Tour of the Gila, 2008

Stage 1 – 116km Silvercity to Mogollon road race

The format of the tour of the Gila has changed from last year, with the TT now appearing on stage 3. Today’s stage was quite undulating (4,900ft of climbing) with a 17km climb to Mogollon, the summit at 2036m above sea level.

Being the first stage, the race was aggressive with Cheerwine trying to use the crosswinds to put many riders in difficulty. To force other teams to react, my husband, directing Team Tibco, sent Rushlee up the road with another rider. They gained a maximum of 4mins and allowed the rest of us to sit pretty whilst Aaron’s, Colavita and Cheerwine chased.

At the base of the final 12km, Rushlee had been caught. Cheerwine immediately attacked. I followed the first move and that finished me. Jo and Rach climbed well but were unable to hang on to Leah Goldstein (ValueAct) who rode away to take the win.

Stage 2 – 126km Inner loop road race

Today was an epic day of racing. My legs felt so tired but I warmed up and soon brought them to life.

The first intermediate time bonus sprint was at the 15km mark and already riders were getting popped. An attack at the 40km mark put me in difficulty and I ended up in the cars chasing. I heard over our race radio that Jerika and Rushlee were behind me, so I chose to sit up for them so we could chase together.

After 60km of team time trialling with about 10 other riders, Jerika touched a wheel in front and went down really hard. I was on her wheel and miraculously avoided her. Rushlee and I both stopped and helped her up. She begged me to leave her so Rushlee stayed with her, and I took off in pursuit of the group I was with. It took me 5km to catch them. A few km’s later, I looked up and saw the caravan. Amazingly, we caught the peloton in exactly the same place as I did last year.

I found Rach and got the update that Amber was up the road in a break of three. ValueAct chased hard to reduce the time gap but they stayed away, and she timed her killer sprint perfectly to win the stage. Of course, we celebrated in style with red wine and chocolate.

Stage 3 – 26km individual time trial

Jo had a magnificent ride on her new Look TT bike and finished 4th – the best TT she’s ever done. I was told to ride easy to conserve for the rest of the race. So I tapped along in my zone 1 and pretended to go hard, whenever I passed a camera. I wasn’t even puffing though and managed to do the TT with an average heartrate of 158. Normally I would time trail at 185-188 so I was definitely “sagging it and making time cut”.

Rushlee and I cooling down after our “TT effort”.

Stage 4 – 44km downtown silvercity criterium

Another stage win today, this time by Rach.

Each lap was about 1km with a 300m hill on the back side of the course.  Our team was down to 5 riders since Jerika had crashed heavily the day before and could not continue racing.  Our initial plan was to have all TIBCO riders driving it hard on the front of the peloton, in a single line, and make the pace so high that when Jo or Rach attacked, it would be difficult for other teams to react.  Our plan was to get either Rach or Jo into a break, or away solo.

After setting a high pace for several laps, we realised this plan wasn’t going to work.  So we moved to plan B.  Rushlee attacked through the start/finish line and took off solo.  This forced the other teams to chase her and let us sit in and rest.

As soon as Rushlee was caught, I attacked.  I successfully stretched the field into a single line as I pedalled as hard as I could.  After a lap off the front, it was all back together and then Amber launched on the climb.  Amber got a huge gap and spent the next lap and half away, being chased by the entire field.  Amber had won the stage the day before and no-one was going to let her win again.  We repeated this pattern of attacking, which eventually had the desired effect of shredding the field.  After each attack, the field continued to dwindle as one rider after another failed to remain in contact.  Our plan B was working perfectly.  Jo and Rach remained patient, both posed, waiting for the right move to come.

With 3 laps to go, 2 riders attacked on the climb and quickly got a 100m gap.  I glanced behind me to see Rach sprinting hard down the left side of the peloton and in hot pursuit of the two riders.  Within half a lap she made contact and tried to recover from her effort.  The peloton watched the 3 riders in front but didn’t react.  This hesitation gave the 3 riders a 15 seconds lead over the field that they would hold all the way to the finish.

I had been in a break on this same circuit the year before and had finished 2nd.  I told everyone in our team meeting that to win, you need to be first into the final corner.  With my words in Rach’s head she attacked hard before the final corner and sprinted across the line for a very sweet stage win.

After the finish, we rolled back to our van where it was hugs and high fives, (US style) all round.  The staff were delighted with our win and congratulated us on a perfectly executed performance.

Jo, Rach, Rushlee, Gila host, Amber, Me, Jerika.

Stage 5 – 116km Gila monster road race

The final day was appropriately called the Gila monster. Our goal was to break up the race and try to get one of us into a break. I attacked often and really smashed my legs.

At the base of the final 18km climb, I had nothing left and could hardly get over the early steep pinch. I was zig zagging up and hoping the pain would end soon. Jo managed to get into a 5 rider break and did well to take 3rd in an uphill sprint. She also moved up to finish 3rd overall in GC so not a bad day.

And now its off to Tucson for a fun night of Mexican food, before flying back to San Fran tomorrow.

Team Tibco celebrates after 2 stage wins.