Tour of the Gila – Stage 1

April 28th, 2011 | by Taylor Jung | Elite Team

Stage 1 is over.  Thank goodness.  94.1 miles with a really big climb at the finish.  I am going to be a bit brief tonight as its getting late and we have to be up again tomorrow for stage 2.  Adam and I started today with a couple of goals: 1. sit in for the race and make sure Adam is positioned well for the climb to Mogollon.  2. dont get dropped before the climb with the 10-15 mph winds that varied from direct head to cross-head.  3. stay in good position and avoid any craziness that may occur.  Things went pretty much as planned, with a couple twists thrown in.  The race started with a neutral roll-out that climbed fairly steeply out of town.  Turns out it was done at ~400W.  I’m thinking “what the heck did I get myself into?”.  The main break away formed almost immediately and included Mac Cassin, a known time trial beast.  Through several attempted attacks, the break eventually settled at 7 guys and maxed out at 4 minutes advantage.  The field couldn’t decide what it wanted to do and varied from relative ease to full on attack, and back again, sometimes within a couple minutes.  All the while I did what I could to keep Adam in good position.  The bad decision of the day came right before the first loop through Cliff and Gila.  Nate Llerandi and Adam decided they needed a nature break and pulled over on the side of the road.  I stopped with them and then did my best to help chase back on.  Unfortuantely, there were some attacks from the peloton about the same time so we were forced to chase a pack that was in full flight.  This included some drafting of an 18 wheeler that was held up behind the rolling enclosure and a variety of other vehicles.  We caught just before the feed zone and I struggled to recover through what proved to be a particularly difficult circuit through Gila and Cliff.  All was better after that, aside from some difficulty getting fresh bottles that left me a bit short to get to the final feed at 83 miles.  The rolling hills in the latter half started to wear me out pretty bad, but I hung on til the little climber guys hit out on the steeps.  At that point, I just rode it in, trying to save something for tomorrows stage.  It was a brutal climb, especially after so many miles.  It looks like some of the guys in the break away managed to stay away (very impressive).  Adam finished a very strong 23rd @ 5:57 back and I finished a not-as-strong 49th @ 13:01.  Tomorrow’s plan: Adam may try to get in a break early.  Both of us need to survive the kamikaze decent of Sapillo Creek.  I am hoping for a headwind on the last climb so I can make it to the finish, hope a breakaway doesn’t succeed, and sprint to sweet victory.