El Tour de Phoenix Mesa, AZ - April 12, 2003

The skaters followed the same 25-mile route as the cyclists, but with their own seprate starting time. The course begins in the scenic hills of the Tonto National Forest northeast of the Phoenix metropolitan area. The first third of the course travelled through moderately-rolling hills, most which were short in nature. The middle portion of the race proceed gradually downhill along very smooth pavement into the city of Mesa. The course ended with a few turns on city streets leading to the finish. Elevation change was less than +/-400 feet for the entire race.

The first section of the course was along an open two-lane road, which could have led to some strategic action. However, the race simply started at a moderate pace with no breakaway attempts. Gradually, though, skaters dropped off the lead pack as the race progressed along the gradual uphills.

By mile five, the lead pack consisted of Keith Henry, Jeff Neal, and Kevin Puhlmann. Jeff and Kevin, Phoenix rivals, surprisingly teamed up against Keith, from Tucson. Each one alternated going on breakaways, forcing Keith with no choice but to chase every one. Jeff and Kevin were able to gap Keith on "King Kong" hill around mile seven (which wasn't Kong-sized at all by San Diego standards), but were unable to hold that gap.

Over a quarter mile from the finish, Jeff blasted by Keith and Kevin. Keith immediately chased, but Jeff had already developed a gap. The strategy was for Kevin to draft Keith and then sprint past for the win, which proved successful. Keith finished second, and Jeff third.

The women's leader the whole race was Gina Granados of Chiuhuahua. She skated mostly with the men's chase pack and took more than her fair share of pulling. In a later pack, Alexandra Scott of Predator Speed beat Florence Wilson of Tucson in a pack sprint to take second and third places, respectively, in the women.

The El Tour de Phoenix skate race was a great first-time event. The course was beautiful and well-staffed with excellent police support the entire way. Special thanks to Nikki Diamantopolous- Baruch for arranging this race, especially since the number of events in Arizona has dropped dramatically in the last two years. After the race, the organizers spoke very positively of the inline addition and hope to host us again next year.

Howard
SDSE-IR