Gila Stage 4 - Criterium

Another day, another race. Today was the criterium in downtown Silver City. The Cat. 4s got there early to set up the Blue Sky compound:


The course is a NASCAR lover's dream - 4 lefthand corners. The main "feature" of the course was a climb between the 2nd and 3rd corners. The first couple times through this section were hard on my legs. After that, though, I was punching up it pretty easily every time.

I got to the start a little later than I wanted, but I got a spot in the second row next to Rob. When the gun went off, I went right to the front so I could make it through the first corner safely. It was a little narrow, but not nearly as narrow as hairy as I thought it was going to be.

Ryan hammering off the front, giving the group something to worry about: (Ryan only speaks of himself in the third person now, he's that cool. No, really, this is Marty writing the captions.)


Midway through the race, got off the front going into the 4th corner of a sprint lap and carried the gap all the way to line. I won some socks and $20. I'm thinking of retiring. I didn't have to work all that hard for the prime because Rob was on the front of the chasing pack.

Jason and Ross showing off their Nascar skills:


Rob flatted with 6 laps to go just as we were coming up on the SRAM neutral wheel pit. If you're going to get a flat in a crit, it's pretty sweet if SRAM is there to give you a ZIPP 404 carbon wheel.

Rob awaits permission to fire the second stage afterburners:


Since we were outside of 5 laps to go (barely), Rob was able to hop back in the group the next time we came around. And boy did he ever come back into the group. I was near the front and Rob passed me going mach 1 through the outside of the first corner.

Houston, we have liftoff:


I finished somewhere in the main group, and Rob opened up a sweet sprint for 4th place.

Meanwhile, the Cat. 3s showed up to the compound, with Kevin sporting a sweet head-tan. These things are all the rage now. Don't even bother with tattoos anymore:


In the 3's race, Blue Sky constantly had people at the front of the pack or off the front. Barry got in an early break of 4 guys, but it didn't stick. With a lap or two to go, Jeremy took his chances with a flyer. He was got sucked back in. Eventually, Kevin took fourth in the field sprint.

Jeremy and Kevin keep the suckaz at bay:

Jeremy goes off the front like the bad man he is:


Barry gets into the later breakaway of four, proving that the Two Headed Barremy can be occasionally spotted in single form:



The bad news: In the last lap, somebody put a handlebar into Jeremy and he went down pretty hard. He got some road rash, but it didn't look like he broke bones. He did break a wheel and a helmet, however, and they took him to the hospital as a precaution. He's had a rough couple days, but hopefully he can race tomorrow.