Nelson's Landing Stage Race- January 27-29, 2006
By Dan Vinson

The 2006 SCNCA cycling season was kicked off by many at the third annual Nelson's Landing Stage Race based out of Las Vegas, Nevada. During the three day race from January 27-29, riders from all categories would compete in a rolling time trial, a fast and flat criterium, and a challenging road race without a single foot of horizontal asphalt. After a good rest in October and some good base training from November through January, I (Dan Vinson) was ready for a little competition and to test the legs with some intensity of all varieties in the Pro 1, 2 field. Speaking of testing, I have recently used CVAC (Cyclic Variations in Altitude Conditioning), which, when used, is a passive exercise that uses dynamic changes in air pressure to exercise every part of your body at once. So, let's see how the first race goes! This was my first event with my new Kahala LaGrange kit and I had one teammate, Josh Horowitz, to work with during this race.

Stage 1 - Underground Time Trial (19 Km/11.8 miles): The time trial started with a gradual descent for almost four miles, a short flat section, and then went upwards for about a mile to the turn-around. Next, you sped down to where it quickly kicked up for the nearly four mile uphill drag to the finish. We expected windy conditions, but they died down just prior to our start, although we still had a mild crosswind throughout most of the ride. As for my ride, I started quickly but eased into time trial mode with sights on my 30 second man. I caught him and kept going to the turn-around which allowed for a short break. Then, I tried to pick it up a little more, passed two more riders on the painful uphill drag, then crossed the line, ouch.

The results were pleasantly surprising. I finished with a time of 24:03, good enough for 3rd place - a great way to start the year! I was 30 seconds behind the stage winner, Peter Anderson (Hi-Tech/5 Star Fish), who set a blistering pace (23:33) on the course and 12 seconds out of second place rider, Chris Walker (Labor Power). I was 18 seconds ahead of my own teammate, Horowitz (LaGrange) who had a great time trial for a solid 4th place of the 45 or so riders who stated the race. Next up, the criterium!

Stage 2 - Silver Bowl Criterium (60 minutes): The course consisted of a flat "L" shaped criterium around UNLV's "Silver Bowl". There was only one 90 degree turn, the rest being rounding sweepers throughout the course. For today's race, gusty winds kicked up. There were two 10 second time bonus primes during the race as well as finishing bonuses. The plan was to try and get one of the bonuses and move a little closer to the yellow jersey spot.

The race started out easy enough but slowly sped up throughout the ride. The first bonus prime was called fairly early and suddenly we were flying. Horowitz and I moved well into the top 10 but not far enough to contest the sprint for the bonus. The other G.C. riders were pretty quiet. About 1/2 way through the race a break of three riders got away and got up to about a 15 second advantage. A Gameworks (video game place in Vegas) prime was called and I went with another rider who I guess really liked video games. I used it for an attacking opportunity to try and bridge to the break, with another rider Chris Trembly (Major Motion), in anticipation that the next time bonus prime would be called. However, Hi-Tech sent their team to the front and chased me down after a couple laps. Although the breaks' lead was considerably diminished, they held on to take the second time bonus. The final lap was pretty crazy with at least one crash. Kevin Attkisson (Texas Roadhouse) won, with yellow jersey wearer, Anderson, taking second. Andy Brown rounded out the podium for third and my teammate, Horowitz finished 5th. I rolled through in safe 17th. The G.C. of the top 10 riders essentially remained the same with the queen stage still to come.

Stage 3 - Nelson's Landing Road Race (52 miles/7200'+ climbing): The course consisted of a 9 mile gradual climb (2-4%), a 9 mile descent, a 7 mile climb (6-7%), a 7 mile descent, a 9 mile climb (6-7%), and a final 9 mile power descent to the finish. It was an icy 27 degrees when we arrived, but warmed up to almost 50 degrees at start time. The race started steady and slowly picked up speed when Hi-Tech went to the front to chase back a lone non-G.C. rider who went off the front early. He was pulled back by the time we hit the first descent and we were groupo compacto. Before we knew it we hit the low elevation point and then the real climbing began.

A solid pace was set which immediately spit several riders out the back. Walker went to the front and set a tough pace and a few minutes later the group was reduced to about 20 riders. We continued to go at a good clip with various riders on the front. Anderson, the race leader, after a great first two stages, fell off the pace early and was losing the leaders jersey. We began to slow so I went to the front and put in an acceleration and a few more riders fell off the pace. Next, Horowitz put in a series of accelerations that dropped several more guys and about half way up the climb, I had to close a few gaps, but we were down to 7 riders including: Drew Miller, Chris Walker, Josh Horowitz, Emmanuel Suarez, Dan Vinson, Ben Bradshaw, and Sam Krieg. At about the same time, Horowitz put in another acceleration and opened up a small gap on the group who was led by Walker. Still recovering from earlier efforts, I lost the wheel I was on, but followed at about 15 seconds for a while. A little later, up and coming junior rider, Ben Bradshaw was next to fall victim to the pace set by the lead group. The chase group (now four riders due to another couple riders catching me from behind) were chasing the leading five who had about 40 seconds on us at the top of the climb.

We made a fast descent but the leaders still had 30 seconds on us as we hit the final climb of the day. We rode at a solid pace at first, but most of the legs in the chase group seem to die out relatively quick and a few more riders caught us from behind. In the lead group, Drew Miller (Team Successfulliving Living) attacked and opened up a nice gap on the other riders. The other riders worked together, however, and after substantial suffering and hammering, brought back Miller on the descent and caught Miller only a few miles from the finish line. After some hard efforts and some real good climbing, Suarez fell of the pace, leaving 4 leaders up the road.

Our chase group slowed to tempo and Aram Dellalian (Amgen) caught us from behind, attacked, and dangled 100 meters off the front of our group. Bradshaw and I (Vinson) picked up the pace in our group to stay close and slowly dropped all of the other riders in our group. Meanwhile, the 4 leaders (Miller, Horowitz, Krieg, and Walker) were heading toward the finish, and getting ready for the sprint. Horowitz led down to the line and held the other riders off for the victory! 2nd - Krieg; 3rd - Miller; 4th - Walker; 5th - Suarez; 6th - Dellalian; 7th - Vinson; 8th - Bradshaw.

Final General Classification:
1st - Chris Walker; 2nd - Josh Horowitz; 3rd - Sam Krieg; 4th - Drew Miller; 5th - Emanuel Suarez; 6th - Aram Dellalian; 7th - Dan Vinson; 8th - Ben Bradshaw. Overall, it was a great first race and a nice way to kick off the year. Until the next ride . . .

Dan Vinson