Fort Davis

We (Thomas, Troy and myself) rolled in the Fort Davis on Friday around 4 o'clock. Unloaded our things and headed packet pickup and take a spin on the hill climb course and see just what we were in for. Well, we were in for a pretty good climb. The best part was that were were quite a few turns over the whole length so you could get our of sight possibly. That evening the whole team got together and at the Cabin we were staying in. In order to get to the cabin you had to drive down a dirt road with sharp turns and small rollers, which gave Troy a chance to try out his rally car driving skills.
Saturday morning was a TT (16 miles). I ended up sitting in 5th overall after this stage. I ended up having a slow leak in my rear tubular. Yet I do not feel that had much of a factor in my final time, because I did not feel in until about 500 meters after the finish. That afternoon we all went back to the cabing got some lunch and took naps for the rest of the day and around 2pm we began to get ready for the "Hill Climb". The was a point to point race to the top of the Mc Donald observatory. All I have to say is Crazy!! The race was going well we had a plan to try and get my to the top first. A small break went early and the field was leting them just dangle out in front the a gap opened up even more. when we got the the first section of the climb, the pace picked up and I went whith the guys to try and close the gap. after about 1/2 mile I looked over my shoulder and saw that the field had shattered and there were only about 10 of us chasing. About 500 meter later there was only 5 in our group. This is when the attacking started and went on until the last 1/2 miles when is was just a matter of keeping the bike moving up the hill and not loosing ground. I rolled across in 9th for the day. I was happy with this stage.
Sunday the 76 miles road stage. This was going to be fun because we get to come down 90% of the climbs we went up yestarday. The group stayed together for the most part until around mile 45 or so. I am not realy sure, because my magnet moved on my and my computer stopped. Then there was an attack and I jumped in. There were small surges up the climbs and I kept on the right wheel. Then a small attack went and I did not have the snap in time. About 30 seconds later I tried again and started to bridge up to the break and was within 10 seconds of them and the gap stagnated. I got a few other guys to work with me, then they just stopped pulling through. So I decided I was not going to pull these guys up there so I knew I would have to attack a couple time before I broke free of my anchor. Sure enought after my second small yet abrupt surge I was free. Then a Solar Eclipse rider and Will Ross got on my wheel and we worked toghether for the last bit of the race together. Chasing the break down we were making time on them and just ran out of road. I believe my placing was 7th on the day, 4th for final GC.

The was a good race to prepare myself for Gila in the next couple of days. Stay tuned for updates on Gila.

Matt