Gila Stage 2: Alisha 4th in GC

Dave says: Alisha told me that today was one of the toughest races she's done (harder even than yesterday). Five miles in, the attacks had already started and it wasn't until 1 km to go that the last break was finally neutralized. There were some good hills and a crazy-fast descent on today's course but mostly it was the aggressive riding of the group that made things difficult as everyone wanted to move up in the GC. The front 25 riders were mostly together at the finish (Alisha came in 21st), however the field sprint created an 8 second gap that moved Alisha down one spot to 4th in the GC. CyclingNews. VeloNews.

Alisha told me that one of the best parts of the day was getting a call up to the front line at the start. Beforehand, the announcer asked her what her big results were that he could announce on the call up. She said "yesterday" and he was pretty surprised to learn that she was at her first big pro race. She also made friends with the driver of one of the support vehicles who kept her stocked with bottles throughout the 75 mile course. Tomorrow is the individual time trial where things will really get spread out. We're anticipating a bit of a GC drop (given the fact that I built up Alisha's TT bike 2 months ago in the garage and she's racing the World TT champion) but the last stage will have some good climbs so we're looking forward to that.

*Alisha wanted me to say thanks to her team, friends, and everyone else who has been calling and emailing her. Thanks for your support!

Alisha Takes 3rd in Tour of the Gila Stage 1

Dave says: On her 26th birthday, Alisha did not dissapoint as she competed in the biggest (and first professional) race of her life and ended up on the podium. For those who don't know about the Tour of the Gila, it's a big deal in the cycling world (Lance is racing there). In front of her was Olympic Gold Medalist Kristin Armstrong and World Cup and National Championship race winner Katheryn Mattis. Behind Alisha was defending champion Leah Goldstein who just told CyclingNews that she's been training in Silver City for three weeks riding this road course twice a week and captaining a stronger team of riders than her race-winning squad last year. Of the top 20 finishers, Alisha is the only one not on a national team (72 Pro 1-2 riders in her field). Ok, now that I've had the chance to brag about my incredibly awesome wife, I'll give you the Gila race report (and you won't find this on VeloNews).

The course from Silver City to Mogollon is 73 miles and takes nearly 4 hours. The crazy part is at the end where the last several miles go straight up to a summit finish with a grade as steep as 19% in some places. Before the hills started, four riders broke away from the group and Kristin Armstrong attacked to chase them down. Once the climb started, Alisha rode to the front and attacked. Soon the four woman break was overtaken and Alisha was off after Armstrong. Two riders (Katheryn Mattis [Webcor], Cath Cheatley[Colavita]) bridged up from the group to Alisha and she was able to hold off Cheatley for third (48 seconds behind Armstrong, 12 seconds behind Mattis). Although the cycling media is there, no one knows who Alisha is and so the women's race has been poorly covered. Hopefully by the end of this week her name will be more familiar.

Tomorrow is another road race with some big hills (but unfortunately no summit finish). There are several national teams here who will be making life difficult for Alisha who is flying solo except for the support of her wonderful parents (ya, they have radios, support cars, and team directors calling the shots during the race). I'm so excited that I've barely left the computer all day waiting for results to come in. I'll be posting additional updates throughout the week.

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.

The Pain Train

Dave says: Five hours of East Canyon with some friends who rode a tandem was harder than racing the Tour of the Depot. We went up and down some seriously steep hills and still somehow managed over 20 mph for 100 miles. On the last climb of the day (about ninety miles in), I bonked and Alisha totally crushed me. Nice! The next day our speed was about half that high as we both needed to recover. The weather is finally cooperating and spring has arrived at last. We even got out the BBQ grill tonight and roasted some salmon burgers and pineapple.

Virtual Visitation in the NY Times

Dave says: Yesterday I was excited to find out that my article on Virtual Visitation was quoted on the New York Times web site by Lisa Belkin in her parenting blog. An attorney at a local firm read the article and forwarded it on to the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs who emailed me with the good news. Today the law school did a little story on my article and posted it on the school's web page. I'm excited that my first publication has received a bit of attention and I'm a big believer in virtual visitation technology so I hope it can make some influence in the legal community as well.

I think my parents were also excited to get some good news that wasn't cycling related. My blogs always seem to focus on the weekend's activities, but there's a lot going on Mon-Fri and I'll have to do a better job of mentioning this as well. My most recent paper on racism and the law is being edited by the Journal of Law and Family Studies. In addition, I'm in the process of writing a review article of the last 35 years of legal scholarship on procedural justice (thanks to yesterday's record cold in SLC, I've had plenty of time to sit inside and type). Finally, I've already started working with a Ph.D. student and friend on a totally non-legal paper examining the role of the "glue guy" in men's basketball. With all the individual superstars nowadays, we want to look at the growing importance of the guy who is the team player or the "glue" on the court.

The Move

Dave says: This Easter weekend was the Tour of the Depot stage race in Tooele, Utah. There was some good competition with 25 in the 1-2-3 women's including some national pros and 45 in the Men's Cat 3. After a mostly downhill TT, I was sitting in 10th. Without a lot of climbing and with some downhill finishes, I knew that the next two races would require busting a move on whatever little hills the course had.

In the circuit race, I spent six laps on the back before moving to the front on the final lap. Spence (Ski Utah) was drilling it on a hill and riding people off his wheel and when I attacked and yelled at him to come with me, we got a gap on the field and held off the charging field by five seconds. In the sprint he led out and I won. However, it was only enough of a bonus to move us up a couple spots.

In the road race, I talked to Spence before and told him that we should do "the move" on the last hill of the day. I gambled that the whole peloton would be together on the last climb and sat at the back eating cliff blocks for the first 70 miles. On the last hill, riders were driving the pace and things were getting spread out pretty good. Spence was right on my wheel and I gave him the look and we attacked off the front with 5 km to go and got it by 25 seconds. I told him it was his turn to win and didn't sprint him. Maybe I should have. If I had won I would have won the GC, instead I finished second in the RR and 4th in the GC. Oh well, it was still a sweet weekend of racing. We also hung out with my teammate Tyler who worked hard through all 3 stages and took 3rd in the GC.

Alisha says: The womens field of 25 was a bit intimidating with several big names showing up. I was happy with my 7th place finish in the time trial considering about six of the nine miles was descending. It was fun to have my Dad and Mom there to watch the circuit race as Dave and I both had great results. In my race the group stayed together and played games for the first four laps.

When we came around starting our fourth lap I think I was in last place and Dave commented to my parents that I needed to move up. Starting the last lap I had moved up in the group and with half a lap to go there was an attack and once we closed the gap I decided to attack and drilled it. I checked behind me and Nicole Evans was right there but we had gapped the field. We then worked together until the last 1K where she dropped me but I sooo excited to have been able to hang on for 2nd!!

The 50 mile road race was mainly flat so the group stayed together. I somehow ended up in the dirt twice and was super lucky to have stayed on my bike. 5K from the finish there was a little hill and I knew if I had any chance that I had to go for it. Once again when I looked back it was Nicole Evans who was on my wheel. She is super nice and strong, we worked together until about 2K from the finish when I couldn't stay with her anymore.

That was the longest 2K of my life as I kept checking over my shoulder and seeing the charging chase group of Nikki Wangsgard, Tiffany Peluzzo, and Kris Walker getting closer and closer. I passed the 1K sign, then 500m, 200m, I could hear them coming but luckily the finish line came just in time as I was able to snag another 2nd place by only inches. I ended up finishing 5th in the GC. It was a great weekend hanging out with the PCIM gals and all of the other women racers!!

Cholla

Dave says: "In the Men’s race everyone seemed to be watching the Monavie-Cannondale team. The race today would complete a week long training camp for the team which began last Saturday with the Fontana City National... Right from the start, Monavie riders Gillespie, Alex Grant, Jeremiah Bishop, and Bryan Alders charged to the front. David Welsh (Kuhl/Scott) tried his best to ruin the Monavie party. Welsh even briefly took the lead on lap one but the Green Machine would not be denied today." (MTBRaceNews.com)

This was the best version of the Cholla that I've done in four years with a somewhat pleasant desert course and only a moderate amount of wind (compare to weed whacker-made single track and sandstorms of years past). The weather was cold and snowy on the way down from SLC, but I think it was Mona-Vie who warmed things up with their stacked team. When an Olympian steps out of the van on your local race scene, you instantly know that it's time for a little humility lesson. My legs were burning on the first hill and they were gone.

At the end, it was a fight with Chris Holley and a guy named Drew from Colorado. Drew attacked, then I countered and pinned it for the last mile or two to the finish. I turned myself inside out in the process but took fourth and had a good race overall. It was fun times with the Kuhl/Scott crew as usual. Today I went road biking with Alisha and she mopped the floor with me as I cracked after a couple sets of intervals and couldn't even hold her wheel.