Mogollon Road Race - Stage 1:
April 28, 2010 - Silver City, NM - The Webcor team is in Silver City, NM for the 5 day Tour of the Gila. This is a tough race - probably the most climbing of any US stage race and also takes place above 6000 ft. elevation, which is hard for those coming from sea level. The team is Katheryn, Erinne, Andrea, Joelle and our 2 guest riders: Amy Dombroski who raced with Webcor in 2008-2009 and Angela McClure of the Webcor/Alto Velo Bridge team.
Here is Katheryn's Report:
Stage 1 of The Tour of the Gila was the infamous Mogollon Road Race - a 73.1 mile point-to-point race. We had a 2.1 mile, neutral parade through downtown before turning onto US 180, a 2-lane road with wide shoulders. The first 40k or so of the course would be slightly downhill and then begin gently rolling up and down until about kilometer 104 where a right turn would take us onto NM 159. The final 10k of the race climbed for about 3.5k before hitting a mesa that gave a small respite before kicking up again (at points of 17%) and topped out at just under 6,800ft.
Stage races typically start with some sort of individual time trial and as this was not the case for Tour of the Gila, it left a bit unknown on which team would control the race. All of the top women's teams represented with strong teams (this was the second race in the Women's Prestige Series), and Peanut Butter definitely had one of the strongest as they had Mara Abbott (winner of Gila in 2007, while racing for Webcor).
With an early start of 8:15, many of us had barely begun to feel the effects of the caffeine before we heard the starter's gun go off and we made our way through town. As soon as we turned onto US 180, Anne Samplonius (guest riding for Vera Bradley) attacked solo. As it was so early in the race, no one gave chase or went with her. The peloton seemed fine to let her just ride off and as the early kilometers ticked by, her gap grew.
Soon the gap was over 3 minutes and there was a bit of uneasiness in the peloton since no one really seemed to take control and keep things in check. Colavita, Tibco, Peanut Butter and ourselves each put a rider up front (we had Ange, guest riding for us from the Bridge Team) just to roll tempo to keep Anne's gap in check and even with that, it grew to over 6 minutes. Peanut Butter felt to most uncomfortable with the situation and lined up their entire team on the front and had four of their riders rolling through a hard tempo. With someone finally taking control, Anne's gap began to come down. It looked as if her solo effort off the front was not going to stick.
The energy in the peloton escalated as the right turn approached as riders jockeyed for position at the front before the first part of the climb. Kat Carroll (Peanut Butter) drove the pace hard and we swallowed up Anne within 1k or so of making the turn.
Unfortunately, at one point, just before the road kicked up, there was a cross of wheels right in front of me and several riders went down. I managed to sneak through without injury or going down. Alisha Welsh (Peanut Butter) took over the pace setting with Mara glued to her wheel. About half way up the first climb, Mara just took off like a rocket. I knew better than to try and chase as any effort in the red at altitude could blow me for later. Cath Cheatley (Colavita) took up pace and just before hitting the mesa, I could not hold on and got gapped. Alison Powers (Vera Bradley) came around me and joined Cath and Alisha. Cath and Alison pushed the pace on the mesa and I did all I could to to minimize the distance they put on me. Unfortunately I had Andrea Dvorak (Colavita) on my wheel and with a teammate up the road, she was not going to offer me any help.
As soon as the road kicked up again, I tried to ride my own race and keep the others in view; Mara was no where in sight. Cath ended up dropping Alison and Alisha and I slowly started to real them in. With about 2 or so k to go, I caught Alisha and Alison and kept the pressure on to drop them. I could see Cath up the road a bit but had nothing left in my legs to try and catch her. It was all I could do to keep the legs from turning over and the last 500m felt more like 5k!
I rolled across the line for 3rd. Erinne had a great ride and finished 7th. Unfortunately Andrea got caught up in the crash and although she did not get hurt, was tangled with another rider's bike. Joelle suffered the worst of the crash for us (although she did still finish) and at first thought her hand might be broken but after a quick (yes, quick) trip to the ER, determined that there was no break, just bad bruise, whew. Ange did a great job for her first race at altitude and Amy found a good group to ride in with.
Inner Loop Road Race - Stage 2:
April 29, 2010 - Fort Bayard, NM - I have raced bikes for 18 years all over the world and directed Webcor for 7 years and I have never seen winds as strong as what blew through the women's peloton in Silver City, New Mexico today!! On the final, exposed climb about 15 miles from the finish, I saw riders literally being blown 180 degrees around and headed back down the hill! The women passed stragglers from the men's fields who slowed to let the women by and then lost so much momentum they could not get started again and had to walk their bikes up the hill! Every few minutes the group would sort of explode sideways as a gust came through and then come back together again. It was a day I was glad to be in the car! Miraculously there we no crashes all day until one rider unfortunately went off the road with only about 500m to go in the race.
It was a hard day of racing and the Webcor riders gave their all. We slipped a couple of spots on GC, but hopefully can move back up in the TT tomorrow.
Here is Erinne's Report:
Can I say WIND WARNINGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Winds between 50-86km/hr and I swear we got more of the 86km/hr winds than those at 50.
It was truly one of the most horrific days on the bike and probably very amusing for the staff to watch from the car (much worse than any day in Holland).
Anyhow, on with the race report. Today was a 77.9 mile loop with 5,854 feet of climbing. At 6 miles we had a 3 second time bonus sprint which Alison Powers attacked hard and it splintered the field pretty well. Joelle did a big effort and got 3rd in the sprint! Unfortunately she was not able to recover in time for the climb and had a long day of chasing.
After the sprint we immediately started the climb up to Pinos Altos. Robin Farina from Vera Bradley got a small gap and then Andrea Dovorak went to bridge, I was on the other side of the road from Andrea and tried to go with her but unfortunately I just don’t have any acceleration at this altitude or this early in the season. After Pinos Altos the Peanut Butter team started chasing down the two leaders. We had another climb up to Meadow Creek and then a very technical and long descent which lead us into a valley. On the technical descent, Alison Powers went to the front and drilled it. She is one of the fastest descenders and it is very hard to hold her wheel but I was determined, and it was a great chance to truly test out the technical ability of the Teschner and Ritchey wheels. Anyhow, they were performing great and I was hanging onto Alison’s pace until unfortunately so close to the bottom of the descent Cath Cheatley took a corner, (or should I say didn’t take a corner) and went rolling into the ditch. I was right behind her and had to unclip and we lost the lead descending group.
Once we hit the valley I sat up and waited for the now quite small group that contained katheryn and Andrea, as well as many Peanut Butter and Vera Bradley girls. Up front Andrea Dovorak and Robin Farina were caught by Alison Powers, Carmen Small and Alexis Rhodes. I imagine (but not positive) that the Vera Bradley girls drove the break while back in our group the Peanut Butter team was chasing. The valley was about 30 miles and the chase was on. Sometimes the break would gain time and then the gap would shrink again - the gap kept fluctuating between 1:30 and about 40 sec. Nearing the bottom of the final climb our group was totally gaining and we got to about 35 seconds. I thought for sure we would catch them.
But, when we hit the final climb it was like we hit a wall head on but also like there was also someone hitting you from the side every once in a while. There were girls being pushed to do 180 degree turns. Also, to give you an example, when the master men who we were catching were asked to pulled over to the right of the road they were sometimes unable to get back on their bikes and had to start walking! Then there was the sand that was blown into us like a hail storm. Anyhow, Mara Abbott was doing most of the work on the early part of the climb, and up ahead the group of 5 had split up. Eventually we reeled in Alexis Rhodes and Robin Farina. Later, we were catching Alison Powers and Carmen Small when Carmen attacked again to get a gap and catch up to her teammate Andrea. I also tried multiple times to get away, but Katheryn said either Abbott or Cheatley were always bringing me back.
The two Colavita girls only had a small gap at first but unfortunately Peanut Butter had lost some riders by that time and it took teams too long to organize a chase. Vera Bradley had 6 riders and started the chase first and then Andrea and I helped out. It was really hard to keep a consistent echelon since the wind would blow people around too much. Carmen and Andrea ended up with about 2.5 minutes ahead and we came in with the group. There were time gaps at the end in our group because of a bad crash within the last 1km when a girl got blown over. I can’t find official results online yet but I believe Katheryn will now be 5thoverall and I will be 9th.
Tomorrow is the Time Trial and the wind warnings are over... it’s only supposed to be “breezy”.
Individual Time Trials - Stage 3:
April 30, 2010 - Tyrone, NM - The Time Trial at the Tour of the Gila is always a big factor in the GC and this year was no exception. Erinne had a great day and finished 2nd in the TT and moved up to 3rd overall.
Photo: Erinne Willock © Mitchell Clinton/www.clintonphoto.com
Here is Erinne's Report:
Yesterday was the 3rd stage of the Sram Tour of the Gila and on the days agenda was the 16.15 mile ITT. The conditions were not as windy as the day before but still a strong enough breeze that some riders were debating using a disk, but in the end at least all of us Webcor riders chose a disk and held it up. The course was a out and back that begun with a very long gradual uphill into the cross/tail wind and then some big rollers until the turn around. After the turn around we had more rollers back with one bigger uphill and then the super fast gradual descent with cross/head wind home.
We were on our new Tescher TT bikes, Ritchey equipment and Fizik saddle and I must brag because after 15 years of bike racing this is the first and only TT bike that has fit me properly and where I could get a great position that I wasn’t fighting with. I was out on the road and I didn’t have to constantly re-adjust myself. Exciting eh?
Another exciting part is Karen’s excellent advice. On our pre-ride the other day, Karen said that the first hill is where we could gain a ton of time so I raced to the top of the first hill! Also, I was debating using a 53 versus a 55 front chain ring (because of the tail wind of the hill and the head wind on the descent) and again got Karen’s advice to use the 55 and I’m I sure glad I did since 95% of my race was in that gear.
So anyhow, warming up I was listening to some good punk music on the trainer and once I got on the road I just focused on catching my minute man. Because I went as hard as I could to the top of the first hill I caught my minute man by the top, but then she caught me on the descent again (oops), I had gotten out of my TT bars on the descent because I was scared of the wind and I also had to recover from my effort on the hill. Anyhow, we stayed even until the turn around. After the turn I decided to turn it up a notch again because I got re-motivated when I saw that I still had good time on the girls behind me and knew I was still in good contention. So I passed my minute man again and hammered all the way home into the wind and stayed in my TT bars even though I was still being shaken by the wind.
It turned out really well and I finished 2nd in the stage with a time of 40:51. Katheryn also had a good day finishing 9th with a time of 42:04. Alison Powers won with a time of 39:18 and Meredith Miller was 3rd. The GC got shuffled from the days efforts but Mara Abbott held onto the lead with Alison Powers moving into 2nd and myself now in 3rd. Katheryn is in 8th. The GC places 3rd to 9th are so close and we are all within 33 seconds of each other. I anticipate today’s crit in downtown Silver City will be very hard and fast; people will be wanting to move up on GC.
Downtown Silver City Criterium - Stage 4:
May 1, 2010 - Silver City, NM - The Tour of the Gila crit is always hard and with 19 sec. worth of time bonuses on the line and 4 riders within seconds behind Erinne wanting to knock her off the GC podium, the Webcor team had our work cut out for us. In the end, Shelly Evans of Peanut Butter & Co won the race and Andrea Dvorak (Colavita) moved up within 1 sec. of Erinne, but we held onto the podium for another day.
It has been fun to have our Amy back in green again for these races and everyone likes her race reports, so here it is:
Colorado's ambiguous weather has kept the wooly boots, mittens and snow shovels beside my front door, so I was looking forward to a trip to Silver City, NM where sun and heat normally don the Tour of the Gila. I scoffed at my winter booties as I packed my bag, but Gila's wind and frigidity scoffed me in the bootie.
Stage races are always a hurry up and wait kind of atmosphere. So it was nice to have a relaxing morning before the gun was fired for today's downtown pain city criterium. But of course as soon as noon hit it became a frantic herding of cats. Our train of Erinne, Katheryn, Andrea, and Amy knew we had to be smart about our efforts as the other teams had 2 to 3 more bodies. Our little Canadian Erinne slid into third position on GC from her smoking time trial so we wanted to keep her protected like a diamond in the rough. Strong winds and an ominous sky greeted us on the start line for our 2 pm start. I think these winds helped keep the ever-shrinking field together as any attacks and breaks were kept on a tight leash.
The race was 25 laps and 27 miles. The lap begins with a straight of 200m which was a head wind before hanging a left into a guttering straight before a hard right up a snippy climb where the crowds gather to see the look of agony, grit and pleasure in our faces. As you crest this kicker your heart is half way up your throat but is pushed back down through a choppy descent into a wicked fast left which gives you the sensation of when Batman tucks in his wings to bullet through the window of a 50-story building. Pop out of that corner hard and the finish banner is looming 400m ahead and you hear the Joker laughing down your neck.
There were 3 time bonus sprints, in addition to a time bonus at the finish. Erinne was sitting in third slightly ahead of Andrea Dvorak of Colavita, so we didn't want her to pick up any precious seconds. The pace grew hotter when there were primes or time bonus laps, but other than that there wasn't a whole lot of instigating. Webcor did a stellar job of being attentive, while Peanut Butter & Co, being a no-stir variety, kept things under control in protecting their leader's jersey and providing an opportunity for a sprint finish. With 2 laps to go Alison Powers put in a valiant attack that had serious potential, but again the wind kept the race in check and Peanut Butter didn't like this separation. The sprinters were licking their chops and kicked it on in. The green train did a good job of following wheels to ensure no time gaps.
We head into the final day to attack the Gila Monster and protect our Canadian diamond.
Gila Monster Road Race - Stage 5:
May 2, 2010 - Silver City, NM -The final stage of the Tour of the Gila is a tough one with another hilltop finish. The cold weather continued and there were snow flurries at the finish! Luckily, the forecast of more gusty winds did not materialize though. The goal of the day was to defend Erinne's CG podium position. The team rode well, but a couple of others were just a bit better on the day and we ended up with Erinne in 5th and Katheryn in 8th.
Here is Erinne's Report:
Today was the the 5th and final stage of the Tour of the Gila, nicknamed the “Gila Monster”. It was about a 70 mile race that started in downtown Silver City. There were two time bonus sprints at 10 miles and 38 miles and both were 3,2,1, seconds up for grabs. After the time bonus sprints we hit the Gila Monster and climbed (with a few descents) until the finish. After yesterday's crit, I was still sitting in 3rd GC but Andrea Dovorak had gained 3 more seconds in a sprint and was only sitting 1 little second behind me.
We wanted to get either an early break away or have Andrea try to take some time in the sprints. So only about 2 miles into the race one attack went, Andrea covered and helped to drive the break until the first time sprint. Unfortunately her effort to make the break work got her dropped after the sprint but she still did a great job and we were still happy with having a break up the road. For most of the day the 3 girls in the break worked together while back in the main group the Peanut Butter team kept things under control and set tempo on the front. They kept the break at about 1 minute all day.
Nearing the base of the initial climb we started gaining more time on the break and caught them right at the base. Peanut Butter and Colavita were on the front going into the hill and once on the hill there was an acceleration. Katheryn had a gap, Cath Cheatley reacted and jumped across followed by Mara. The three had a good gap on us and my group was now being pulled by Alison Powers. The three up the road split up and katheryn came back to our now small group. She put in a big effort the rest of the way home leading the chase Cath Cheatly who was just behind Mara. We tried to recruit Vera Bradley’s help but unfortunately we didn’t get much. Cath caught Mara up the road on the descent and ended up winning the stage, about 2 min. ahead of our group, moving Cath into 3rd overall. With about 3 miles to go, Alison Powers attacked us on a descent and finished 3rd on the stage. Our group started attacking each other and I was covering Andrea Dovorak who also had teammate Carmen Small with her in the group. At the finish Carla Swart and Andrea kept attacking me and I was with them until about 200 meters to go but couldn’t keep up and I finished 6th on the stage. I dropped to 5th in GC as Andrea got a couple of sec. gap on me at the uphill finish, but overall it was still a good week with 2 stage podiums. It was good and hard racing and I can’t wait to get down from this altitude. At the moment we’re in the cars driving to Arkansas for the Joe Martin Stage race which will start this Thursday.
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