Tour of the Gila – Stage 3

April 30th, 2011 | by Taylor Jung | Elite Team

Southern New Mexico is known for being windy in the spring.  This spring it has been especially strong, at least according to our hosts (Bill and Caroline Baldwin) here in Silver City.  We were lucky enough on the first two days to have what most would describe as a medium breeze to contend with as we rolled across the high altitude desert.  The wind had its revenge today.  On our plate was an individual time trial of 16.5 miles.  While the distance is short compared to the road races of the past two days, it has the potential to really hurt your legs.  Each rider races the course by themselves, starting 30 seconds apart.  The one who is fastest against the clock wins the day.  The time is added to your total from the first two days and the ranking is referred to as the general classification.  I say that today has the “potential” to hurt the legs.  For a guy like me, who has little to gain in the general classification and (as my friends would concur) who is not a spectacular time trialist, it makes sense to ride the time trial at a more moderate pace.  This will save the legs for a full unleashing tomorrow in the criterium (my preference).  I did exactly this and finished as the second slowest on the day.  I consider it a success as several riders crashed (some at high speed) due to the 40+ mph cross winds that developed as the day progressed (my category raced last).  A careful negotiation of the course did not prohibit me from nearing 50 mph on the final descent.

So on to tomorrow.  The criterium is run in downtown Silver City on a course a little over a mile around.  Its 4 corners, but has quite an interesting elevation profile.  The best way to describe the back stretch is that its like a roller coaster.  Up and down in rapid succession at 30 mph makes this one of the more unique courses I have ever raced on.  My category will race 30 laps and this fast and technical racing is what I have been most successful at in the past.  The race will be streamed live online at http://velonews.competitor.com/live  I dont know how good the coverage will be, but if you care to take a look, my race starts at 1:30 mountain time and should last about 1:15.  I will try to make some prominent moves in the race so you can see me (maybe I will even get my name mentioned by the commentators).  I don’t know if racing numbers will be visible or not, but in case they are, I am 625.

It is not without some level of disappointment that I am not going to remain in NM to race the final day.  My experiences here have quite clearly indicated that I am not of the climbing caliber required to compete successfully.  The final stage is a true climber’s dream.  On my best day, I would be left behind to ride a huge majority of the stage alone.  I have some other items to attend to back in Colorado at the beginning of the week, and I have decided to get on the road after the 4th stage.  I have included the map and profile of the final day so you too can appreciate the difficulty from a safe distance.  102.6 miles and 10,000+ feet of elevation gain.  I will write one more race recap of the criterium when I return to Denver.  Please check back Sunday night to find out if I was able to exact my revenge on the tiny climbers or not.