Gila Update

I always like to give everyone updates that is not at the race, but I never seem to have the time to do it, nor do I ever travel with a computer.

I am going to give this a shot though and I will try and be brief.

http://tourofthegila.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/2017-RaceBible.pdf

If you follow that hyper link you will see the Race Bible. It has all the pertinent information that racers and directors need for the whole weekend, it has course profiles, so you can see how hard the stages are.

http://tourofthegila.com/2017-stage-3-results-recap/

This hyper link will take you to the results page.

I will start with the kids who started first the Cat 3 MEN.

So this is Matthew and Ethan. The first day was pretty straight forward, ride 70 miles then go up a 5 mile hill and see who is left. The hill is steep and the first 70 miles are not easy. Matthew finished 4th and Ethan 10th. A break was up the road at the start of the climb and the two were never caught. Matthew just lost out on third while Ethan on a very tough and steep hill managed his losses and finished less than a minute down.

Day 2 is a much trickier course and it played that way. They start the day with a long climb then they descend into a bumpy valley before they have some very tough climbing to do before a fast finish. I encourage everyone to look at the course profile. Well a break got away again today and it had the one kid that both the boys did not want to get away. They tried to bring it back but without much help they could only do so much. They stayed in the lead group and Ethan was able to win the main group and get third on the day, however they had given up 6:30 minutes to the leader. Another junior from Dallas.

Day 3. The Time Trial the race of truth. Well both the boys went their goal times, both were in the top 6 on the day. Ethan is now third overall and Matthew 7th. They have a ton left to race for and the last day is everything.

Cat 3- Women

Izzy, Madison, Chloe and Pearl started racing yesterday. Their course was different to the boys 3’s as they don’t have such a big opening climb. Last year Madison did not make it over the climb with the group, same as Pearl, so they wanted to have some revenge. Well they all did. All the girls made it over the first climb and were looking good at the final major climb of the day. Chloe was able to ride with the leaders all day and just lost out on the sprint for 4th place. Madison held on the longest on the climb, but then blew apart, while Izzy was able to pull it together and pick ladies off after being dropped on the climb and rode to a top ten. Pearl was thrilled to have done so much better than last year.

Today in the time trial Madison and Pearl crushed their times from last year, and Chloe rode her  way to 5th place GC. Izzy with no aero equipment went out to learn the course for years to come.

Cat 4 Boys

The boys rode the same route as the ladies and they too all survived the opening climb and rode the valley all together. This was Jack’s major goal to make it to the final climb with the group. Bravo Jack. He did it and beat quite a few along the way. Zaid, Patrick, Quinn and Dennis where all in the front group approaching the finish and while Quinn was riding off the road and in the dirt, Patrick was securing his best result ever a 2nd place. A huge props to Patrick for coming back after the broken collar bone. Zaid finished 8th, also a fantastic result for him. Those four all rode together and knew what they were doing as a team. Kajeme would have been there as well but Dennis watched his chain come off at the worst possible time. Rogan worked hard and rode in with Kajeme.

Today in the time trial Quinn took the team win, with Zaid in second for the team. Patrick felt the effects of the not the best training over the last few months, while Rogan’s hard work really paid off with a great time for him. Kajeme had his best time trial ever in regards to not getting mentally lost and Jack continues to make the time cut and live another day.

Tomorrow is the crit. Show time. We are planning on putting on a show and we will work as a team to try and bring something home. Stay tuned.