Pedalling Squares

Gila Monster Road Race

(Sunday's stage)
Description:
The last, final, crowning, finishing, terminating, conclusive stage. The end, the very end. The course for today was basically the reverse of Friday's stage but only 70 miles. We went towards the Santa Rita mine, over the rollers, up the other side of the climb, then a little detour through San Lorenzo. Then the long trek through the Mimbres Valley, which would surely be fraught (fought?)with much wind. Then at mile 51, we go up the gnarly Sapillo descent that we came down on Friday. The grade starts with a nasty but brief introduction at 17% but then eases up gradually all the way up the White Horse Mesa after 3 miles. From there it's still a slight, big ring uphill grind and then a few more stingers until you get to Meadow Creek. Then a mostly straight, screaming descent, followed by some rollers, and then a tough slugfest for the last mile or so to the finish in Pinos Altos.

How It Went Down:
Vaughn still wasn't feeling too good, so he told me that if he had the jimmy legs again he was going to pack it in. I wanted him to finish, but riding through the windy Mimbres Valley alone or with a small group would . . . well, suck and blow. We did some weird neutral start with the Pro's where we let them ride away, waited a few minutes and then we were given the go ahead to start racing.

We had a tailwind which was pretty cool. Still though, guys were attacking from the first moment. Once again, my legs didn't feel all that fresh, but the trend has been that they warm up after 20-30 miles. After a few efforts put me in some stress, I was pretty sure Vaughn was going to hit the showers early (I was right). Even with the tailwind, things were getting difficult. After a few rollers and a few 50mph+ descents, we chugged up the Santa Rita climb and then back down to San Lorenzo. It's too weird to even explain the little San Lorenzo detour we did on Friday and today.

So then we make the turn to whatever road it is that takes you up the Mimbres Valley. I think someone was having a good time with us. Had to be. Because at that very moment when we turned onto the road that for the next 25 miles would take us through the Mimbres Valley - yes, say it with me: "twenty-five miles", the most wickedest, gnarliest, epical, Noah's Arc, Biblical-style wind gust blasted across the group. In the words of Dave Barry, "I am not making this shit up", or something like that. Anyway, through the dust cloud that now surrounded us, I could see some guys were now doing track stands on their bikes. Others were at curious 30 degree angles from vertical trying to maintain their balance while compensating for the wind.

Here I was at the back of the group - the worst place to be. The best thing to do in this situation is to get to the front of the group as soon as possible. I managed to get near the top 20, but was still hanging in the wind. Like George and Weezie, I'm moving on up. In no time, I've got decent position - still in the wind, but not completely. Now we start this erratic stop/start kind of ride. Everyone is fighting for position now so people are hitting their brakes as the pack shifts and churns. We do this for a few miles, but the wind dies down for the most part, gusting occasionally.

Eventually, the trip through the valley mellows out. It's very windy, but at times a straight headwind, which just means that sometimes we slow to a walking pace of 15-18 mph. I'm trying to just conserve. At some point, a break has gotten away and gotten a few minutes on the field. I've never felt like I've had the extra resources to have a go, so I just shake my head and sit in.

My one goal as we approached the gnarly Sapillo climb was to be near the front. The moto was giving us time gaps of 6 minutes to a breakaway group - but the race leader didn't seem to care. Oh well. And I was able to easily move to the front for the base of the climb. I was in perfect position. I knew it wouldn't be long before people starting coming around me, but at least I could chase from the front rather than the back.

The first few minutes of a climb like this are always the hardest - I didn't even look, but I'm sure I was over 170 bpm. Nathan K accelerated a few times. Ouch. The race leader came past me looking strong. This was another situation where I didn't have to stay with the leaders, and it was clear I probably wouldn't - today, this one doesn't go to 11. But it's only a 3 mile climb and there are around 15 miles after that before the finish. The last time I did this stage ('96), I got dropped on this climb, eventually formed a group of about 12 and we caught and passed the leaders near the finish. So I just needed to ride a good tempo.

Soon there were about a dozen of us. We weren't working together so well - whoever felt good went to the front and rode hard. It was a little gusty up there, so people were happy to have someone out front. We got up to Wild Horse Mesa ok, but it wasn't exactly flat when we got there. It was more of a big ring grind. Soon, this group broke up as well.

There were about 3 of us when we got up to Meadow Creek. This is where the long descent starts. We weren't too far behind, but would have to work to close the gap. It was windy up there too. I sat on the back, a little tired after pulling our trio over most of the last few rollers. I let a gap open up on the descent and it widened quickly. I'm not a great descender, I was tired, and just not paying attention. So, I got dropped and was soon riding by myself. It was windy, so even though the descent was fairly straight, the all-out, superman, don't-tell-my-wife-I'm-doing-this-cause-she'll-freak-out tuck wouldn't do much - you still had to pedal hard. I had to shift down to the 13 or 14 tooth to really get going. No rest for the weary.

3 miles to go. I could see the two guys who dropped me and the group ahead of them in the distance, but I didn't think I would close it. Shit.

2 miles to go. Into some rollers now, I've completely given up on catching them. Now I'm solo. No familiar hum of the moto, no sag wagon behind me - I'm in no man's land, just trying to make it look good.

1 mile to go. I hear someone heckle from the side of the road: "You're losing" Ouch. Vaughn and I bought Oreos and now I was getting pumped up for some PHSO goodness (Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil) after the ride. Yummm. The turnoff to the finish was one last steep mofo. At this point I've resolved to do only downhill races, with a tailwind all the way and bubblelicious Hooter's girls on motorcycles pacing me. It was that ugly. At 200m to go, I still can't even see the finish line, but I chunk it down to a good gear, stand up, and go as hard as I'm able to the line. Done!

I dropped 3+ minutes to the group for 27th place on the day. This slipped me back to 23rd overall on GC. Ouch - I dropped 10 places in one stage. I was actually more surprised I didn't end up here sooner. I guess it means most of the climbers can't time trial as well as I can and it took them two climbing stages to take back the time. Oh well.

Thanks to the both of you for reading. We'll try to keep this going for each race we do. Enjoy . . .