Mara Abbott atop the podium at the SRAM Tour of the Gila Stage 1

A few weeks ago Jordan got a chance to shoot on down to the SRAM Tour of the Gila with SRAM Neutral Service Crew to help work the race, hang in the amazing New Mexico sunshine and get away from the office for a few minutes. Jose Alcala – the head of the crew down here, placed Jordan in the women’s pro race caravan. Directely from the source below:

Stage 1, had the women’s race climbing up and finishing ontop of Mount Mogollon, a nasty switched back climb with super narrow roads and racers from other categories riding down! A video of the men’s finish can be be found on The Gear Movement’s Facebook Page.

Working with SRAM crew was tons of fun over the last two days so here a few pics below to prove it!

The beautiful SRAM NRS Volvo's ready for a days work!

Great scenery outside Silver City, NM for the SRAM Tour of the Gila

Number 1 mechanic Todd Downs with the SRAM NRS crew!

Stage 2 brought a late start to the women’s pro race and saw 70mph wind gusts throughout the day. Unfortunately I was not able to grab any pics of this full on insanity, but girls in the race were walking up through the feedzone with their bikes in the hands flying over their heads! Here are some great videos below…

Fast Tube by Casper

Fast Tube by Casper

Fast Tube by Casper

Fast Tube by Casper

Fast Tube by Casper

Stage 2 saw some carnarge with some crashes and bad bad winds. Kelly took a spill just before the finish, which looked pretty bad, but the soldier that she is, she rode her bike back to the finish and finished the race! One of the more impressive things I have ever seen on a bike, go Kelly!

Reigning US Champ Meredith Miller before Stage 1 of the SRAM Tour of the Gila

Tonight we are building some of the new SRAM NRS Specialized Tarmac bikes for the TT tomorrow and going to an amazing restaurant here in Silver City, NM for dinner.

Super cool Custom SRAM Red 54t Chainring for Nat Champ John Murphy

Today’s a wrap at the Tour of Missouri. We placed 9th in the field sprint (John Murphy – OUCH Maxxis). The win went to Mark Cavendish from the ever powerful Columbia HTC team. A Little side note fans, the Columbia HTC team is one of The Gear Movement’s biggest clients, yes we work with the best! First place price today was a Buell 1125R moto! How will they split that between 8 riders and 12 staff? Any ideas? I’ll tell Cavendish your ideas tomorrow at dinner!

Dan The Bicycle Man - Check out the sweet off center front wheel!

Jordan spent the day in the feedzone and hanging on the massive team bus watching the race on TV! Only one caravan was allowed in the race today and the duty of mechanic goes to the rad Eric Greene (OUCH Maxxis’ head wrench). After the race the fun consisted of getting the team bikes washed super fast! I can now say I am one of the fastest bike washers when I am in my element, no jokes here please! This evening consisted of dinner with the OUCH boys in the great dinning hall. Tomorrows Stage 2 begins in Ste. Genevieve about an hour and a half transfer from the hotel here in St. Louis. Our start time is 11am which means us staff need to get up around and out at the trailer by about 5 or 6am to make sure we get everything dialed in. Stage 2 finishes in Cape Girardeau!

Super Mechanic John Sessa from the Jelly Belly Pro Cycling Team

Nice thing about this race is that it is super well organized! The organizers did a great job placing the finishes within 1-3 miles of the hotels we stay in that night, making for short nights and long morning transfers. No sarcasm here but this is a mechanics dream!!

Another Super Mechanic - Vince Gee of the BMC Pro Cycling Team

Looks as though my responsibility for this race will be transfer boy! We have a new staff member named Adrian who is as Irish as they come. He is so Irish that I can barely understand what he says when he talks!! Its gonna be an interesting week of fighting for parking spots, water hookups, rooms, and electrical hookups in the parking lots at hotels all over the state of Missouri. Anyways I’m off to bed, its early to rise tomorrow for a fun day of the Tour of Missouri.

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