Ah. Early move went today a few miles into the race. The local Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory had a few guys in the move plus three other Colorado racers. They rolled off early and I didn’t realise until too late that there were 6 guys up the road. Time checks were spotty, the first split we received was 6 minutes as we rolled up Shalona. As a solo rider there wasn’t too much that I could do until we hit the first real climb, Coalbank Pass. As we hit the climb the gap was 7 minutes. Moninger and Mike Carter rolled the climb hard and I came through when I was able to. Pretty quickly the field thinned out, one of the last guys to get dropped was Ned Overend. He was competing in his 25th Ironhorse! Over the top of Coalbank the group was down to 4, Moninger, Carter, and Mitch Moreman. All altitude climbers. We pegged the descent and flew into the last climb, Mulas. Unfortunately the wind worked against us and there was a tailwind on the climb. Moninger and I swapped off for most of the climb with Scott taking some big digs on the front. I was suffering as we reached the 10,900′ summit, unfortunately the gap was still 2:30. Not possible to bring back much more time on the fast descent into Silverton. As we reached the town of Silverton Mike Carter hit the front and put in a fast last km, Moninger jumped early and I hesitated as I tried to drop to the 11. I was running out of road and the 11 wouldn’t hit so I gave everything I had and spun out the 12. Managed to nip Moninger on the line for 5th place. Bummer that the early move stuck. I’m stoked to feel solid and am feeling good about the block of racing coming up. Local Durangoite Rolando from Costa Rica soloed in for the victory.
Driving to Salt Lake City tomorrow to pay the t-bird a visit. Looking forward to some good Utah mountain climbing.

Rest day in Durango after back to back epic Durango to Silverton rides. My rest day started with bagels and coffee at the Steaming Bean then more coffee at Durango Coffee Company. I have to say that I’m a bit disappointed in Durango coffee, still haven’t had a decent espresso. Got out for a sweet town ride on the bike paths including a few laps of the bmx track where I pulled huge air over the doubles.
Off to Lemon Lake this morning, beautiful morning. 38 degrees!

All settled with Guptill in Durango. So gorgeous here! I love Tucson, don’t get me wrong. It was extremely hard to leave town, as it always is, but heading to the mountains of Colorado in the summertime is a great thing. Only got pulled over once in the new Audi,  90 in a 60.  Managed to somehow come out of that with a warning.  Phew.  Nothing like seeing a cop pull a four wheel drift u-turn with the lights flashing to get your adrenaline pumping.

A few awesome rides already, going to head to Silverton and back tomorrow. An amazing 110 mile ride over three mountain passes, the same course as next weeks Ironhorse. The above shot was taken back in ‘03 when I did Ironhorse with Saturn. I helped Tommy d. that year as he went for the record and managed to set it. In ‘02 I did the race as well with Mercury, Tom went second that year after getting pumped on the line by a Costa Rican. Moninger was fourth and I was sixth. I’m hoping to improve on the sixth place finish this year, Moninger will be here and should be rocking in his Flock of Seagulls greatness.

Wow.  Finally feeling normal today, was pretty rocked for a few days there.  Combination of going into Georgia unfit then coming good for Bisbee and straight into Gila threw my body for a loop.  I think that the time off before Georgia is going to be good for the summer, a bit of recovery then huge racing stimuli.  Not exactly what I had planned to use Georgia for but sometimes you gotta play the cards you are dealt.  Gila ended up ok, wasn’t able to crack Baldwin at all but Burke and I are pretty happy with our 3rd and 5th overall.  Nice to see Baldwin win a stage race!  His team rode solidly the whole tour, not much of a chance to gain back serious time on him.
My Tucson days are limited.  Headed to Durango on Sunday, be there for two weeks til the Ironhorse.  From there the schedule gets tight!
Ironhorse May 27

Mt. Hood Cycling Classic May 31-June 4

Nature Valley  June 14-18

Tour de Nez June 22-24

Fitchburg June 29 July 2

Very excited, can’t wait.

Getting it done out in Gila, Burke is in 3rd-7th for me. Going into todays stage which is incredibly hard, should be the hardest day of the race by far. Burke is feeling good and ready to attack, I should be a bit better today than a few days ago on Mogollon I think. Starting to adapt to the altitude a bit. The race has been very controlled so far by Baldwin’s Toyota team. Chris Baldwin is going to be on the defensive today though, lots of attacking to come from Moninger and Burke. Should be a good one.