I'll Tell You How Stage 3 Went...

(Team Optum-KBS getting ready #EXGT: Team Optum-KBS getting ready #EXGT)

After some quality recovery with my Compex Sport Elite Machine (check out @Lex_albrecht on Twitter for pictures) following Stage 2, the pistons were feeling pretty good.  Stage 3 of the Exergy Tour started with 3 km neutral out of Crouch, ID, and then Optum put out a few attacks, and covered a few more.  It was going well.  

We entered into the feed-zone at an unusually early point in the race (only 38.3 km in).  Most riders didn't even bother taking a bottle.  I had plenty of Clif Shot drink mix left in my bottles and the 10+km climb was about to begin anyways.  Nobody wants to haul around extra weight uphill for the fun of it.

A break with Optum's Janel Holcomb got away on the climb.  The field split up as we ascended, and all of the Optum riders were in the front group (execpt Janel, who was off of the front).  As we crested the top of the climb, the pace kicked up and the 5 km descent before the second climb began. 

Today, I remembered my Mavic shoes, my Thule backpack, my Lazer helmet and frame-less Lazer Magneto sunglasses, but I left my balls at home.

I got dropped on the darn curvy wet roads, and just as I clawed back to the lead group, I got dropped again as we entered into the day's final descent.  Not cool.

What is cool though is that as the lead group neared the finish line, Jade Wilcoxson launched some strong attacks against the field, keeping the pace high and the pack organized.  Carmen Small and Janel gave Leah Kirchmann a sweet lead out, and Leah just barely missed the victory, which German national champion Ina Teutenburg took home instead.  2nd place podium for Optum Pro Cycling presented by Kelly Benefit Strategies.  Way to deliver the goods LEAH!  And Jade is back in the top-10!

Way to go girls!

If anybody saw where those balls are at, shout me a holler.  

(P.S.: BIG ups to Canadian Ryder Hesjedal, who WON THE GIRO D'ITALIA!)

Optum Pro Cycling at the 2012 SRAM Tour of The Gila

The SRAM Tour of The Gila is a 5 day stage race around Silver City, New Mexico.

The dry desert air, the hot desert sun, a few twisty descents, long climbs, and the high altitude make the Tour of The Gila one of the tougher races on the NRC calendar, and of course one of the most fun.  This wasn't a time for me to leave my Banana Boat SPF 50 sunscreen at home, it was one of the first things I packed before leaving.

The hills, sand, shrubs, and cacti around New Mexico

Riding down from our host homes to several of the stage start-lines was scary at times; wild deer wandered out on the roads that we flew down.  The jackrabbits and lizards seemed a little wiser and stayed amongst the cacti and tough bushes.  We didn't hit any of them.  I wondered if like those silly cows, the deer are also tricked by the cattle guards that make for the majority of the ''desert road furniture''...  If they are, they might consider putting those metal contraptions in the ditches.  Roads are for bikes, not deer.

Stage one saw the field split up as it always does on the final climb.  Carmen Small and Janel Holcomb were the top Optum finishers, impressively (zero exageration) taking the second and third steps of the podium.   This set the stage for our strategies for the week.
Stage two was another road race, and day three was a 21 km out-and-back time trial.  Day four was a criterium, and the final day finished on the open road, once again.

Stage 4 criterium. -Casey Gibson

Optum Pro Cycling presented by Kelly Benefit Strategies brought home second place overall (Carmen Small) and the green jersey (Carmen Small) as well as second place in the team general classification.

We rode hard, fought hard, and were patient boiling our eggs and cooking our rice (it takes a long time at about a gazillion feet of altitude).

I'm being patient, I've got an 18h day of aiplanes and aiports before I get to home sweet home, Québec. I have my Compex muscle stimulator hooked up to make the best of it.  Next race: Gatineau Grand Prix UCI women's 1 day race in Gatineau, Qc.  Then it's the Exergy Tour in Boise, ID.