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Gila Final, Updated May 5th

Well I’m back home in Langley safe and sound. The final stage of the Gila was to say the least, disappointing.

The stage was going exactly according to plan. About two thirds of the way through, a break formed over the top of one of the big climbs. I made it in the break and was feeling great. Things were looking good as we bombed down the other side of the mountain. This is where I got my second flat tire of the tour, and this time the mechanical ruined any chance of a result.

My only teammate in the race, Ryan Anderson, caught up and gave me his wheel, (thanks man) but it was too late for any chance of catching back up to the lead group. Those riders went on to fight it out for the win, and I rode in a long time later wearing a sad clown face.

It got a little breezy for the last few riders off, of which I was one. The course has a very long gradual descent to the finish and it was a good thing I put a big gear on, since I spent a pretty good chunk of time between 60 to 78 kilometers an hour. At that pace I was getting blown around the road a bit. It’s a good thing it wasn’t quite as windy as yesterday or I might be in the ditch right now.

            As for results, I had a bit of a setback today finishing in 21^st, which put me in 15^th on the overall. The positive side is that the final stage is by far the toughest with a lot of mountains. If I keep climbing as I have been, I am hoping to have a good day on the stage, and sneak back into the top ten or the final GC for the week.

Stages 1 & 2 Updated May 1st:

            Right now I’m sitting at 6,000 ft above sea level in a packed hotel room in Silver City, New Mexico. Today was stage 2 of the Tour of the Gila, (pronounced heela) a 5-day stage race on the USA’s NRC calendar. I guess it’s time to check in as things have been going really well so far.

            I am pretty lucky to have made it down here for the race. My dad was already racing, so he looked after me and booked my flight with his air miles. Symmetrics teammate Ryan Anderson also made the journey, so at least I have one guy to race with.

            As for the racing. Yesterday was stage one, a 154km road stage with a pretty large mountain top finish. Needles to say it is a crucial stage for the overall, as anyone with GC hopes has to have a good ride.

            My plan was to sit tight all day, fight for a good position coming into the final kilometers before the climb, then ride my own steady pace for the last 8km’s, the steepest part of the mountain. This is exactly what I did, except that early on in the stage I got a flat, and it took 2.5 minutes to get a new wheel. The whole caravan had gone by at this point and I was so far behind the pack that I was pretty sure I was out of the race for the whole week. I put in a really hard effort trying to get back on. Unfortunately I had to use a bit too much energy to get back in the race, but was able to recover enough to feel good on the finishing climb.

            I had a great climb and finished 9th on the day with a good time. Ladino from the Mexican Tecos team won the stage.

            The wheel incident really reminds you how important it is to have support at these races. Besides not having a team car with spare wheel, Ryan and I were really suffering in the heat and had to poach water bottles from another team. Good thing we have a few allies in the peloton.

            As for today’s stage 2, Tecos controlled all day keeping the breaks in check and protecting their leader. The stage came down to a sprint finish. There was really strong cross wind at the end, so my goal for the finish was just to stay safe at the front. In the cross winds gaps can open up and I didn’t want to loose any time for the overall. I actually felt really good at the end and am kicking myself for not really going for a stage result.

            I ended up 9th again today, and as you can guess, am 9th in the overall so far.

Tomorrow is the time trial stage. It is a pretty tough hilly course, and although time trials haven’t been my strongest discipline, I am looking to maintain my top-ten on the overall.
 
            So now it’s time to hit the hay and rest up. The altitude will have me listening to the pounding of my heart all night. It makes a person breathe a bit heavier than normal and leaves you suffering with a bit of lung burn after the races.