I never get tired of this view/draft

Same view as a 1000 miles ago, but I'll never get tired of the view or draft! With the warmer temp's down south Greg has switched out his black "home" team TMT jersey to his white "away" jersey.
Today we are heading east from Fort Davis to Marathon, TX. So far I am loving west Texas!

Gila Monster T/A for Men 1/2

Some legit climbing!
If any of you mountain goats wanna climb to 8,228', I think on the 5th day of racing, this is your race!

Happy Earth Day!

8,228' above sea level.
The high point on The Southern Tier ACA route.

(Former home to the Warm Springs Apache; the place is stunningly beautiful. No wonder they defended it so staunchly, first from the Spanish, then the Mexicans, and lastly from the "united" American Army, post civil war - on behalf of the miners, ranchers, and "settlers".)

Thanks to all the European-Americans (like Aldo Leopold, John Muir, Gaylord Nelson, Clinton P. Anderson, and others) who had the foresight and sense to protect some of these places from "progress", before they were all gone.

"In wilderness is the salvation of the world."

Be good to your mother.

Successful Team Tactics!

It was great to see team tactics actually play out successfully during the races this weekend - who would have thought!

On Saturday, Barney, Gordy, Mike, and I drove up near Eau Claire to do the Durand RR and take on the Minnesota teams (the race is part of their series). A few initial efforts here and there to try and establish a break, but nothing stuck early. Near the start of the second lap (of three), Mike attacked with a team Flanders rider, and they got a good gap. I bridged up a little later with another guy in tow, and the four of us rode together until we got close to the end (the guy who sat on my wheel then proceeded to sit on wheels in our group of 4, and as it turned out we should have tried to drop him). Mike and I tried a couple attacks/counter-attacks toward the end but we could not get away. Then hitting the final turn to the 2-tier uphill finish I attacked, and when I was caught near the last uphill Mike countered and took the win! (And Gordy took first as well as he was riding the 60+ category.)

On Sunday, the GDVC crit worked almost as well. Gordy and John van Susteren attacked early on and got a decent gap, then we (Curtis, Doug, and I) and LAPT covered every attempt to bridge (and I think frustrated several of the chasers!), and their gap grew. The pace overall must have been pretty hard as lots of guys were being shelled off the back. Unfortunately Gordy had 45 minutes of power in his legs today, and the race was an hour! So Gordy fell off from van Susteren, and with about 4 laps or so to go, I bridged to Gordy hoping he had some gas left in the tank - alas the gauge was empty! What was left of the pack (~15 guys) eventually caught up to Gordy and I, and then Curtis counter-attacked and soloed in for 2nd (in his first Masters race too!). Doug ended his race with a flat (bummer!) and I ended up in the top 10 (8th I think).

I know we also had some other good results today at the GDVC crit with Lisa winning (Women's Cat 4), Barney taking 3rd (M 3/4), Robert winning (Cat 4), Matt taking 3rd (Pro/1/2), and Amanda and Arrietta taking 4th and 5th (Women's Open). Nice work everyone!

Eric

The Gila Monster

Heidi and I did a little race reconnaissance this week for the Tour of the Gila.
And so far our first impressions are
1) We're glad we're not Pro/1 Men, after going DOWN some of the pitches that only the Pro/1 Men do (out to the Gila Cliff Dwellings, on "The Gila Monster" stage). The climbing out there (here!) is tough. But some of those downhill pitches might very well be terrifying to race.
2) It is stunningly beautiful (esp when out of town, when not by the open pit copper mines, etc)
3) They like to drink and drive in NM, like they do in WI. Only instead of there being a bar in every little town where you go drink, then drive home, here they drink WHILE they drive. And then they throw the empties out the truck window. The same. But different.
4) There is an ammo shortage at the local stores
5) The locals are hoarding ammo; because they need it to shoot up all the road signs and dioramas at the scenic overlooks
6) The team car must have had a mechanical, because they never caught up to us, even on the climbs.

Well, that's it for now.
Carry on!

Greg "12 mph" Ferguson

Tour of the Gila

We are 2 weeks too early for the Tour of the Gila, but we are enjoying our own version with 50 lbs of gear. Maybe we could add a category to age group racing, Master's 45-50, self-supported touring? I think we may have come in first (and last) today.

We are entering another state!

Enjoying a relaxing day off

In Safford, AZ

April snow brings May ??

Great Dane Velo Club: # 1
Cold and windy but I still toughened up and put on my big boy pants (thermals) and raced M3/4 with Michael, Barney and Jim. With the 4 of us, we pretty much  controlled the race and finished with Barney 2^nd and Michael 3^rd!  Michael Mayer threw it down by racing 3 races, and we had some other great finishes including Curtis winning the Cat 3’s and Eric Knuth 2^nd in the M1/2/3. Great job team!
dblomme

Hooked up by an "old" teammate!

Brian Abraham is still only a "Junior Master", but he is an "old" teammate; and when we stopped into the West Phoenix Trek Store today he and the guys really hooked us up with food, drink, entertainment - oh, and bike gear and technical help too.
Thanks guys!

Amanda and me after our first ride with our new team kits!

Amanda did intervals and I practiced my drafting skills.

Alterra Opening Party - success!

Coffee – Beer – food!
Madison’s first Alterra store is open and awesome. This will be soon be our new start/stop location for team rides and other fun events.

We're not splitting hairs

On our training diet.
We are, however, occasionally splitting bananas!

We have been setting some records.
Not Strava records;
eating records...