The Gila Starts Tomorrow

Dave says: I just got off the phone with Alisha. She's in the car on the way to Silver City, NM with her parents. Tomorrow is the start of the SRAM Tour of the Gila and also her 26th birthday. So I guess her present is that she gets to compete against some of the world's top women cyclists including the Olympic gold medalist in five days of intense racing.

Last Saturday, she raced East Canyon and was in a three woman break only to get a flat tire. Her teammate Chantal was cool enough to stop and actually gave Alisha one of her wheels. It took 20 miles of chasing for Alisha to catch back to the group. Then, she was involved in a small crash and had to chase again to get back on. However, the uphill finish was just right for her and she outsprinted the group for third (behind the 2 in the break). Despite nearby snow and rain throughout the day, the weather generally held out until the race was finished.

On Friday, I went down to Provo to see Christine graduate from law school. She has certainly excelled to graduate a semester early, have two kids while in school, and still be at the top of her class. Then again, that's typical for her. On Saturday morning, it was raining in Toole for Collegiate Conference Championships. I skipped out on the TTT but did the crit later in the day where Joel snapped this photo. Despite the blur, it was just an average ride as I finished with the main group. This week I am back to 10-12 hour study days as I get ready for finals. Perhaps it's good that Alisha's out of town because this will be quite the monotonous week.