Chihuahua Finale

After Greenville I wasn't quite ready to hang up the cleats for the season. I had some form and even better motivation, so I kept logging as many miles in the mountains as possible before fall rolled in. It turned out for the better when I found out that I'd be doing the Vuelta a Chihuahua in Mexico. Everybody on the team talked about it as something of a vacation and a race to ease into the off-season. The six of us that found ourselves in Cuidad Juarez for the start last week quickly realized that we may have gotten ourselves into something else. With most of the race at or above 7000 feet, plenty of climbing, and a few euro teams that inflicted more pain at the Tour of Portugal than even Chuck Norris himself, it was sure to be a memorable close to the season. Will has a great recap of some of the highlights that's posted over on Velonews.

Like most races we do, it wasn't in our best interest to ride a defensive or controlled race. We set out to race for the win and that meant turning things upside down until we got it. Danny grabbed the leader's jersey on the second stage with some ninja sprint moves to come from 60 guys back in less than 1k. After a Mexican and then a Saunier Duval rider took the jersey we went back to our game plan and blew the race wide open again on the final rise at the end of what most expected to be the easiest stage of the race because of its short and downhill profile. A full team attack launched Timmy and Lucas ahead in a small group that would ride away from a group with the race leader and several other teams trying to save their race. Meanwhile Steven Cozza was part of a 8 man break that had been away from the first 5k and finished it off with a well timed attack to solo in for the stage win. When the dust settled after the 7th stage, we had locked up first place on team GC, a stage win, and 4th and 7th on individual GC.

Now the off-season is here. Actually its more like the off-fortnight, but next season can't come soon enough. Its still mid fifties in Boulder, but its going to take some acclimatization to get used to it. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that we won't have a repeat of last year's winter weather.