Broken Princes

If you have been following the Tour of Gila, your probably saw big Tom Zirbel of the Bissell team do a killer time trial. Well after leading the race, Tom had a crash. This from his blog- “I was looking forward to seeing how I would fair on the brutal last day but didn’t give myself the opportunity when i overcooked a turn on the steep gila monster descent and slammed into Andy Guptill of Colavita who was just lifting himself up from crashing. Well, me and about 8 others crashed on the same turn. I guess we got a little carried away. I hobbled away w/ a strained shoulder (no broken collarbone), broken bone in L hand, and cracked back R rib.”

Well, his hand is broken but as you can see from the picture, his $11,000 plus, Pinarello Prince was destroyed. I’m hoping he’ll send me the left-overs.  I have tons of respect for Tom because of his size.  I’m 6′5″, 195.  Gotta love a big man that can take it to the light, little guys!

On a more somber note, Fausto Esparza Munoz, the Tecos-Trek rider who was also in the crash didn’t fair as well as Tom. He remains in an El Paso hospital paralyzed below his midsection. Doctors say the likelihood of a full recovery of movement is “discouraging,”. I hope that the Doctor is wrong and that Fausto can get back on the bike some day.