Tour of the Gila Files The 22nd Annual Tour of the Gila is coming up April 30th - May 4th in Silver City, New Mexico.


I had a comment a few weeks ago asking if I had any Tour of the Gila files to publicize. I do not have any of my own but I did ask around and professional rider Chuck Coyle said I could post two of his files from the 2006 Tour of Gila.

May 4th, 2006 Stage 1- Silver City to Mogollon. Click here to view and download.
From my experience this stage simply comes down to the final climb. A break usually gets away in the Pro-1 field but is usually caught on the Mogollon climb. Eat drink and stay protected on this day. You can lose minutes just in the final 2k so be ready to hit it hard the last 30 minutes of this race if you are going for a GC placement.

May 5th, 2006 Stage 2- Inner Loop. Click here to view and download.
Eventhough this is the flattest stage of the week (other than the crit) this race hurts a ton. The most pain is felt in the first 60-minutes of the race, and in fact if you look at Chuck's file for this stage you can see he averaged a whopping 377w for the first 30-minutes. Ouch!

This stage not only starts out with a cross-wind climb but there is also a points sprint line right at the bottom of the climb. Be heads up right from the start of this race as you'll be battling cross winds and altitude gain.

Also be careful on the descent into the valley about one hour into the race. This is a 1000+ft drop on nasty rough roads with tons of switch backs. Make sure your brake pads are in good working order. After the descent drink and eat to get ready for the final 35 mile of the race which contain big rollers and yes, even more wind.

You can see the stage profiles by clicking here.

Good luck to those racing in the Gila this year.
Caio
Dirk