Being Jason McCartney – Racing with Lance & Levi in the Tour of the Gila

28 April 2010

By Jeff Ludlum

2009 saw The Tour of the Gila -- New Mexico’s premier road cycling stage race -- elevated to a new status, when Lance Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer, and Chris Horner raced together as Team Mellow Johnny’s (TMJ). The three brought the speed and at the end of the five-day race, Leipheimer ended up atop the podium with first place in the General Classification (GC).

This year TMJ is back to race, with Jason McCartney replacing Horner (who’s been busy racing in Europe, including a recent GC win in the Basque Country). Competing under the TMJ moniker again (as required by UCI regulations) and wearing a throw-back kit, imagine for a minute being Jason McCartney. It’s got to be cool.

No newbie to professional cycling, McCartney has been racing since 1999, when he entered the pro scene to ride for Team Nutra Fig. Since then he’s raced for various teams, most notably Discovery Channel, Saxo Bank, and now Team RadioShack. McCartney’s raced five grand tours all told. He’s known as a good climber, having won the King of the Mountain (KOM) titles in the Tour of Georgia and also Tour of California. Should suit him well riding over the many climbs TMJ will face in New Mexico.

In spite of NOT being new to big-time bike racing, it’s got to be cool for McCartney to be teamed up to round out the troika with the likes of Armstrong and Leipheimer. Both men are among the most successful American road cyclists ever to race the ProTour. Good company for sure. Competing on American soil in such a race, where TMJ’s presence is a high-light for the event has got to be fun (not to mention having a shot at the podium for the team). It elevates the race, it elevates the sport. And it doesn’t stop there.

Not only does TMJ bring a heightened professional element to the Tour of the Gila. In addition, fellow American professional cyclists Floyd Landis (riding for Bahati Foundation Pro Cycling Team), and David Zabriske (on hiatus from Team Garmin-Transitions to ride for Team DZ-Nuts) all bring added name recognition (and competition!) to The Gila. Might even see TMJ and DZ-Nuts help each other out to manage the peloton, if conditions are right and they need to chase down a break.

From today’s first stage, looks like that might just play out more than once. Leipheimer finished first for the day, DZ Nuts’ Tom Danielson finished second.

Finally, with a Trek LiveSTRONG U23 squad racing the event and the obvious connection to TMJ, McCartney has the opportunity to be fine example for those young riders as an American being successful in professional cycling in a different role. It may not be as sexy as lead rider, but McCartney’s presence is nonetheless meaningful as a fierce climber, competitor, and contributor to a team’s success. For the U23ers, the rest of the racers in the field, and all of us watching, that’s good stuff. Indeed, it’s great for American cycling, for fans and cyclists alike. Gotta be cool to be part of all of that!