Tour of the Gila 2011

An Amazing Race with Amazing Grace . . . .

As Dave Towle stated “Missing Link Coaching team is punching way above it’s weight!”  And so goes the story of the Cinderella team of the 2011 Tour of the Gila.

There were some stressful moments prior to the Tour starting . . . car issues on the way there, winds so forceful, it broke a fork while on top of the car and my missing the manager’s meeting as a result of not paying attention to the time difference, along with shopping for a fork!  But things soon changed . . . .

We have assembled an amazing team this year and we added a guest rider for the Tour of the Gila who rode for us as well last year.  Her name is Katie Donovan and this is not the last you will hear about her in my post.  In addition to Katie, Melanie Colavito, Kristina Seley, Anna McLoon, Anna Barensfeld, Rachel Warner, and Judy Jenkins were all ready to ride.  We had a strong team of 7 going into this race and would have had Cara Gillis, but unfortunately, she had a crash at Sea Otter that kept her from racing!

Stage 1 — the Mongollon Rim:  The fireworks flew in the final 9 miles of this race.  The girls made the right hand corner up that crazy climb and found themselves outclimbing most riders.  By the end of the stage, we had 3 women in the top 20, so it was a great 1st stage for us.  While not revealing our specific strategy, we played it smart and with our experience, played it right!

Stage 2 — Fort Bayard:  This is the stage where we showed just how hard we can punch!  After the climb over Pinos Altos, Anna Barensfeld (now known lovingly as “Cashbox”), threw down and attacked the peleton through the valley.  She took Heather Logan-Springer of Colavita with her.  Heather is a very strong rider and the two of them worked well together staying away for about 20 miles.  While Anna came back to the pack, all heck broke loose in the peleton and there was attack after attack.  Heather managed to stay away and win the race, but Rachel attacked and nearly bridged the chase group finishing with a strong 4th place in the race.  Great teamwork and instinct by the team in this stage.  Anna B. was an absolute superstar and this is where the peleton started to wonder . . . “who is this team?”

Stage 3 — the Time Trial:  Windy, windy, windy . . . the girls gone blown all over the place and we lost some precious time.  But not to worry, because I just had this feeling that Sunday would be “our day!”  Nonetheless, the TT was scarey with the wind pulling the girls all over the road.  Even one of the pro men told me he would not get into his aero bars because it was so hard to keep control of the bike.  I know this all too well from one of my past experiences in this stage.  Also, I was trying to play “Mary Poppins” earlier that day and went airborne, along with our tent, with a bit of a hard landing!    It was actually funny once I realized nothing was broken!  Lesson of the day:  Don’t grab the tent!

Stage 4 — the Crit:  So interestingly enough, I think all the teams had the same plan:  Don’t let anything go!  But that didn’t stop Cashbox who went for 2, $100 sprints and won both of them!  Way to go Anna B!  Also, Dave Towle gave us alot of “love” over the air by talking non-stop about our up and coming team.  He talked about Anna B and Rachel and talked about us packing a big punch!  He didn’t even know what was coming next!

Stage 5 — The Gila Monster (the mother of all stages):  This is truly the hardest stage of the hardest stage race in the U.S.  We wanted to make sure we were in the break and to my surprise (and sheer delight), 2 riders were able to get into the break and the break was nearly fully represented.  Mara Abbott’s team missed the break, but she only had 3 riders with her and that’s alot of work.  The break with Katie and Anna B. in it got to a 9:30 gap to the peleton.  Needless to say, this break was motivated to stay away, which is not easy in this stage!  We were riding really smart the entire week and this day was not exception:  Katie and Anna were playing the break just right and Anna rode her heart out for Katie.  Katie took off at the base of the final climb and got a huge gap on the break which was coming apart.  Lex Albright from Team Juvederm was trying to bridge, but to no avail.  Katie is a super climber and just kept pushing herself, but riding within her capability, to avoid completely blowing up.  I was at the finish line and the announcer was trying to figure out who was in the lead.  I heard him mention #342 and I knew it was Katie.  My heart started pounding and I got so nervous I couldn’t believe it.  I asked the announcer . . .”how much time does she have on the break” and he didn’t know.  Then a few more minutes went by and I just about chewed a nail off, when I overheard them say that #342 was 200 meters from the finish and she was alone!  I ran to the finish line — crying — and watched Katie come across the finish line!  It was a profound moment for me and this entire team.  Anna B. came in next and broke down in tears from the excitement of it all.  Next I saw Kristina and Melanie and we just started all screaming and hugging.  Honestly, the emotion was unbelievable and the sense of the win truly felt surreal.

I am so proud of this team.  They rode so well.  Anna McLoon rode amazing defense and Melanie bridged so many gaps in the races.  Judy made it solidly through her first NRC crit and I’m so proud of her newly inspired confidence.  We had so many good laughs and great successes of this race.  I watched a team come into its own and they truly love to race together.

Our race mechanic, Chris Davidson was amazing.  He has such a wealth of experience that we could not have done this without him.  I owe alot to my husband too, Don, who got to legally drive his car very fast, but was amazing in the caravan too with Chris.  So much to celebrate!

I got to spend some additional time with Katie as we were both flying back to LA together.  She is an amazing person, so humble and easy to be around.  I true heroin as graceful winner.

One more thing . . . Tracey Perez is one of our up and coming riders and I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that she won 3 out of the 4 stages of the Cat 3/4 race and won GC!  Again, another gracious winner and outstanding athlete who will be on our NRC team in the near future . . . she is amazing and a smart rider.  I should mention that she just started racing at the end of last season, so she is truly a talented rider.

Well — that’s it for me for today’s blog . . . . enjoy the pics and we’ll see you next at The Libery Classic in Philadelphia!  Stay tuned . . . .