a pack finish was a likely scenario. We decided if it came down to that we could do a leadout for Alana. On the long flat section I ate an entire granola bar, then told Skyler that I had eaten a lot of food and wanted to do some attacks. She laughed at me and told me I could go have some fun. I went up to Kelly and asked if she wanted to dance. She said sure. I figured we could either do a joint attack or trade attacks to wear out the field. Alana was chilling, clearly had plenty of matches left to burn and was in great shape to follow me or Kelly for a break. I figured if Kelly and I started attacking then we’d either get our originally desired breakaway or would wear out the field before a pack finish.
Kelly and I kept the group pace pretty calm until we turned onto the last lap. Then a rider came up and kicked it up a notch. I stayed on her wheel in second position. Then coming into the biggest kicker (a small hill?) I launched off her and attacked hard. I felt pretty good. I think Kelly and Skyler are onto something with this whole “eat more” thing.
I looked back at the top of the hill and realized neither Alana or Kelly were with me. In retrospect this may have helped me get away, since a solo rider launching 20 miles from the finish in windy conditions probably doesn’t seem that threatening. And in the moment I figured I was about to get chased down. But the longer I stayed out the longer the group had to chase, and I knew Kelly and Skyler were well equipped to take care of Alana. So I decided to commit to a solo effort for as long as I reasonably could.
It’s awesome when you can combine a bunch of things you’ve learned to do something new. I remembered how Kelly had us punch the rollers at Cantua to maximize our break in that race, so I did that. I’d learned from the stage 1 TT and some (maybe obvious) coaching advice from Gina that I should not try to sustain 350W out the gate and should instead ride at my FTP, which I have finally learned. I kept eating and drinking as much as I could. I had complete trust in my teammates to get a result if I blew up and got caught, and knowing they had it covered gave me courage to commit. Right before the downhill section the moto told me I had a 45s gap.
I focused on my speed on the downhill, staying around 30-33 mph. On the flat I switched to watching power, keeping it a bit lower than FTP knowing the uphill headwind section to the finish would be tough. The moto told me I had a 1:30 gap. I turned onto the headwind section and slowed down immensely, but watched my power and was able to keep it steady. I crossed the finish with a several minute gap on the field and no more food. It was pretty cool to ride away like that and I’ve never done that solo before. I also felt a bit lonely.
Kelly: To set up for the pack finish, Skyler and Alana and I (Kelly) formed a leadout train with me (Kelly) on the front, then Skyler, then Alana. The idea was to lead Alana out. I pushed on the front into the headwind for a couple of minutes to keep Skyler and Alana in good position in the front of the pack. With 200-300m to go, the group started sprinting, and Skyler and Alana came around me. But we may have been too late and they got boxed in at the finish. While it didn’t quite work out, it was a great exercise to execute some team strategy for the group sprint.
Niky: I watched the pack finish, then met up with Alana and Kelly and Skyler. We debriefed and talked about what had happened in the race after I went off. While we were a bit confused about things not quite going as planned, but we also realized that we were absolutely crushing this race. We now had me in GC 1st with 2:50 to Alana, who had almost a minute on the rider in 3rd. We also had Kelly in a threatening 6th place GC. We were 2 for 2 on stage wins. Our first stage race was lining up pretty damn well. All we had to do now was get through the stage 3 circuit.
Chapter 3 Day 3 Stage 3 Circuit: Written by Skyler
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/8666542040
Nutrition: UCAN lemon energy powder before race, honey stinger caffeinated drink mix & clif shots during.
Course and Recap: 9 laps of a 4 mile, more or less square circuit. Slight uphill between turns 4 & 1, slight kicker into long downhill between turns 3 & 4.
Our goals going into this race were first of all to keep everyone safe and to protect Alana and Niky’s GC positions. We talked about a secondary goal being to set up Kelly for intermediate bonus seconds to try to move her up as many places as possible in the GC overall.
The race was pretty hard from the start, lots of strong women in the field trying attacks. However, there were enough women in small teams/independent riders to help us cover attacks, and no breaks got away. After the first intermediate sprint our plan changed a bit, and we were more focused on keeping everyone safe and getting a good finish result.
At three to go we knew that it would likely come down to a field sprint so I talked to Niky about leading me out. I knew that I wanted to be on her wheel going around the final turn, and that I wanted us to be 1-2 or 2-3 at least. That final corner sketched me out and I wanted to feel confident before sprinting for the line. Our plan was to have Alana sweep behind me but just as we were forming those plans Alana’s shifting stopped working. We told her to stay safe and do the best she could, and with 2 to go Niky and I started moving up into position. Kelly also moved up and got on my wheel. On the last lap we were at the front on the kicker before the downhill and Kelly encouraged us to go for it. Honestly that part was harder for me than the sprint– we went super hard on the hill to set us up to be leading for the downhill and it was the perfect move! We even had a little gap on the field! Niky sent it down the hill with Kelly and I yelling encouragement and we got through the corner safely and then opened my sprint to create separation and take the win.
The end of the race was such an incredible feeling for me– I’ve raced a lot but never been led out by teammates and it was so cool to be able to set up what we imagined and convert it, and have Kelly come in right behind me. The high of the race was brought down pretty quickly by us realizing we hadn’t seen Alana yet, and then her coming in with a broken bike and her GC position in question because she had lost a lot of time. However, since she had gotten the mechanical in the last few km, the officials gave her a pack finish which meant she didn’t lose any time and got to keep her 2nd place GC. It was really special to keep the jersey and keep Niky and Alana in their GC positions, and complete the hat trick of wins for the weekend! And a great, great group of women to share it with.
Conclusion:
This race was a journey. Unfortunately, there was a miscommunication within the officials and they called the wrong racers to the GC podium, so we don’t have a correct podium photo. But we do have a photo of us all on the ground in high emotion after stage 3, which I think is better anyways. We managed to get 3/3 stage wins and the top two spots in GC. Our results are a testament to the teamwork we had as a cat 3 squad and more broadly as an AV team. Some specific thank you’s to Grant for figuring out lodging, Gina and Austin for spearheading transportation logistics, and everything that everyone who went to Tucson did as part of the group effort. Thanks to everyone on AV and beyond for your support and helping us make the most of this experience. Can’t wait to do it again sometime :)
