Today was the simplest form of bike racing; one man against one clock, the individual time trial. We commenced with the third stage of the Tour of the Gila on a beautiful, sunny morning in southwest New Mexico to test our legs on the 16.5 mile rolling course. Fortunately, we were able to avoid the gale-force winds that challenged us on previous days, but the course proved to be no less demanding. The course was out-and-back beginning with a long 4 mile grind to the first summit followed by a steep, fast decent. Three rollers had to be overcome to the turn-around and back before we ascended the climb one last time and came barreling toward the finish topped off in our highest gearing. For some of us, we rode beyond our limits and surprised not only others but ourselves (Phil), and for some of us, we were on our way to a standout performance but were crossed by misfortune and rode 5 miles on a flat wheel due to nonexistent race support and organization (Jarred). Nonetheless, we are proving to be a significant standout among all amateur teams and you can be sure to see the ears perk up among the professionals when Team Legacy Energy's name rings throughout the peloton.
The category 2 race was challenged by more powerful swirling winds in the afternoon, but, although slightly aggravated, Dan swiftly controlled the terrain and finished in 5th place. He now sits in 6th place in the general classification. Will, on his normal road rig with clip-on aero bars rounded out the team's hard daily efforts in 51st place.
Pro,1 Results:
Brad-29th (37:43)
Phil-39th (38:48)
Paul-41st (39:13)
Ian-45th (39:27)
Jarred-50th (39:45)
Stage Winner: Tom Zirbel (34:26)
General Classification after Stage 3:
Brad-26th (Best Amateur Rider)
Jarred-32nd
Ian-36th
Paul-40th
Phil-60th
Leader: Tom Zirbel
Ciao,
TLE (Team Legacy Energy)
1 comment:
Now if we just had a picture of the new team kit so we could pick the lads out of the peleton.
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