Christopher and I have been mapping out our shifts in the course map book.  We are splitting up the ride from now until we get over the high point of the race in Colorado according to climbs and descents, with me taking care of the former and Christopher taking care of the latter.  I am very comfortable and confident on any climb and Christopher is the same on descents (with a background of downhill ski racing, motorcycling and racing bikes as a sprinter - and just being far better coordinated and confident than me - Christopher can put as much time into me on a descent as I can into him on an ascent).  By exploiting our respective strengths in this way, we think we can begin the descent from the Rockies in contention.  After that we will likely settle into a steadier rythm based on length of shifts - which will be merciful to our crew as it will regularize their living and working schedules considerably.  Based on new info we learned tonight about when the first rider exchanges can  occur after the start, Christopher will be starting.  The first 13 miles (or roughly 21km - sorry, we ain't in metric country anymore) will be a controlled-pace ceremonial "parade" out of Oceanside, after which the racing will start.  Christopher will ride the next 30 miles or so, and then I will take over for about the same.