Tour of the Gila 2013

Tour of the Gila: 5 day stage race at altitude in the New Mexico Desert.  It's windy, it's dry, and there's a heck of a lot less oxygen up there than what most riders are used to. 

The thin air makes it a lot harder to recover from every effort.  It also makes it quasi-impossible go hard enough to make my legs hurt.  My breathing goes into the red-zone before it can happen.  As if my body cannot get enough oxygen to the pistons to let them go hard enough to BURN.

I spent a total of a few hours in the K2 Altitude Room at Power Watts several days before leaving Montréal to race Joe Martin (a race at NORMAL altitude!) and Gila. 

Lex Albrecht in the K2 Altitude Room at PowerWatts Premier Stuido in Montréal.

The first day was relatively flat and downhill, until the final 10km where the road shot up.  And up, and up.  The finish line sits at just under 8000ft.  At the bottom of the hill Mara Abbott (Exergy 2016) attacked, and Claudia Haussler (Tibco) followed, only to "blow up" a few minutes later.  In the end, Katie Donovan, the star climber of our team, finished just barely behind 2nd place on the 1st stage of Gila.  Alison Powers finished in 4th.  I was 12th out of the 62 riders that day.

Stage 1 Podium: Katie Donovan in 3rd place.

1	Mara Abbott (Exergy TWENTY16)	3:19:48
2	Kristin McGrath (Exergy TWENTY16)	0:01:58
3	Kathryn Donovan (NOW and Novartis for MS)
4	Alison Powers (NOW and Novartis for MS)	0:02:10
5	Andrea Dvorak (Exergy TWENTY16)	0:02:28
6	Claudia Häusler (Team TIBCO)
7	Anne Perry (DNA Cycling p/b Plan7)	0:03:01
8	Joelle Numainville (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies)	0:03:20
9	Jade Wilcoxson (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies)	0:03:32
10	Scotti Wilborne (Leborne Development)	0:03:34
11	Joanne Kiesanowski (Team TIBCO)	0:04:20
12	Lex Albrecht (NOW and Novartis for MS)	0:04:24
13	Janel Holcomb (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies)	0:04:55
14	Rushlee Buchanan (Team TIBCO)	0:05:04
15	Amy Charity (Vanderkitten)	0:05:16

Stage 2 ("Inner Loop") began early in the morning at Fort Bayard.  The peloton split and regrouped several times.  In the end, Katie Donovan, Robin Farina and I were with Alison in the final group.  Robin Farina get into a non-general-classificaiton-threatening break just before the finish.  She just missed the podium, but that was okay.  Our priority was to either gain time on Mara Abbott for Alison Powers, or not lose any.  We didn't lose any, as Mara was in the same group as Katie, Alison and I.  We wouldn't have let her off the front.  Mission kind of accoplished.  (Janel Holcomb of Optum got away early and stayed away SOLO in the end, to win the race.  An impressive ride by Janel!  She blew the field away).

This is the result breakdown:
   (Solo Break: 1)
   (Small Break before the finish: 2-5)
   (Lead group: 6-19)
   (Other riders: 20-61)

1 Janel Holcomb (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies) 3:29:00 2 Shelley Olds (Team TIBCO) 0:00:48 3 Jade Wilcoxson (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies) 0:00:49 4 Robin Farina (NOW and Novartis for MS) 0:00:56 5 Joanne Kiesanowski (Team TIBCO) 0:00:59 6 Lauren Hall (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies) 0:01:27 7 Claudia Häusler (Team TIBCO) 8 Alison Powers (NOW and Novartis for MS) 9 Chantal Blaak (Team TIBCO) 0:01:32 10 Scotti Wilborne (Leborne Development) 11 Rushlee Buchanan (Team TIBCO) 12 Kathryn Donovan (NOW and Novartis for MS) 13 Mara Abbott (Exergy TWENTY16) 14 Amy Charity (Vanderkitten) 15 Andrea Dvorak (Exergy TWENTY16) 16 Lex Albrecht (NOW and Novartis for MS)
The 26km Time Trial was on the 3rd Day.  It was cold and windy.  So cold I wore long fingered gloves and arm warmers.  (I have yet to receive my long sleeved skinsuit. For the moment I wear a borrowed one from my teammate Beth Newell).  I decided to go with a less aero-dynmaic front wheel at the last minute, in hopes that I would have a greater chance of not getting blown off my bike by a huge gust of wind.  In hindsight, I'm not sure if it was necessary. Warming up for the TT on our S-Works Amiras.  We raced on our S-Works SHIVs. I was baffled to find out that only 4 other riders had beaten my time by the end.  Race winner: ALISON POWERS, my teammate!  She gained time over the leader, Mara Abbott.  The race organizers had watermelon for the riders at the end of the race.
Alexis Ryan getting watermelon for her teammates after the Time Trial Delish!  Thanks Alexis, and thanks to the Tour of the Gila race organizers and volunteers
1 Alison Powers (NOW and Novartis for MS) 0:39:23.41 2 Janel Holcomb (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies) 0:00:10.92 3 Kristin McGrath (Exergy TWENTY16) 0:00:51.05 4 Mara Abbott (Exergy TWENTY16) 0:00:56.01 5 Lex Albrecht (NOW and Novartis for MS) 0:01:07.25 6 Shelley Olds (Team TIBCO) 0:01:24.70 7 Claudia Häusler (Team TIBCO) 0:01:31.09 8 Rushlee Buchanan (Team TIBCO) 0:01:35.69 9 Jade Wilcoxson (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies) 0:01:44.37 10 Andrea Dvorak (Exergy TWENTY16) 0:01:59.16
The criterium in downtown Silver City was fun, and NOW and Novartis for MS raced a very agressive race.  We had coffee on the same day to celebrate our teammate's birthday (Olivia Dillon) The final day finished with a long climb, and Mara Abbott (Exergy) won all over again.  Katie Donovan and Alison Powers fought the entire climb to bring her back and did a great job.  Alison finished 2nd overall in the 2013 Tour of the Gila thanks to some REALLY spectacular riding and great teamwork from NOW and Novartis for MS. Alison Powers (NOW and Novartis for MS) 2nd place overall at the 2013 Tour of the Gila (Mara Abbott- Exergy 2016 in 1st, and Janel Holcomb - Optum in 3rd)  FINAL TOP 10 GENERAL CLASSIFICATION: 1 Mara Abbott (Exergy TWENTY16) 11:44:29 2 Alison Powers (NOW and Novartis for MS) 0:01:32 3 Janel Holcomb (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies) 0:02:42 4 Claudia Häusler (Team TIBCO) 0:03:03 5 Kristin McGrath (Exergy TWENTY16) 0:04:34 6 Andrea Dvorak (Exergy TWENTY16) 0:06:38 7 Jade Wilcoxson (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies) 0:08:01 8 Rushlee Buchanan (Team TIBCO) 0:08:27 9 Lex Albrecht (NOW and Novartis for MS) 0:09:06 10 Kathryn Donovan (NOW and Novartis for MS) My next race: Gatineau Grand Prix in Gatineau, Québec.  I'll be racing with the Canadian National Team for this one!

Redlands Bicycle Classic 2013 : SUCCESS

Robin Farina and Oliva Dillon are ready to rock it before the criterium (Photo: P. Payne)

 NOW and Novartis for MS not only continued to help Alison Powers keep the Yellow Jersey through the 3rd (criterium, downtown Redlands CA) and 4th (road race, Sunset loop, Redlands CA) but the Green Sprinter's jersey ended up coming along with it.  Alison Powers is now also the leader of the NRC classification, as well as the NRC sprinter's classification. 

Pre-podium chit chat after the final stage of the Redlands Bicycle Classic (Photo: K. Stockton)

All in all, Powers was actually awarded with a total of FIVE different jerseys to slip on during the podium ceremonies on the final day of the Redlands Bicycle Classic.  How often do we see that?

As an added bonus, NOW and Novartis for MS also achieved a first place in the Team Classification, meaning we were awarded with the status of the best team with the fastest cumulative time *(the total combined time of the top 3 riders in the GC for each team is taken into).

Getting to celebrate atop the podium as a team is definitely one of the coolest ways to end a bike race.

I hopped on the Red Eye flight home from LA to Montréal where I will spend 2 weeks resting (a bit!) and training at Power Watts' Premier studio in Montréal.

The next races:
Joe Martin Stage Race (Fayetteville, Arkansas) : April 25-28
Tour of the Gila (Silver City, New Mexico) : May 1-5

 

NRC Prestige Standings 2012

Today, cyclingnews.com, (my longtime top online reference for international english cycling news) posted an article about the National Race Calendar (NRC) Prestige Series standings.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/optum-tibco-share-womens-prestige-series-honors

Myself (Lex Albrecht), Joëlle Numainville, and Denise Ramsden (both Olympians, we're proud of them!) are tied in points for 3rd place in the Best Young Rider classification this year!

Jade Wilcoxson has won the Sprinter classification for 2012, as well as 3rd place overall, right behind our teammate Carmen Small in second place.

Optum Pro Cycling presented by Kelly Benefit Strategies is also the number one ranked team in America in NRC's Prestige ranking.  What an impressive first season for the colour orange. 

Thank you to the fans, thank you to the sponsors, and thank you to everyone in the team both on, and off of the road!  Way to go OPTUM!

Racing in Bend, OR at Cascade Cycling Classic

Day two, stage 1 leader's podium with Jade Wilcoxson, Kristen Armstrong, and me, Lex Albrecht

I am in Bend, Oregon at the Cascade Cycling Classic.  It is a six day stage race, including a prologue, three road stages, a criterium and an individual time trial.

I have one day left to race.  Things are looking good.  At the moment we have all of the leader's jerseys except one: the yellow one.  The yellow one is for the overeall leader.  And we want it.  My teammate Carmen Small is 4 seconds away from Alison Powers, the racer who is in the lead.  We want that yellow for OPTUM. 

I'll keep it short and sweet.  Jade Wilcoxson has the green sprinter's jersey (Carmen is the only one that this jersey could be transfered to in tomorrow's race, it stays in the team regardless), I have the polka-dot climber's jersey (that one is secured), and I have the white best young rider (under 26 years old) jersey by almost 4 minutes.

Here is a great report on yesterday's race from Cyclingnews.com : http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/cascade-cycling-classic-2012/stage-3/results



The rest of the details...(and they are good!) are yet to come, I have to rest up for tomorrow.  We have a yellow jersey to battle for.  YEAH OPTUM.