Written by Chris Hahn:
Mike Penta and I were out at Valley of the Sun in the 55+ and it was a great team dynamic.
Neither of us being time trialers we did OK in that. I finished eighth but pretty far down in time, and Mike was a little behind that.
The Road race was better. The dynamic with Norm Alvis close behind in second place and all the GC guys watching each other closely was that it was unlikely anything would get up the road and stay. Once that became clear I asked Mike on the last lap to just try to sweep my rear wheel for the sprint. At the bottom of the climb a guy attacked really hard and got a gap. I did not go with him; perhaps I should have. He held on for the win and I won the field sprint for second. It was a bit of a heartbreaker — I literally caught him at the line, he was may be a wheel ahead of me. I moved up into sixth on the GC, I think about 13 seconds or so behind the last podium spot, fifth place.
The crit was really hard, but great. We knew Norm would be the man to watch. I got over excited for $100 prime early on. I got it from a long way out, but just barely, with Norm pressing me the whole time. Then, after the line, he kept going at the same speed. I got on his wheel barely, and a third guy joined us. We were out there for a bit with Mike doing a good job discouraging any chase. Eventually it came back together; I was worked, and I asked Mike to monitor the front and not let anything get away. He did a fantastic job of that. With half a lap to go I was feeling pretty good sitting third wheel when Norm came flying by just before the second to last corner. I managed to get on his wheel, hang on through the last two corners (sketchy!) and come around him for the win. His “lead out” was so strong that we had dropped the field by a few seconds giving me enough to move into fifth in the GC and him to take first place on equal time.
Mike, after setting me up for the win, took sixth also.
Great team riding Mike! Way to represent the 805!
Going fast & having fun 