The Inner Loop of Gila

There's not a great expanse of roads here, but there is one loop well known by everyone who has ever been to Silver City: the Inner Loop. You can run it either direction, today's was clockwise. It started out pretty hard racing up the gradual climb to Pinos Altos and continuing to roll along until the twisty descent of the Sapillo to Lake Roberts. Jonny did a good job getting himself into the move, but it was only 3 guys, so they were pretty doomed. We were met with a stiff headwind from Lake Roberts until we turned onto the last KOM of the day with 30km to go. Then the cross tailwind combined with the catch of the break created chaos as guys began to attack. I just followed and tried to keep things in check. We were hoping Marco would survive the climb and be able to do the sprint. I wasn't sure if he had made it because I hadn't seen him, but all the sudden at about 5km to go I looked up to see him in front of me! It's funny how sprinters can sort of be like ninjas. From there I was trying to stay safe and in a good position. We went flying into the last corner about 1.5km to go and half the field hopped the median, while I stayed inside. It went fully into the gutter at that point and guys began to blow up. I kept on the gas to the line hoping to avoid any time loss, but I was victim of 10 seconds lost even though I was 19th on the stage. A tough pill to swallow, but hopefully that won't be the make or break for me. The semi-good part is that Marco sprinted for second. We of course would have liked to win, but at least we were in the mix again. We can only keep trying!