Shoot Out Group Bike Ride Commentary for 1/12/08, Tucson, AZ

1/12/08 Shoot Out commentary by Scott Baker of Tucson, AZ. Scott Baker pictured below.

The pack tends to be huge this time of year, and this weekend looked to be over 125 riders.

Soon after Valencia a pace-line developed containing about 15-20 consistent riders and a handful of others who would jump in for one or two pulls, realize they were in over their head, and drop back to the comfort of the pack. This kept the pace fast, and likely discouraged many riders from trying to go off the front. Near the bridge, some of the stronger riders really started driving the pace, eventually shattering the pack into three or four groups. The lead group contained about 20 riders, who appeared to represent 19 different teams. I only noticed three local teams in the break (GST Racing, Rhino, and WM) and all three of those riders were at the tail end, doing their best to suck wheel and not get popped.

Over the sprint hill, the big boys took over with the top three spots taken by Curtis Gunn (Successful Living), Matt Cooke (Navigators) and Sheldon Deeny (U23 National Team).

This time of year there is also a large contingent of riders who veer off toward Madera Canyon in order to up their mileage for the day. Many of these riders are the out of towner’s who come to Tucson to train in the winter and punish us during the shoot out. Therefore, the Madera split helps everyone. They get the extra miles they need, and the in town sprint on Old Nogales can be contested by the weekend warriors.

As was mentioned in some of the posts last summer, a new light has been added on Old Nogales about 800 meters before the sprint sign. Today it was red, so everyone started from a standstill. My stellar bike handling skills required unclipping, so when the light turned green I was forced to watch the sprint unfold from about 100 meters back. Miguel Folch (Unattached) took top honors, followed by Matt Jones (Eclipse) and Tyler Ford (GST Racing).

For a map of the Shoot Out click here: Map of the Shoot Out

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