Its been a few days since the conclusion of the Tour or the Gila in New Mexico, and as with any race there were varying fortunes for everyone involved. For us we had an excellent start with Cookies 4th place finish on the tough opening Mogollon stage.
From there we continued to ride well as a team and rallied around Cooke. The intent being to keep the Rideclean name up in the GC standings as well as top 5 in the Team Classification. As the race moved forward, things continued to look solid through the Time-Trial where we still held top 10 in the GC , then rode smart through the tough 100 minute Criterium. We knew that, as always, it comes down to the final days 105 mile Gila Monster stage that would take us over thousands of feet of climbing. Good for us, as Cooke is about a buck thirty and manages to pull some impressive power from his skinny frame.
This is where it gets weird. Rolling out of Silver City, the group was mostly relaxed when an unexpected crash involving Cam Evans of Ouch, took Cooke down within the first 5 miles. Just like that, the fall resulted in a broken collarbone and the end of the road. From there we reshuffled and came across two more bizarre crashes. The first, taking Scott Nydam out of the break and to the hospital in bad shape, and the second taking myself, Glick and Gilyard down on a non-technical, straight section of road. Fortunately, both Glick and Gilyard were able to get going with minor damage, while I was forced out of the race with a 5 fractures throughout my foot, ankle and leg. The remaining guys were able to finish the race, but as you can imagine we were all disappointed and dazed as to how quickly the race had turned for us.
As I write this, I’ve got the leg propped up pondering how I can best spend the next few months off the bike in order to come back stronger. I do know for sure that with the motivation from a strong team showing at Gila, the support from my awesome friends and family, and with the help of Dr. Lewis Freed, I will be back as soon as possible. Meanwhile, I can’t help but laugh and think: “eh, thats bike racing.”
-Ron
