Velonews on Valley of the Sun

Valley of the Sun stage race kicks off Friday
By Ophir Sefiha
Posted Feb. 11, 2009
Winter-weary racers will get a taste of springtime this weekend during the 17th annual John Earley Memorial Valley of the Sun stage race.
The
 three-day event in and around Phoenix has traditionally been the first stage race 
for many domestic professional and elite regional teams, and the weather should be welcoming, with sunshine and temperatures in the upper 60s.
The Amgen Tour of California, which gets under way Saturday, has 
already drawn many of the domestic peloton's top riders to Northern 
California, which means that most domestic professional teams will not have full
 squads in Phoenix.
Nevertheless, this year's start list is loaded with talent, including 
riders from Lance Armstrong's Trek-Livestrong U23 squad, Bissell, OUCH-Maxxis, Kenda-Spinergy and Rock
 Racing.
On the women's side, a host of top regional amateur squads will be 
racing, including last year's road-race winner, SC Velo's Beatriz Rodriguez.
Racing begins Friday with a nearly flat, 13-mile out-and-back time trial held
 near the West Valley town of Buckeye. 

Saturday brings the Landis Cyclery Road Race. The 16-mile 
circuit features 470 feet of climbing per lap in the form of a fast, big-ring ascent that also serves as the finish to the 89-mile race. Last
 year, Tristan
Uhl (Tx Tough-Hotel San Jose) took the sprint win in just over three and
 a half hours.
Racing concludes Sunday with the 0.8-mile, eight-corner Verrado
 Criterium. The finale is normally in downtown Phoenix, but with the NBA All-Star game sharing the same date as this 
year's event, the criterium has been 
moved to the West Valley town of Buckeye.
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Last year's criterium saw Rock
 Racing score a one-two with Justin Williams taking the victory followed by 
teammate Sterling Magnell. Cari Higgins (America's Dairyland) took the 
sprint in the women's race.
Time bonuses in both the criterium and road race keeps the racing fast and
 tactical, and the GC winner is often decided by a matter of seconds. Last 
year's men's race saw the top nine GC riders each within a minute of overall
 winner Karl Bodine (5 Star WVO).
Check VeloNews.com for daily coverage from Phoenix.

http://www.velonews.com/article/87584/valley-of-the-sun-stage-race-kicks-off-friday

Last year at the Tour Of Mo I met 2008 U23 National Criterium Champion Justin Williams and he will be at this race too along with 2008 Professional National Criterium Champion Rahsaan Bahati both of Rock Racing. Looking forward to meeting these guys if I have the chance. As far as training goes, I got in 4 rides outside and a number of trainer rides. Looking forward to just having some on the bike in Arizona!!!!!!!!! I'll be at the airport this time tomorrow.

RB (above), Justin Williams (below)