ToTG Day 4 - Criterium

Saturday during the Tour of The Gila is crit day.  1 mile circuit with 70 foot climb each lap.  Nice course, a little rough.   Great crowds and announcers.

Craig raced first, at 0830.  He couldn't breath and had came down with a GI bug overnight so only lasted 6/15 laps.  Ate a burrito for lunch, so probably on the road to recovery.

Jim raced at 1030. He lasted 12/18 laps and was happy with that.  You can see where he wasn't able to recover his heartrate during lap 4 so got popped on the steep hill on lap 5.  Fortunately for him, a guy who was stronger had come off earlier so he towed Jim around for the next 7 laps, doing 90% of the work.  They did get pulled at least a lap sooner than they should have, disappointing, but hey, whatever.

Craig did come up with a few new verses for the old "Diarrhea" song.  He substitutes "Balmorrhea" to honor the town in TX near Ft. Davis.

"When you're riding in the crit and your just about to sh__, Balmorrhea.  When you're moving thru the pack and you feel it in your crack, Balmorrhea.  When you're climbing up the mountain and you feel the chocolate fountain, Balmorrhea."

Childish yes, but since when isn't bike racing or dudes on the road together childish.

Craig made the mistake of telling Wes he had diarrhea, so Wes caught the malady instantly.  We returned from the crit to find him still in bed, unable to do his 3 hour monster ride of climbing today.

Tomorrow, the final stage aka "The Gila Monster."  Stay tuned, looks like we survived.