NOW men take on Stage 1 of Tour of the Gila

TOUR OF THE GILA
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Stage 1 - Silver City to Mogollon RR (94.1 miles)

Long tough, and windy, day for the NOW-MS Society men racing in New Mexico. Today was the 94.1-mile Silver City to Mogollon Road Race. The racing was so tough, the field was completely blown apart. All single riders were finishing.

In the Pro Men race, all our men performed well in a field of serious competition including Levi Leipheimer, Lance Armstrong, Floyd Landis, the Fly V team, United Healthcare.

A 10-rider break got away early in the race. The field didn't take it seriously and within 20 miles they had a gap of 10 minutes. Those teams without riders in the break Bahati Foundation, Jamis Sutter Home / Colavita, then began to speed up the pace and eventually brought it back.

The wind was not a factor until later in the race. A cross wind began to take it's toll and at least half the field shot out the back. At about the same time, a crash did some damage as well. Then an epic category 1 climb at the end of the race added insult to injury.

Sergio Hernandez was in the race, riding strong the whole day. He placed 61st. Danny Heeley did a great job as well back after his nasty crash at Dana Point. Corey Farrell also raced strong. All are in for tomorrow's 80-mile Fort Bayard Inner Loop RR which includes 5,781 feet of climbing with a very technical 1,000+ drop at mile 28.7, the 3-mile descent has numerous sharp corners, hairpins and 2 switchbacks.

FYI, Levi won the race. Lance 22nd.

In the Cat 2 Men's race, there was an early break of 8 or 9 that eventually got a 10-minute gap. In the midst of some very aggressive racing, attacking and chasing, Cory Greenberg rolled easily off the front without attacking, and got a gap ahead of the field. He stayed away until the beast of a climb when the field caught up to him. Cory finished in a strong 14th place.

Aaron Schneider finished as well as did Kit Karzen. All Kit's suffering through these past big road races is really paying off, as the track champion is becoming more and more of a road racer. He told Kurt he has never hurt so much as he did today and that he couldn't even stand on the climb his legs hurt so bad. But he fought through it and finished strong. All the Cat 2 men are set for tomorrow, their race is 77.9 miles.

According to Team Director Kurt Stockton, we are on to Phase 2 now!