The John Lieswyn Diary 2000Tour of the Gila, USA, May 3-7, 2000Stage 1 - May 3: Tyrone Time Trial, 15.7 miles Mid 80's temperature, windy, dry, 5500ft altitude After 2 days of no riding and work at my house in Asheville I wasn't expecting much from myself in this decisive event. Starting 30sec ahead of Adam Livingston (Jelly Belly) I asked him if he would catch me. He seemed pretty optimistic, so I looked over my shoulder a couple times in the first 5 km. Soon I stopped worrying and started concentrating on keeping my heart rate at 185. I caught six riders by the summit with 5km to go, and tried to do 180bpm on the downhill in a 55x11 gear. One of the bigger guys I'd passed whooshed by me on the downhill, and I tried to match his pace. His pass was too late to save me from losing major time as I finished 10th in 37:18. Fortunately my team packs a powerhouse time trialist, Eric Wohlberg. He blitzed the course in 35 minutes flat, 52 seconds ahead of Clark Sheehan (7UP/CC). Stage 2 - May 4: Silver City-Mogollan Road Race, 92 miles90 degrees, dry, mostly headwinds today With Eric's lead we decided to try and let a break go early to neutralize attacks from the field. Then we'd set our sizable team on the front and "feather" the gap. On the initial descent out of Silver City, two riders including Roy Knickman (Mercury) got away and quickly built a 4-minute lead by the time we got to the bottom. During the two laps of the Gila Cliff Dwellings we were doing 24mph average while Roy built his lead to 6 minutes. Eventually his breakaway partner fell off the pace and our efforts paid off. We caught Roy near Glenwood with about 12mi to go. At this point I got a rear flat tire, which was a good thing because the spare wheel I received had a 23 instead of the 21 cog I'd started with. I would end up really needing the easier gear! The previously complacent pack saw we were down to 3 riders (Sylvain, Eric & I) and the attacks came one after the other. Sylvain and I did our best to contain things but we couldn't follow a move with one Saturn, one Mercury, and one Jelly Belly. As we made the right turn off the highway onto the final 5mi of climbing, I went to the front and set a fast enough pace that we wouldn't lose too much time to the 3 leaders. They were caught by a flurry of attacks on the first pitch. Saturn took over on the flat before the final steep 3 miles. Starting this grade in 30th I could see Eric was well positioned at the front. That would be the last time I'd see him. I would pass guys all the way up to an eventual 13th place finish :48 sec down. Eric rode awesome, finishing 2nd in a sprint with DBH. Stage 3 - May 5: Inner Loop Road Race, 73 milesCourse and conditions: again very hot and dry, strong winds. 3 major climbs today, rolling hills for the final 20km. First climb to Pinos Altos, 2nd climb in the Gila National Forest, then a dangerous descent to a long river valley before turning back onto the highway for the mostly uphill/headwind route back to Fort Bayard. Straight out of Fort Bayard we tried to take control but the peloton attacked us on every little hill. Making the turn onto the Pinos Altos climb, two of our strongest team players, Graeme and Glen flatted. Luke spent his day's energy shot leading them back on as Sylvain, Kent and Christian set a hard pace at the front. Riders shot across the small gap to the break and when it got to be about ten riders I took a hard turn at the front to neutralize it. Our mechanical woes continued as my rear wheel pulled out of the frame (again...better try a different quick release tomorrow) and Glen's neutral support provided wheel was incompatible with his new 10 speed shifting levers. Glen's chain jammed and he nearly crashed but made a sensational save. On the second climb in the forest, Sylvain and Christian kept the pace high until the feed zone. There Glen got a 10spd wheel from the team van and did his 3rd chase of the day to rejoin us. The bunch was all together as we began the crazy descent down to the valley. Mercury sent Roy Knickman and Jan Bratowski to push the limits, and I couldn't get closer than about 6 bikelengths behind. Sweat salt made my eyes tear up, and distracted me a few times entering decreasing radius switchback corners. I held it up - Jan and Roy kept looking back to see where the pack and I were. Behind me there was nobody in sight but I could hear our team/race leader Eric Wohlberg's brakes squealing turn after turn. At the bottom I closed the gap to Roy and Jan and we were off. With Eric's race leadership as my excuse I "sat on" and did nothing to help the other two. At an average of 35mph with the wind we were up to about 45sec lead before Roy heard something over his radio that caused him to "sit up" and rest. Over a small hill we were joined by Saturn's Tony Cruz (whose excuse not to "pull" was that his teammate Bart Bowen was missing from the move) and Mercury's Gord Fraser. This 5 man break was still excellent for Team Shaklee as I was the highest man on the GC (overall time) and if the break made it all the way to the finish with 3 minutes then Eric and I would be 1st and 2nd overall. It was 7UP and Jelly Belly's job to reel us back in. The 3 Mercurys jammed at over 40mph (68kph) until the 60mi (100km) mark and I pitched in for a few turns as well. As we made the turn onto the highway and into the uphill headwind, Roy dropped off and only Jan and I were taking turns. The peloton had closed on us to within a minute, and by the time we'd made it through the feedzone the game was up. In the final miles Eric made it into a 5 man break that stayed away by about 15 seconds at the finish. While Mike Sayers (Mercury) took the stage win Eric finished 4th and increased his overall lead over Bouchard-Hall. The main pack was about 50 riders and smaller groups would come in over the next 45 minutes. We received the unfortunate news that Kent crashed hard on the descent out of the forest and broke his femur. I got back to the hotel to find our manager Steve packing up Kent's computer and work papers (Kent holds down a full time job as a groundwater hydrologist) and a change of clothes. Kent would be flown via a small plane to Albuquerque for surgery. Stage 4 - May 6: Downtown Silver City Criterium, 43.2 miles I had great legs today but the plan was for all of us to save our strength for Sunday's Gila Monster road race. We had to follow certain riders who were a GC threat to Eric, and Clark Sheehan especially was jumping around quite a bit, but Eric and I finished same time as the winner Gord Fraser. The heat was something else today and I lost both bottles within the first 5 laps due to the bumpy pavement. Teammates had to bail me out with their second bottles, and the race did not allow a feed zone. I think there were a lot of tired, dehydrated bike riders after this race. Stage 5 - May 7: Gila Monster Road Race, 100 miles 9200 ft/3000 m climbing, 3 mountains Simple strategy today for Team Shaklee. Use our manpower in two shifts. Jame Carney, Dave McCook, Luke Mauritzen, Christian Valenzuela, and Colby Pearce would set the pace over the smaller climbs and flats until 50 miles, when we hit the first climb. On one of the 50mph (80kph) descents early on, Christian got a front flat. I'll tell you, I've never seen a bicycle front end wobble as badly as his was. Lucky for him he brought it under control. Going up the first major climb of the day all our "first shift" guys fell off the pace, their job done. From this summit we could see a majestic arid valley containing the turn around point, the Gila Cliff Dwellings. There wasn't much time to sightsee as the descent was fast and difficult. I eased off as we neared the bottom and strong winds buffeted my front aero Cane Creek wheel. Sitting around 20th in the line I got to see one of the more horrific crashes of my cycling career as Bart Bowen (Saturn) went wide in a corner. His front wheel hit a deep ditch and he flipped hard. Parts of his bike including the collapsed front wheel still attached to sheared off fork blades flew through the air. I couldn't imagine that he would get up from that fall. Later we'd find out that Bart got up and was seen in the feed zone scraped up but OK. Sylvain, Glen, and Graeme took care of Eric and I until the start of the 2nd climb, about 20 miles. Our Kiwis worked really hard at the front, doing 30mph and closing the gap to the early breakaway of Gord Fraser, Mike Sayers, and Steve Speaks (7UP). On the last two climbs I stayed close by Eric and we worked to contain the overall challengers, especially Eddy Gragus (Jelly Belly), Doug Z. (7UP), and Scott Price. Burke Swindlehurst won the stage (and the stuffed Gila Monster prize) from a group of 3 riders while Eric and I finished 1:20 behind in a group of 6. It was a great team effort today. After 24,000 feet climbed in 5 days Eric took the overall win while I was also in the top 10. Next up: Houston BMC Software GP, then Olympic Road Trials Jackson Mississippi |
