Tour of Gila 2012

" It's The Experience That I Gained That Mattered Most"  

I had trained very hard over the winter months, and had set a goal for the Gila to see if I could finish all 5 stages of the Gila with the Pro 1/2 women. It might have been a humble goal but it was realistic and possible. Last year, I had raced the Gila as a Cat3/4 and had done very well. Everything went great with traveling this yr. No lost bikes or luggage. It was wonderful to see Stella and Norman Brown whom had hosted me last yr at there house. They are like family to me now. I love them both. They are such giving, warm, loving people. I would have just came out to see them this yr even if I wasn't racing.  

I arrived in Sliver City on Sunday about 3 days before I raced. During the 3 days, I took time to get my bike ready and body acclimated. My first ride out, I wasn't climbing well. I got a bit nervous and called "Wayne Simon from the mountain I was riding. He provided me with some good advice and then after about 1hr in I climbed the mountains and descended.  

So the racing began:

Stage 1: Women's Pro 1/2 Road Race  SILVER CITY TO MOGOLLON ROAD RACE: 73 miles

 Race started at 8:25 am. I was so nervous I could hardly breath. Infact, as I made my way to the start line, Stacy Appelwick saw me, she took me for a little ride around to ease nerves and it helped so much.  It was a big field of 60 women. Race stated and the field was riding strong and steady. Right off the bat, attacks went off and I hung on mostly in the back of the field. I saw Stacy ahead of me in the field and just tried to stay with her and watch her positioning in the field. Attacks went again and Kristen Armstrong was in a break with  5 women up ahead. At about the half way mark or so, they had geared the break in the wrong direction and ended up stopping our race and redirecting the break and restarting our race.   I was excited that I was even still with the field. It was an amazing feeling to ride with a big field of strong women all going so fast and smooth.

When I hit the 25km to go about a little ways past the feed zone, the pace got a little faster. The climbs seemed harder as we where getting closer to Glenwood. I was fading a bit.  I had lost the field. I couldn't hold the cadence. So, I just put into my "sweet spot zone" and held pace as strong and steady as I could. When I reached the big switch back climb, I gave it all I had left! The Sag car behind me kept checking on me. I kept in my climbing zone, chest forward a bit and digging deep. Ever time I hit a "kicker" it was out of the saddle and then back in". It was a mountain top finish.  It was the "toughest climb I have ever done" ! When I checked results I saw that I had finished within the time cut and only about 4-5 mins behind the field. I was super excited to had finished this stage. It was awesome.

Stage 2: THE INNER LOOP ROAD RACE  80 mile Road race.

After a good night sleep, I was still tired from yesterday. As we got to the start line, Stacy had pulled me aside. We went for a little ride. She was very honest with me which I liked that. She said," don't get discourage if you get dropped early in this race". There are 2 QOM right away and lots of riders get dropped early. I was grateful she had told me this. My goal was to try and stay with the field for the 1st 1.5 hrs. Which is most of the hardest climbs.  Race started and I was riding in the back of the field. We went over lots of rollers and smaller climbs. It was less aggressive at first then all of a sudden, about 45min in, the pace got quicker. We started climbing hard. Again, my legs just couldn't keep the cadence. I fell behind
 I tried to get out the saddle and hang on the back of the field with some of the riders. I could see a few falling back too but they caught back on. I fell way behind. I just thought of one thing at that time " STAY POSITIVE!"  That's all I could do. I also thought about my goal, which was to "finish the stage". So, I was determined to finish the race regardless. Stay positive and enjoy it. So, I went for it and road by myself for a very long time until I came upon a few racers that got dropped. Towards the end of the race, I felt so proud to have finished and crossed that finish line. It didn't matter what place I was in, all that mattered was that I finished the race and gain a lot of experience.    After the race I had talked to the officials to see about the time cut. I had asked if they are going  to make time cuts. They said they where. So, I was one of them and asked if they could reconsider . all I wanted to do was race the TT and criterium. They told us that they could do that because they had other racers to cut to and wanted to keep it fair. Also, what I didn't realize this year was that it was an "Olympic Year" Which means they are using this race to develop/choose there Olympic team. 

Lastly, I made the best of it for the next 3 days. I had met some women from "Team Naked" that where staying in Pinos Altos. Rachel Scott and I rode in the mountains and I learned some great skills from her. It really boosted my confidence and I was all smiles when I came back from riding. Got in some really mountain climbing and descending. We even got a chance to hike in the Gila Cliff Dwellings. It was amazing.