NOW men-Stage 4 at Gila

Saturday, May 1, 2010
Stage 4 - Downtown Silver City Criterium

Today was a great, exciting day of racing with an enthusiastic crowd that lined the course. It was a nail-biter, and the weather held, in the 50s mostly, with a slight breeze nothing like the wind of the past couple days. Today's 1.08-mile 4-corner crit course is not flat at all, with 80 feet of climbing per lap and a high speed descent on the 4th corner, 43.2 miles or 40 laps for the Pro Men and 32.4 miles or 30 laps for the Cat 2 Men. Everyone rode to their abilities and is getting stronger everyday despite the tough altitude, a sustained 6,000 feet.

The Cat 2 Men raced first today. Aaron Schneider, Kit Karzen and Cory Greenberg raced well and near the front. They stuck to the day's game plan: let the race sort itself out for the first 1/3 to 1/2 of the race. Cory was very impressive, in a lot of the action today, rode smart at the front of the pack. He had a couple go's at it including a move at the end of the race, he got caught with just over a lap to go. Then the winning break got away. Cory held on for awhile and came in top 15.

Kit, Aaron and Cory then watched the Pro Men race with Kurt. The Pro Men race was an all-out gun fight, an aggressive, fast race. The level of this race is impressive, and our men rode comfortably in the pack. Sergio Hernandez and Danny Heeley rode well toward the front.

Taylor Phinney of Trek-Livestrong won the race. Ivan Dominguez of Jamis-Sutter Home 2nd. Charles Dionne, Fly V 3rd. Mellow Johnny's Lance Armstrong and Jason McCartney worked the front to protect and retain Levi Leipheimer's overall GC lead, 59 seconds over David Zabriskie going into the final stage tomorrow.

Tomorrow... The Gila Monster!
Stage 5 Gila Monster RR... For the Pro Men, it's a 105.7-mile course with 9,131 feet of climbing and 8,252 feet of descent. Men Cat 2 have 102.6 miles with 894 feet of climbing. Both have an uphill finish. Expect a tough day for all. Men 2 start at 7:55am local time, Pro Men at 8:40am.

Check out attached photos: NOW-MS Society Gila Posse, Corey Farrell at TT yesterday and Kendall Ryan ready to TT in Europe earlier today.

Also today, at Barrio Logan, Ivie Crawford raced both the Junior 17/18 State Championships and the Women's 1/2/3 race. She placed 2nd the Junior race and 2nd among the Cat 3s in the 1/2/3. Julia was 11th overall in the 1/2/3.