Day 7

The crit:
The course is four-cornered, fast, and has a punchy, out of the saddle climb. Several large breaks went up the road but they were always either too big and didn't work together or too small and didn't stick so the race ended with a sprint finish.


Stephen's view
I was excited to race the crit today and hoped to be active in the race. The first few laps were very fast and it took me a while to move up in the field. With about 15 laps to go, I attacked with an Exergy rider. The attack was more costly than I expected and wasn't the smartest move. I was only off the front for half a lap and didn't think that the effort was all-out but as I was pulled back into the field I did not recover very well and couldn't hold position near the front for the rest of the race. This was a bit of a disappointment as I would've liked to help Danny in the finish. All I can do now is look forward to tomorrow and prepare myself for what will be the most difficult race of my life.

Danny's View

After a morning of playing Wii we headed off to downtown silver city for some four corner crit action. I was more thinking about tomorrow's 9,500 foot climbing day but I like crits so today was mostly fun. I had good position with 3 to go and was fighting with all the pro sprinters but I made the fatal mistake of touching my breaks at the wrong time and boom 20 spots were lost. I rolled in around 40th bummed at my mistake but excited for tomorrow. Last year I had a mega crash on the last day after really struggling for the whole stage race, so I'm excited for some redemption!

Hubby's View

After just rolling the time trial yesterday to try and get my health back on track for the remaining two stages I had high hopes of being competitive in todays crit. My hopes weren't answered today and I was suffering on our warm-up spin. This years addition of the Gila was a hurdle too far for me. I had hoped after suffering in the neutral section on day one I would be able to ride myself in. Today my asthma was the worst it has ever been and slowly getting worse each day so I have decided to pull the pin and focus on achieving my goals at the Joe Martin stage race starting next Thursday with an uphill time trail! Recovery and rest on the cards for the next few days.    

Day 5, Gila Stage 2

Stage 2, the Inner Loop Road Race, began and ended at Fort Bayard just outside of Silver city. The loop was 80 miles and contained 3 category 3 climbs. In the race, a break was established very early. Realcyclist, though represented in the break, controlled the pace of the field and received help from a couple teams not represented in the break. In the final 20 kilometers, the breakaway split and was slowly reeled in for a fast sprint finish. 

Hubbys View (The Zirbel Blister)

Im first up tonight as ready for bed. Hammer city out the back with Tom Zirbel today. I was the last rider to make time cut, pretty stoked to be still racing as I was yoyoing off the back of Zirbels wheel many times up the final climb. I got dropped from the field about a kilometer from the top of the feed zone climb about thirty ks in. This was about the fifth or sixth time I was sprinting to just stay in the bunch when riders next to you are just nose breathing. I thought I was in for a long hundred ks but joined a good group of four that didn't make life so bad after all. Having some major issues with my breathing at the moment so I will just be riding tempo in the time trial tomorrow, starting third so may be in the hot seat for awhile until Mancebo comes in? Hanging out for sea level but this is far harder than anything I have done before so sure to be good for me!    

Dannys View

I went to bed last night with visions of last years 60mph winds and a lonely ride for me in my head. I was determined for that not to happen this year and was more than pleased to awake to almost no wind! The race started at a much more relaxed pace this year as the break went early. I had one moment of discomfort up the first climb but after that my heart rate settled and I was ready for the bombing hairpin-filled descent into the valley below. My race was uneventful until we started the final climb towards the finish. I shifted into an easier cog on my cassette and all of a sudden everything locked up. I jumped off and fiddled my chain around and got things going. I looked up and the field was long gone and I was at the last car in the caravan. This was not how I wanted my race to end. I set off in pursuit snagging a bottle of coke from mama Leece halfway up the climb, reeling in the peleton that was losing riders in one's and two's. At the top I was about 10 seconds off and I used the final two cars in the caravan to slingshot back to the field as we started climbing a long roller. It took what felt like forever for my breathing to return to normal and I just sat in with bunch and watched the sprint from afar. A huge improvement from last year for me. Getting better at this climbing business for a trackie.

Sleece's view:

When I woke up this morning I was unsure of both how well I had recovered from yesterday and how well I would fare in the second stage. Once the race was underway, I tested the legs and ended up in a bridge attempt with a few other riders but as we started to rotate the field jumped some more and pulled us back in. The first two climbs had me at my limit but I maintained position in the field and survived the technical descent. In the final climb and following rollers, I stayed near the front of the pack and felt I had good legs for the finish, but as the speed ramped up in the final few kilometers I found that I didn't and ended up dropping back. Overall, the race went well and I was very happy that my stomach and my lungs have at least gotten used to the lack of oxygen up here. 

Pictures

Heading out from Phoenix, we stayed at director/coach Barney King's house

Entering the Land of Enchantment

Pre-riding the beginning of Stage 2

At the start of stage 1

The road to Mogollon

Photo credit: Mama Leece

Day 4, The Mogolly monster

Stage 1 was a 90 mile race starting in Silver city and finishing with a Category 1 climb up to Mogollon. The racing in the point to point went strangely as there were always one or two teams unhappy with anything that went up the road.

Danny's View

The race started with all the teams looking for the breakaway but nobody was happy with any of the groups that got gaps. I was riding the front hoping to make it in the right move, but after some attacks and counters with Stephen all of a sudden we were doing feed zone loops single file! Further down the road we hit a major section of cross winds and there were crashes all over. Instantly the field was in 4 groups. Stephen and I ended up in the 3rd group. After a 15 minute echelon chase we rejoined the field with the final 10km climb just ahead. We hit the climb full bore in the big ring. I lasted as long as I could and as soon as things started getting too hard, and knowing that we have 4 more days of racing, I shut it down and cruised the remaining climb losing 9 minutes to the leader, Francisco Mancebo. Tomorrow the wind picks up again and we climb from the start!

Hubbys View

Today was an experience for me, my first taste of altitude didn't go as planned and I was really struggling off the bat. I survived for as long as I could sucking wheels in the gutter for a good hundred ks when I started to ride into the race until we crested a climb and hit a rough cross wind when I was caught at the back and behind a crash ended my hopes of attacking the final climb with the group. I got into a good group of ten rides to ride into the finish with about 20 minutes down. Tomorrows another day so we will see...

SLeece's view:

Stage 1: Despite being near the front and in a couple attacks, no early break got away. In the beginning, I felt fresh and unaffected by the elevation, but by the time we reached the base of the Mogollon, I felt much different. The elevation affected my stomach and hurt my recovery today but hopefully by the end of the race I will have adjusted a bit. As Danny said on the ride back, "This is Gila, it's the race that is gonna make you question your sanity and why you're a bike racer." 

Day 2

Yesterday our trip started as Hubby, mama Leece, and I left from San Luis Obispo and picked up Danny in Santa Barbara. After a night spent in Phoenix and many sleepy hours in the van, we arrived at our host housing. Our welcoming hosts are an elderly couple who have hosted riders before and are involved with the race.

Tomorrow we will register for the race and after having a mini training camp together last week, we are all excited for the challenge ahead. Today on our recovery ride we got a taste of the altitude.

Feel free to follow the blog by email or just check in once in a while, we'll be updating as often as possible for the next couple weeks.

-Sleece, Hubby, and Heeley