Story by Vaughn and Janna

Perhaps the toughest 5-day Tour in the USA takes place in Silver City, New Mexico, starting this week, including hotly contested Pro Men's, Pro Womens, Sr Men's 2 and 3 races. Both 2001 winners,  Scott Moninger (Mercury) and Genevieve Jeanson (RONA), will return to protect their titles. With a total purse of $24,861 the race will draw the strongest pro teams in the USA.

Silver City was a silver mining boom town in the 19th century, and in those days you could see Butch Cassidy or Billy the Kid in town. Geronimo was also said to have been born in the nearby wilderness. Starting tomorrow you are more likely to see Chris Horner (Prime Alliance),  who has won all the major stage races this year in the US, assuming Chris'fracture of a foot bone is ready to be tested) and Henk Vogels, legendary Mercury strongman, 2nd at Sea Otter, and always front and center in stage or single day races. 

The Prime Alliance team brings Danny Pate, Alex Candelario, and Svein Tuft, and newly signed Russell Stevenson formerly of Broadmark Capital. Mercury fields a strong team to help Scott Moninger defend his 2001 title including Gord Frazer, Chris Wherry, Jesus Zarate, Plamen Stoyanov, Steve Flynn and Adham Sbeih.

7UP/Nutrafig is rustling up John Lieswyn, Oscar Pineda, Charles Dionne, Clark Sheehan, Doug Ziawatz, Dan Schmatz and our own Chuck Coyle. Another force to be reckon'd with is the Saturn Team with Harm Jansen, Eric Wohlberg, Frank and Mark McCormack. Ofoto-Lombardi is the largest team in attendance with 14 riders.

The men's team Roster includes Prime Alliance, Mercury, 7UP/Nutrafig, Mercy, Landis Trek, Saturn, Choco Andean Eco Coffee, Teco Turbo, First Endurance/Contender Bicycles, Jelly Belly, FCRC/TrekVW, Sierra Nevada Cycling team, Team Rhino, Ofoto-Lombardi Sports, Bob's Lost River Cycling, Mongoose and Team Rhino.

The women's roster includes: Saturn, Diet Rite, RONA, Mercy, Tokyo Joe's, and Telekom Voice Stream/Cannondale. Among the ladies contenders will be: Lyne Bessette, Kimberly Bruckner, Ina Teutenberg, Anna Millward of Saturn; Genevieve Jeanson, Andre Hannos, Ami Jarvis, Karen Bockel and Melissa Holt of RONA. Kelly Kori, Sarah Hammer, Cybil Diguistini, Tina Mayolopic, Kerry Soraci, Cheryl Binney and Mina Pizzini of Diet Rite will have one of the largest teams. Katrina Berger (Cannondale USA) of the new Telekom/Cannondale team at the moment is entered - no word regarding the rest of the team.

With a fantastic pro field for both the Men's and Women's competition, a demanding course with locale names that read like a nickel Winchester Remington Western Novel: Buck Horn Mesa, Mogollon Pass, Truth or Consequences, Wild Horse Mesa, and Pinos Altos, this will be the spring shootout for the Purple Jersey to see who are the King and Queen of the Wild West.

Worthy of note is that the course never dips below 5600 feet elevation -  this will sort out the greenhorns from the bike buckaroos. The Sunday race is called the Gila Monster, and with good reason: the men's pro race has 22,180 feet of elevation to defeat in the five stages. The women's pro race with a shortened course is just as demanding.

Just what is a Gila Monster? Well it is a large venomous lizard named after the southwestern US Gila (pronounced hee-la) River. Its beaded and armored skin is black with orange and pink, it lives 20 years, has a very strong bite and is rumored to not let go it's bite 'til the sun goes down....in all, it is ugly and fitting of this wild country. However, apparently you have to get one really mad before he'll bite - good news for us tenderfeet. Why the road race is called the Gila Monster? Even though Silver City itself sits at 5800 feet of elevation (1800 meters), the pro course has three severe to extreme climbs, to elevations of 7400 feet (2255 meters). The estimated speed of this race tells the tale, just slightly over 20 miles per hour (32 kph). 

The Stages
Stage 1: Weds 1 May -  Tyrone Time Trial
31.4 mile course, 1970 ft. of climbs. Starting in Tyrone at 5680 ft, racing up and over the Tyrone pass (6340 ft.) with a one and half mile technical descent to mile 8. Continuing over rollers to the turn-around point to climb the steeper side of Tyrone pass with a fast descent to Tyrone. Definitely a time trial for the mountain goats, sherpas and Boulderites. Riders will be released at 30 second intervals.

Stage 2: Thursday 2 May - Mogollon Road to Silver City 
92 miles long, 5650 feet of climbs. The Cat 1 Climb is thoughtfully arranged in the final 35 miles of the race on very narrow alpine road with an uphill finish. There will be two 15 second time bonus sprints at Buckhorn and Mangas, both at over 4700 feet. The race starts at Mogollon Pass (6800 feet), descends through Whitewater Mesa to 4600 feet. At Pleasanton the racers will confront their first climb of the day to 5270' Mule Creek. Halfway through the descent is the first time bonus sprint at Buckhorn - 30 miles off rollers through the valley to the lowpoint of the race (4500 feet). Following the feed zone the riders attack the climb to Mangas pass (4900 feet) for the time bonus with an up hill sprint. A short descent and then the 12 mile ascent to Silver City at 5900' with a final elevation gain of 1150 feet.

Stage 3: Friday 3 May - The Inner Loop Road Race
73 mile loop race with 5160 ft of climbing, starting and ending at Ft. Bayard. The first obstacle today starts after the Bonus Sprint at mile seven with a 1300' elevation change in 3 miles to Pinos Altos. A severe descent follows leading to a 1470 ft climb in three/half miles. A moderate descent and a three mile climb to Meadow Creek summit (7470 ft) a total ascent of 1900'. Another short descent across Wild Horse Mesa to a highly technical descent dropping from 7,000' to 5990' in 4 miles. Rising out of Sapillo Springs, an eleven mile ascent to a bonus sprint near the summit of the Continental Divide, 6,650'. Gentle down hill for the next 15 miles to rest those road weary legs and the final 7 mile 900 foot ascent at mile 65 leading up to the finish, which of course is uphill. What else!!

Stage 4: Saturday 4 May - Silver City Criterium - well, at least this one's in town! 
The pro men's race is 40 laps on a 1.08 mile course, with four 90 degree turns and 60 feet of climbing per lap. The pro women's course is 25 laps. This doesn't sound like much except that this Crit will be at 5800 foot elevation! This will look like a day in the park for the pros after 12,820 ft. total of climbing in the last 3 days.

Stage 5: Sunday 5 May - The Gila Monster 
The pro men's race follows a one-hundred mile course with 9,360 feet of climbing. The pro women's course is 66 miles with a mere 5420 feet of climbing. Race starts at 8 am from Silver City, racing the 100 mile loop which starts at 5800 ft., the lowest altitude of the day. This stage challenges with three major Cols over 7000 ft. and three lesser Cols of 6600' to 6900', including three "extreme" descents on narrow mountain roads. The challenge of the day will be the ride up from Sapillo Springs to Wild Horse Mesa -  a three mile, 1200 ft. climb, followed by the short but intense climb to Meadow Creek (elevation 7470'). There will be two time bonus sprints. 

Pre-Crit Live Chat:
Saturday before the race, join us for a chat with 7UP/Nutrafig team members at the Tour of the Gila. 

Team members scheduled to join us include: Chuck Coyle, John Lieswyn, Oscar Pineda, Charles Dionne, Clark Sheehan, Doug Ziewacz, and maybe Dan Schmatz. Chad the mechanic and Stephanie the soigneur may also be along. Chat time is 11am Mountain Time, which is 10am PDT, 1pm EDT, 6pm GMT. 

Get your questions in for the Gila Men in Green and Silver on the message board or by email. The chat will be moderated for the first 10 minutes to answer the submitted questions, and then we will have our usual free-for-all with the riders. All hyped for the Crit, it should be a wild time. We would like to thank Chuck, team manager Jeff, and all the team members who are willing to take the time and chat with us.

Our intrepid gunslinger Vaughn is on his way to Silver City now and will file reports in addition to chatting with the 7UP wild men on Saturday. Be sure to join us here at the Daily Peloton!

Tour of the Gila