gila stage 2 & 3

Ysterday the 2nd stage of the tour of the gila down here in new mexico went to script. The race has been going for 28years on the same course and to my knowledge the same thing happens on pretty much every stage every year. For stage 2 a field sprint is the choice for the finale and one of only 2 sprinting opportunities of the race so the sprinting teams dont want to miss the chance to strech there legs so to speak. I had heard that a strong wind in the final 10km can split things up a little so was excited and well positioned for such an event after it being my undoing on the previous day. Alas as we rounder the corner the flags were limb and the group promply followed the status quo with the sprinters lining up there men for much anticipated bunch gallop. I have pretty much written this race off to a good training week so made sure i did not got tangled up in any crazy moves and finished safly toward the front of the bunch. The stage won by the very organised bissal team whom like they did the day before lit it up at exactly the right moment and delived there fastman to the line so hats off to them. Today was a day i was really looking forward to being the time trial. I have been working much better on my TT bike this year and enjoy any opportunity to race against the clock in anger. After paying the price early in the race for going to hard and litteraly exploding and imploding at the same time, i made sure i just put in a good solid effort today and finished it off as strongly as i started. I achieved this and while i lost 1min to the eventual winner and was a medioca 12th place on the line i will take some positives away from it as i feel that it shows i am adapting to the racin g at altitude and also on a bad day i was not so far behind. It was a techniqual course not as far as corners go but as far as it was up and down and hard to judge gearing and where to put in the efforts. I had a plan and stuck to it and in some ways it was good and some it was not so good and also need to chose a little better the equipment next time to make use of the decents where i was touching 75kmph but could easily turn it into 80-85 with the right gearing on my bike. In any case it was ok and an improvment as far as performance and application from the previous days. I am now really starting to get excited about the days and races ahead which comes with being a little closer to the front than the back. Also i managed to not be overtaken by anyone which is always a nice feeling specially as i overtook a few guys along the way which is good for the confidence. Tomorrow sees us do a 65km critirium so will be a good fast motorpace session before the race wraps up on sunday with the gila monster which as the name suggests is quite a beast of a stage which will certainly show who is the strongest man in the race so i am looking forward to that one. cjw