Blogs by Professional Cyclists - Professional Cycling Unplugged™

Today’s Tour of the Gila stage started and finished in Fort Bayard, just seven miles from our host’s house (PROPS TO JEFF, HE’S THE MAN!).  We cruised over to the start this morning to warm up the legs and make sure we were ready for the opening TWO categorized climbs, taking in multiple thousands of feet of climbing beginning less than ten miles into the relatively short stage.

I felt pretty opened up after yesterday’s lung-buster, but when Lance and Horner started ripping it up the first categorized climb to Pinos Altos, my hopes of getting into the early move quickly changed to just riding in the top ten and trying desperately not to redline.  I did put in one good attack on one of the final rollers leading to the crest of the first climb–a few guys had already made it off the front, so I planned to bridge up and roll it with some help–but I was quickly pulled back as Horner stood on the gas for all of 30 seconds and just brought me back to earth like a falling rock!

I stayed safe through some sketchy descending (on one of the most spectacular roads I’ve ever had the pleasure to ride on, one that we traversed numerous times at camp a month ago) and the team was together to start the second categorized climb.  This climb was ridden in the large end of the cassette and the little ring when we were at camp . . . I didn’t come out of the big ring the entire way up today!!  OUCH.  We were single file as the Mellow Johnny boys DRILLED IT, and when it got really steep near the top, the very front of the group really started to shatter and I only made it over the top with the encouragement of my super-fast teammate Ben Kneller.  He has since told me that the faces I was making had him feeling quite sorry for me!

One incredibly sketchy descent later (where Candellario ate it after blowing a tire and another Livestrong rider went off the edge of a moderately steep cliff) I found myself baking in the valley with a VERY select group.  Unfortunately many of my teammates had not been selected.  Ben and Rolf were with me, and thankfully Alex (and later an impressive Dan) made it through the caravan with a serious load of bottles.  THE LIGHTS CAME BACK ON!  I organized the boys behind me through the somewhat-guttered valley section and rode next to the Slipstream boys for most of it–right behind Lance/Horner/Levi.  It was fun getting multiple motorcycles with cameras clicking like we were riding up a Red Carpet.  I made sure to look like I could easily give Levi a bear hug–I think his head was about level with by handlebars.

We made it through the valley and I started feeling REALLY good.  The massive quantities of Gatoraide and the amazing teamwork (keep everyone shielded from the dangerously energy-sapping crosswinds) had me ready to tackle the final highway-grade climbs before a sick descent to the finish.  I stayed safe and near the front, and Ben/Alex/Dan/Paul were right there with me when we got the call that I was now the designated sprinter, not the final leadout!  Oh well, I’ll just ride my bike really fast a couple hundred meters further than normal. 

The descent from the highway climb was FAST FAST FAST.  I love surfing a fast field like that, and stayed near the front for the key moments.  The team worked flawlessly to shepard me through the final flat gutter section before the last 2K . . . I was in perfect position and jumped with a couple other guys into the final right turn before a HARD false-flat section before the finish.  Ben, Alex, and Rolf were right on me, ready to take over once more until the final sprint, when the guy I followed through the turn DIDN’T TURN.  He went straight, until I yelled “RIGHT RIGHT RIGHT!!!” and we went from 33mph to 13.9mph.  Momentum gone, I lit my final match through the false-flat and just had nothing left for anything even resembling a sprint.  ARGH!!  The legs were there, but make 100 moves and 99 might be right . . . but that one wrong move costs you a shot at the podium.

I want to give a huge thanks to our feeder/temporary mechanic Brad, a good friend of Rolf’s, and I also want to thank our team’s awesome owner, Rob Granger, for making the trek down and riding in the back of the Team Mini!  I owe Tom Zirbel a beer after following him through many climbing sections–he’s the only guy I can draft really well, he climbs FAST and STEADY, and he’s an Iowa boy!  I want to say sorry to Cando for chopping him a few times after the Pinos Altos climb, I was pretty delerious and could barely handle my machine.  Also, to Alex Howes: I wasn’t trying to steal Levi’s wheel from you, I was just keeping our team out of the fight in the field and trying to score some press time.  It’s also pretty sweet to ride behind such fantastic cyclists, guys who I look up to and read about.

Finally, THANKS TO MY AMAZING TEAMMATES for getting me through such a tough stage and putting me in the perfect position to take a crack at the sprint!  It was a tough day and we showed that we can ride at the front and battel for the win with the best teams here.  I’m excited about the rest of the Tour of the Gila–I hope you are too!

P.S. as usual, you can see my TrainingPeaks file here.  CHECK OUT OUR TEAM’S TWITTER FEED FOR LIVE STAGE UPDATES FROM THE TEAM MINI!

Below are some cool pictures from a great local rider I met at training camp last month, Mike Sorensen.  Notice Taylor P suffering next to the Frey-Train! 

(4 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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Yo! down in Silver City, NM for the Gila.  The town has cleaned up for Lance!  Fresh asphalt on all the roads that had pot holes during my last visit in Janurary (he better not break that collarbone down here again!), flowers being planted on medians, more fans than usual and no centerline rule!

Walker flatted training the day before, it took these jokers 25 minutes to get that tubie off!  I now have complete confidence in Daimo’s wheel glueing skills!

Stage 1 went really well.  I was 2nd to Levi on the mountaintop finish!  We have a strong team here; the core guys that won Redlands team GC, and we raced like it.  Tito was in almost every early move save for the one that stuck and running into the climb when the positioning battle started, we all posted up front and didn’t let anyone get in our way.  I was able to start the climb 2nd wheel!  Lance set a mean tempo on the lower slopes and when I looked back i was surprised to see only 7 guys left!  No attacks had gone yet and I was about to jump but Levi beat me to the punch, he went with 2 miles to go and i tried to follow but he had rockets on and was breathing out his nose!  I dialed it back down under the red zone and rode with Baldwin until I jumped him with 200 meters.

Levi may have the most talented domestiques in the race but there’s only two of them and there’s 4 days to go.  They want a hard training camp, so we’ll give it to them.  Look out for Alex tomorrow, he’s sitting 16th after today; a prime spot for breakaway potential and jersey snatching!

-pete

This isn’t a team-scheduled race; no soigneurs here, but the space legs are doing the job. and I fill my own bottles all you biking pre-madonnas. and i wash my own bike

(6 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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The Tour of the Gila is a 5 day stage race in Silver City, New Mexico. There is a small amount of altitude here and a lot of dry heat. The first stage consists of a 73 mile road race is a mostly downhill/rolling course that ends on a 6 mile climb with sections that run as steep as 18%.

Webcor’s goal for the day was to put pressure on race contenders from other teams so once the race got going we started launching attacks. Amy, Alex, and Gina got the ball rolling for quite some time giving it a go one after another.  There were moments when each of our 3 riders appeared to have gotten clear and would possibly make it to the base of the climb in a small group but because of either a lack of cooperation from break mates or a strong chasing field no one got clear initially. At about the ¾ mark of the race Nikki and I joined the attack efforts while Katheryn conserved in the field. With 5 Webcor riders attacking, Gina finally got clear with 2 other girls—Rachel Heal (Colavita) and Hillary Billington (Lip Smackers)—when she rocketed up the side of a rise.

Once Gina and her group got clear, Karen instructed Nikki and I to attempt to bridge so we would have more numbers to start the final climb. It took a couple tries, but eventually there was a lull in the field and I attacked with purpose. I got clear with no troubles and spent the next little while bridging up to Gina who waited patiently for my arrival. It was pretty exciting to reach Gina with only 9 miles to the base of the climb but that left a lot of work for our fearless chief. She drilled it up and down every rise and decent to the turn off for the climb until she was cross eyed and then it was my turn to take over. With about 6 miles remaining I gave it a little extra where the climb began to drop the remainder of the break and then I was on my own. Long time up hill alone!!! I tried my hardest and gave it my all, but the steep sections killed me and around 2 miles to go Kristin Armstrong passed me. It all ways an honor to get tromped by an Olympic champion and I tried to hang on to her but it was only in vain. The next group to catch me happily contained Katheryn with 2 other girls. I watched Katheryn pull away from her companions so I was pleased to see her lock up 2nd place on a wicked climb. A group of 3 Vaule Act girls were the next to catch me and as we approached the line I was officially toast! I think I held on for 8th or so and I couldn’t stand at the finish—first time experience.

The rest of the team rolled in strong with Nikki and Alex both in the top 20 and Amy and Gina just shortly there after since they had demolished themselves prior to the climb. Today was a great team effort and we are excited to be in 2nd place overall. There are still 4 hard days remaining!

Photo ©: Mitch Clinton/www.clintonphoto.com

(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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One stage down, four more to go!  Today’s Tour of the Gila was quite fast, covering the 95 miles in just 3:40, including the infamous Mogollon ascent at the finish.  It was bright sun all day, with temps hitting 90 degrees on the final climb, and a strong west wind keeping anxiety high and making the Mogollon’s plateau a guttered road of death.

Team Ciclismo raced like a well-oiled machine in its first team even of the season!  We made sure to stay vigilant on the two short loops mid-race, and I rolled a couple times with some breaks, one of which including Leipheimer and another including Old Man Horner.  Nothing was sticking because everyone wanted to be in the move, and the wind and lack of climbing helped keep things fast and glued together until just after the two mid-race circuits.  When the main break rolled, the team decided that it would be caught, as usual, at the base of the final climb–we decided to save the legs and keep our noses out of the wind.

The racing got pretty nervous about 10 miles away from the right turn to the final ascent.  With many fast descents and some twisites taken at over 50 miles per hour, the room for error was zilch.  Ciclismo formed with all eight guys staying right in the top 30 of the massive 170 rider field.  We held position with teams coming over the top, and we didn’t burn any matches doing it!  Everyone was communicating well, staying hydrated and fed, and mosti importantly SAFE.

The Mogollon climb went very well–the team’s plan was executed almost perfectly.  We hit the right turn just behind the front guys, and continued to creep through the front on the two miles of chip-seal leading into the first portion of the climb.  I felt pretty good on the first half of the climb leading into the plateau, but the heart rate and breathing went to the roof.  IT HURTS TO RACE AT 7K FEET!  I was spinning 100+ rpm to save the legs, and they indeed feel very fresh, but my lungs just redlined and basically exploded on the final portion of the Mogollon.  I did my job and sheparded Ben Kneller across the crucial crosswind section–ouch!  Lance took a monstrous pull leading into the final climb and basically split off the front 20 guys, so we scrambled to bridge the gap before the climbing even began.

Thankfully Ben had a great ride, hitting the climb in the front group and hanging tight to place 18th.  When he came around me to start the climb, he said “Come on, Nick!” and I basically blew the lungs out to the point that I couldn’t even maintain my standard tempo wattage!  I was hyperventalating most of the way up the climb, and it was definitely some of the longest 2 miles on the bike that I’ve had this year.  It’s rough going backwards on a climb that I know I can rip when I’m acclimated, but I was really happy the Ben killed it and Rolf finished just a few mort places behind in 28th.  I rolled in for 50th (two spots ahead of Floyd!) another 1-2 minutes back.

I’ll be going in the breaks on tomorrow’s “transition stage” while the rest of the guys save their legs as much as possible to rip the TT on Friday.  Hopefully I can get into a group a little down on GC and ROLL IT!  I know the legs and lungs will be much better after today’s solid opener, the same thing happend at our Silver City training camp just a month ago.

Wish me luck, and I’ll be hanging around Lance plenty this week to get some press! 

P.S. here are a couple power files below, one of the overall stage, another of the Mogollon ascent.  Not a terribly difficult day until the end, but I rode very efficiently and never really burned a match that didn’t need to be burned.  If you’re interested, here’s a link to today’s stage in TrainingPeaks.

Here’s the full stage, smoothed for easier readability.

This is the Mogollon climb–you can see the plateau in the middle, and the steepest section is the first portion of the climb before the plateau.  I definitely pegged the rev-line way too much early in the climb, but that’s racing at altitude!  Should be all cleared up and ready to go tomorrow, though.

Thanks for reading, and keep on the look out for me making an appearance with the famous Mellow Johnny!

(4 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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Athens is always an exciting racing stop on our calendar. It has been a few years for me, so I was definitely looking forward to coming back. I have always seemed to have good luck with this race.

On Saturday morning after a nice spin at home, I drove to Athens to meet up with our short-staffed team for the weekend. As we drove into town the excitement was already building. The expo around the course was already in full swing and cycling enthusiasts of all kinds were out wandering the streets. A few hours before start time we had our team meeting and we were ready.

To add a little more excitement to the night as Jo and I were pinning our numbers, Meredith comes running into the room. “Did you hear there was a shooting a couple miles from here, and the guy is on the run?” So all the helicopters that we heard flying around were not actually for us, instead they were for the manhunt. So needless to say we were a little leery about heading out on the roads for a spin before race time.

We rode over to the course about 30 minutes before start time, and we were ready. The crowds were already getting thick, and the partying had already begun. The atmosphere of this race gives you such a high, and you can’t help but get anxious for the start.

When the gun went off Brooke was the first one to attack stringing out the field. A few more attacks followed, and then finally on lap 8 I followed an attack by Jacquelyn Crowell from Type 1.

We worked well together and stayed off for the better half of the race. Unfortunately with Colavita not in the mix they were eager to bring us back. So with 17 laps to go it was all together and from then on nothing had any room to go very far. We were ready for the field sprint. With only 4 girls we had to be careful to not over extend and start to early. The most vulnerable section on the course is the back straight. So with one to go Meredith took over with just enough to keep us together but saving gas for the back straight.

When she hit is there was no one coming around us, it was amazing. I took over coming into turn 3 and just after turn 4 Brooke opened her sprint. I was waiting for the swarm, and waiting and waiting. It never really came. Brooke won the sprint, Jo was 4^th and I held on for 6^th.

We were so amped after the race. It was amazing. Everyone rode extremely well and the plan was flawless. It was a great way to start the week of crits.

Oh and by the way the last we heard the shooter was not found and is still on the run.

(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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Posted under ROAD BIKE