Tour of the GILA

(Waiting for the race to restart... not a bad backdrop!)

Last weekend I added a new state to my list of places travelled --- New Mexico!!  The NOW team travelled to Silver City for the Tour of the GILA.  I was cross eyed and gasping for air during most of my time there, but I did get a few chances to look around and appreciate the beautiful scenery full of grand mountains and clear skies.  We also found some pretty good Mexican food and a delicious restaurant that serves locally foraged treats (unfortunately i didn't get to try the local gelato... my team doesn't really appreciate fine food...  i'll have to go back!).  And we had great host houses with super hospitable hosts.

Besides this being my first time in New Mexico, I also had a lot of firsts in the races.  These included:

• getting stopped mid race because the break-away was directed the wrong way
• jumping off my bike to avoid a crash (bike crashed, I landed on my feet!)
• turning white in a crit (how'm I s'posed to breathe with no air...air)
• running out of water way before the finish (luckily there are a lot of nice people in the peloton)

Overall, our team set the tone on the first day when we started racing hard from the gun... and we continued to race strong all week.  In the end, we had 3 riders in the top 10 of GC, including AP on the podium in 3rd.  

Next up Exergy Tour!  But first, I get to ride in the Twin Cities Bike MS ride!

RR Wente Well

(photo credit: norcalcyclingnews)

Some days on the bike you are gonna feel tired and sluggish.  I had one of those days last weekend at the Wente Road Race.  Going up the climbs, my legs were hurting.  When I tried to jump, I felt no pop.  I just felt sleepy and slow.  It is days like this when you have to quit analyzing how you feel and just race the race.  

Luckily for me, I had a teammate, Beth, who was riding strong and spent a lot of time up the road.  This took the pressure off of me and let me sit in and take it easy for part of the race.  In the end, it came down to a group of 6 going into the final climb to the finish and Beth and I were both there.  

Going into the climb I was a bit nervous... I suffered up the thing all day and didn't think I would be able to survive the final, fast surge up the hill.  Again, I tried to put the tired thoughts aside and positioned myself best I could up the climb.  The first part is steep and then the grade levels off and it is a long way to the finish.  I focussed on staying up front for the steep part and as we approached the gentle grade I was surprised to find I was on the front.  At this point I jumped to get up my speed and was surprised to find that I had created a gap when I looked back.  I told myself to go Go GO (or maybe that was Aspen telling me to Go from the sideline :)  and with the finish line in sight, my gap had grown and I rolled in for the W -- My first of the season!  I turned back to watch Beth sprint her way to an easy 2nd! (she's got a jump!).  I wish we could have traded places at the end -- Beth did a lot of work in the race and it was definitely a team effort for the W!