Tour de Tucson, the two faces of Tucson cycling.

  

El Tour was absolutely awesome with one ugly exception.  First things first though, for an 8 year old 40 miles may as well be 100.  They have a shorter attention span for one thing.  Then there is the fact that finding a bike with usable gearing in a real event for kid's that size is really hard, although it is getting easier.  Fuji appears to be offering roadbikes in that size now without the suspension forks like my kids have.  I am quite satisfied with the lads now that all is said and done.  There were lows and highs but surprisingly few lows actually.

The expo is always fun, though my boys attention span wasn't quite up to it.  Josh lost his T-Shirt somewhere and we had to go get another one, bless the good folks at PBAA who wouldn't let me pay for another one but made him promise not to lose this one.  Despite my best efforts the boys were too jazzed to get to bed early but did eventually drift off.

The one thing I really like about the shorter distances is being able to see the 109 milers and the peloton cruise by in the morning.  The boys opted to stay in the nice warm hotel room but I went out and watched.  I made the unfortunate discovery the night before that the tape mechanism on my video camera was thrashed and I would be doomed to what I could get onto the SD card in lower resolution and 10 second chunks.  It still worked out alright though as you can see in the video at the bottom.  It's always a rush to see the pro's cruise by as a giant mass ready to consume all before it.

I spent the morning getting everything ready and preparing,  it still seemed like we waited forever for 10:30 to roll around so we could meet the guy I offered to give a lift to the 40 mile start, and head up there.  I don't like starting a ride that late in the day but I understand the safety aspect of waiting for the faster groups to pass before launching all the guys riding at lower levels out onto the course.  It was tough to keep the boys contained and make them sit down for a peanut butter sandwich before heading over to the start line.

Despite being only a forty mile event there were nearly 1200 people there and it was an impressive throng.  We lined up in back and there were several youthful riders and groups back there.  The boys were funny once we finally were able to start several minutes after the first guys went out.  We started off at a walk and the boys kept trying to get into their toe clips but ended up walking some more.  At long last we were clipped in and picking up speed.  I was pleased the boys climbed the first hills strongly and even were passing people.  I constantly had to remind them about proper passing etiquette but I suppose that is par for the course with 8 year olds.

I had forgotten most of the hills along Rancho Vistoso  but the boys were patient with me and didn't get upset with my constant "You know,  I think that this is the last hill before our long downhill stretch" comments.  I even got a chance to shoot some video once the group broke up a bit.  It was still a pretty steady stream of riders though,  I think there was only one time that we really were on our own for a mile or so.

Heading down Moore my elder son pulled ahead and so on Thorneydale, advising my younger son to stay to the right, and keep riding until he saw me,  I bolted off to catch the eldest and make him wait.  I finally got him sighted and was pushing hard to catch up at 25 mph+ to catch him when all of a sudden I am heading into the side of a large grey dually pickup driven by a sailor talking Wilford Brimley type, as I go up onto my front tire and vear sideways out into the lane.   He is dropping F-Words a dozen a sentence on me when I comment on his driving skills out of pure "you almost killed me" adrenaline.  Suddenly,  I am surrounded by cyclists swooping in for the attack and Wilford informs them what he thinks of El Tour in similar fashion and spouts off about having to feed his calves up the road.  He begins to get out of the truck,  like some old fat guy is going to take on 1000 fit cyclists.  no offense to old fat guys of course,  I just don't like the vocal ones of this sort that perhaps have a bit too much attitude for their own good.  Even if they look like kindly old grandpas.  Cooler heads prevailed of course but I left with the parting comment of having to take care of my babies too and caught Joseph.  Thank goodness he made it past this weed of a human being alive.   I suppose I have now finally seen the darker side of the Tucson cycling scene.

Getting ahead of the younger one gave me an opportunity to get some more video of course so that was the bright side of having to speed ahead.  Going down Tangerine the boys hooked up with a 10 year old kid from eastern Arizona and became fast friends.  We'd meet his family when they caught up just as we were leaving the rest stop at the bottom.  I filled up everybody's bottles and grabbed a cookie while the boys were taking care of the results of their appropriate hydration. 

Heading around Airline road,  I make the observation that the guy on the back of this year's tour  jersey has his shorts right over the middle pocket.  It's a terrible location for a banana.  Later I saw a guy with his windbreaker stuffed back there and that was bad too, looking like he actually won a race with a full set of depends on.  Glad I didn't buy it this year.  Funny no one caught that before it got into production.

The kids shot up rattlesnake pass like it was nothing, passing several walkers.  I don't blame the walkers, this is a really hard part of the ride once you are at 90 miles and the headwinds are really taking their toll.  Just before the turn onto Silverbell the lads stop for a drink, and a bunch of team in training lady's have me take their picture.  After cycling between 3 or 4 cameras I turn around and the kids are gone.  Apparently they ran out of patience.  I catch them fairly quickly as they are stopped at the intersection waiting for the officer to wave them through.

The boys would each go through a low point between here and the end but a quick bribe of candy bars with a strong finish motivates them.  My older son pulled ahead on the frontage road and I let him go.  If we hadn't  held him back he probably would have finished under 4 hours easily.  As is he ended up at 4:07 and my youngest came in 4 minutes later.  The evening was fast approaching and it was really pleasant sitting on the grass waiting out the hour until the shuttle came to pick us up.  Fortunately the good folks at the bike check said they would hold our bikes out when they packed up all the unclaimed bikes at 6 to be claimed on Monday morning.   We ended up finally picking up the bikes around 7:30 and after having the local raving derelict inform my boys about wishing on a star and having Santa give them anything they wanted we were off.  I found his instructions a little ironic as it was obvious he either had some disappointed wishes, or else he didn't aim too high.

We made a quick stop along the frontage road so I could change out of my cycling clothes and let my son jettison some unnecessary waste which he stepped in..... barefoot... when my other son pushed him.  He had to smell his brother all the way home so I guess justice was served although unfortunately I also paid.  All in all it was pretty close to a perfect day despite a few unpleasantries.

They're ready.

The last picture I showed you of this spot would have had those boys up to their chins in water.  It is late fall in the desert and the great thirst of the valley below is somewhat abated and the river is held back to store water for next summer.  My sons are still not too disappointed.  Our turnaround today has them getting distracted by some guys on the shore catching little guppies with nets and my boys decide that they must do it too.  As this was our turnaround I should probably fill in the rest of the ride.

Today had the grand distinction of being the last Saturday before El Tour de Tucson.  If we were doing one of the longer distances we probably would have slacked off a little this week but since we are doing the 40 I thought it would be good to get another 30ish mile ride in with some moderate climbing.  We mixed it up this week by adding mileage on both ends of our loop.  We started at Red Mountain Park to get us a few extra miles at the start and end of the ride,  and would add a brisk jaunt through the rollers east on the Bush Highway along those wonderful new stimulus shoulders.  Mmmmm Stimulus shoulders.  It didn't help my friends keep their house,  but boy it sure put some nice shoulders on our beloved Bush Highway.

So I had to coax my son with ADHD up the first long hill a bit (he gets a little intimidated at the beginning of these long rides) but after we got over the top he got into it.   My other son suddenly decided he was scared of going fast and so we descended the backside of Usery pass at a tepid 17-20 mph. 

Turning right at four corners was a new thing for them as was the wonderful world of rollers.  I was much relieved to find my son that was scared apparently had no qualms about zooming down one side of a gully so he could zoom up the other side.  They handled the rollers amazingly well.  They didn't even give me too much whining around the final several corners before we got to the "Water Users"  area where Salt River Rec puts the tubers in the river during the summer.

This was our destination today mainly because it happened to be where those wonderful stimulus shoulders stopped,  but the fact it had a cool little spot to go down to the river didn't hurt either.  The boys needed something to break the ride up a bit and this did quite well.

We did have a moment or two on the way back,  particularly when after a good long ride we were back at four corners again and they realized we still had all that way to go to get to Kong.  I finally got the youngest to drink his gatorade (always feed a grumpy mood in ultra cycling,  figured it would work here too).  Pretty soon we were bombing down little Kong and they were getting jazzed about climbing Kong.  The youngest did it today and the oldest had to walk a bit but I figured that was OK.  It's tough to climb a steep hill like that at the end of a tough ride.

They ended up with 30 miles with over 1000 feet of climbing.  Most of the 40 mile El Tour route is downhill or fairly flat so I think they will finish strong.   Excitement will help a lot I am sure.  In any case, they are ready and so am I!  I just hope they don't run out of shirts for us folks that can't get down to the expo before Friday afternoon (grumble grumble,  a few years back, despite having registered 6 months previously they ran out, meaning that the folks that registered late got my shirt!  They did eventually mail me one though).





http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/az/mesa/702128959069665563

Friends in Low Places

Riding up Ellsworth the other day I found a little,  well,  I guess he wasn't that little by snake standards, fella feeling a little left out in the cold on the side of the road.  Knowing what it was like myself to recieve the cold shoulder once in awhile I determined I could not leave this poor guy all alone in a cruel cold world.  It would be cold blooded indeed.  Of course,  a person in bicycle clothes is not necessarily dressed to be a snake handler,  still I kept my cool.  While my friend chilled out I searched the bushes for a long stick to help our friend cool his heals in a safer place.  Having found a stick I gently prodded it under my friend hoping he wouldn't lose his cool and freak out.  Fortunately he was out cold and I threw him into the bushes to sleep it off.

I guess Snakes just don't do so hot when it is 45 degrees out despite what Midnight Oil said about the western desert (or perhaps they meant celsius).  For that matter,  without a wind vest and full finger gloves,  neither do I.  The weather man said low 50's.  Apparently his definition of low fifties and my thermometer's definition differ.  Anyway,  it was a chilly morning.  Aside from the snake it was actually a very smooth and steady ride around the foothills of Usery Mtn.  I opted not to climb up to McDowell today since time was short.  It was a good ride albeit a little underdressed.

Unleashed

Rescuing the motorcycle with the bike.

My personal cycling life has been in a severe depression the last few months. Probably since my Dad Died I think. Don't get me wrong, I have loved doing the rides with my sons, and I think I am getting closer to finding good ways to motivate my oldest daughter without getting really frustrated from the whining. One of the greatest regrets of my life is not keeping up on cycling with her and I don't think it is too late, but it will be a hard road to getting her in shape and excited to cycle again. That's not what this post is about though.

I have been in a bicycle depression. I have not been commuting by bike, I have not been able to train since riding with my kids is not fast enough to challenge me unless I am towing my youngest on the trail a bike. I maintained my commitment to support the August Brevet but I did not want to be there. Whether it is jealousy or something else, I kind of resent that whole deal as it is not a part of my life right now and it feels like there is a piece missing. I have been suffering a bit feeling that my fitness is falling. Stumbling upon a youtube video that showed me topping the hill on Shea during the Tour de Phoenix pains me as I know I was about as close as you can get to Platinum shape without being platinum. My time would have got me platinum last year. At the time I knew it would be my last hurrah for awhile in the back of my head.
I believe it is worth it in the long run to spend the time getting my kids up to speed on cycling and that I am investing in something that will pay off big in the long run. It hurts right now to miss that other part of me though. I do think I am slowly getting back a bit. I rode my bike to vote earlier this week, and I also rode my bike to pick up my motorcycle where I had left it after I fixed the flat our van had and drove it home (the bike rack I built for the Motorcycle needs a few refinements but it works so far). I am starting to get motivated to squeeze in some bicycle time for me when I can. I think I am adjusting at long last and I do not resent my bicycle anymore.

I got a bit of a chance to escape this morning though as the boys need a rest day before Saturday (at least that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it). I asked my wife if she could get the kids to school while I take an hour ride and she said yes. So, after I downed a few pieces of toast and a glass of water, I tucked a few CO2 cartridges and my lipstick pump (my backup, too small to get the tire to full pressure but enough to get me out of a situation) in my seatpack, pumped up the tires, searched for my sunglasses, remembered to put my contacts in, strapped my helmet on, and left. Of course I was not out the door when I wanted too but seeing as I was at work by a quarter after nine it worked out.

It has been weeks, if not months, since I was able to open up the engine and let loose. By the time I was out of the neighborhood I was steaming along like a charger with a lion at his heels. Gingerly I took the turn lanes and worked my way up towards Usery mountain. I was going uphill but stayed above 15mph. I was a spirit set free from a thousand nights of darkness. I could feel my breath start to accelerate the further I got up the hill but I did not slow, I had a moment of freedom and was not going to squander a second. I could ride slow with the kids and would get more of that than I needed, now was the time to release, to push the envelope, to see what was lying dormant beneath weeks of repression and depression.

Turning up towards the pass I move in front of a racer in full kit further down the road. knowing I am a cyclist on the physical rocks, I expect him to blow by me but I wait, and wait, and after a surprisingly long time he passes me before we get to the stoplight where I catch him again. He turns. I am hurting but I hit the hill and though I slow somewhat I am still thrusting every last ounce I have into it.

I turn down McDowell and force myself along with the same intensity as I accelerate up to 30mph. Halfway down the hill I fly by the racer who is spinning down the hill, likely resting between intervals. I don't care, I am riding my own ride and what a ride it is. I have a tailwind but the wind is strong in my face as I pedal down the hill. Turning on to Power I find I am at 17.6 mph for an average and I know I can push it over 18 before I get home.

I squeeze the speed out despite the stoplights which are determined to box me back up. I am cruising at 25 mph between lights and as I pull into our neighborhood I have averaged 18.3 mph having climbed 450 feet over 16 miles. Were I to be able to sustain that I would have gold at El Tour, but I have not trained the distance, nor is it my goal at this time. I am content. I will ride El Tour, albeit 40 miles, but it will not be for me but for my sons and their goals. I will enjoy it. I am greatly relieved to know I have not lost everything for my sacrifices. Things are well today. Someday it will likely be my sons and daughter pulling me.

Pain on the Backside or Choose your Poison

yep,  the start is the easy part.



Once upon a time, I was an overweight programmer with a little used Mountain bike and a desire to make a change.  It started with lunchtime visits to the gym in the basement where I worked and eventually graduated from the excersize bike to the mountain bike and then one day I thought I would stop by the old bicycle shop on main street which was full of old bikes in the offhand chance they might have a road bike.  There was a 1980's era Centurian Lemans in it that was priced at $100 and I bought it.  My last 10 speed was one I found in a snowbank and this one was much better than that as it had index shifting, although it still had the downtube shifters.  Anyway, to cut to the chase,  that Centurian was the first bike I began to seriously roadbike on.

It was on that bike that I road the backside of Usery Pass for the first time.  It was a 12 speed and was not geared for hills but I made do.  I remember slaving up the backside of Usery pass and thinking that the hill went on forever as I slowly made my way up the grade that did not look as steep as it felt.  I remember getting to the turn around the nob and thinking I was at the top and then dealing with the disappointment of finding more hill behind it,  and then after another corner or two, the victory of cresting the hill and the chance to catch my breath.

Saturday I got to introduce my Son's to this great experience since the winds favored riding the loop clockwise.  I got to hear their frustration at the hill when they were not quite halfway up.  I got to push my older son in an attempt to catch up with my younger one who had decided in his anger at the hill to ride faster.  I got a passing roadie to ask him to wait for us and the boys got a break to get a drink and remuster the resolve.  This was just above the parking area for the area the mountain bike community calls 'NRA'.  At this point the hill is pretty much in the bag as it slowly gets less steep from there.  The boys for some reason did not believe this.  They only saw more hill and did not notice that they were not breathing as heavy, or riding faster.  Near the last corner my youngest just about stopped and wouldn't go on but he pressed on around the corner and got to taste the victory and enjoy the slow descent on the other side thanks to the headwind.

I'll take a headwind going down a hill anyday as opposed to on the flats.   The boys did just fine.  We managed to get an extra mile and a half in today.  I was hoping we would get more but we were extremely busy this Saturday.  Next Saturday we'll try and get around 25 miles in, and the Saturday after, I hope I can get them up to 30 and then we'll call it good and head off to El Tour the following Saturday.  I got the day off so I think  we're going to go down the day before and I'll show them Mt. Lemmon,  and then, perhaps we will actually make it to the Bike Expo/Registration before the last 20 minutes when everyone is putting everything away unlike just about every other year I have ridden it.

They Conquered Kong.

Good morning good readers.   The saga of our quest for El Tour de Tucson's 40 mile ride continues with a few new twists!  It's funny how there really is no good time to train sometimes.  Our Saturday today has the kids doing something throughout the day.  Next week will be just as bad for me.  So the early bird must get the worm before he gets too busy.

The boys were amazingly easy to wake up just before dawn.  Usually during the week it is really tough to get them up.  We had a really busy time of it getting everything together and also installing one of my speedometers on my youngest son's bike.  I promised him I would do  it in the hopes it would motivate him.  It did mostly.

When we finally got to Walgreens it was around 7 and I knew we would need to do this loop in under 2 hours if we were to get my boys to their first gig this morning at the church.  I kind of figured at this point the chances of being late were pretty high but moved forward hoping it would work out.

My youngest son took great relish in calling out how far we had gone as we began our 6 mile climb up to Usery Pass.  I am proud to say we stopped a lot less this time and there was zero whining.  We saw several packs of riders cruise through as we neared the top of the pass one guy smiled and made a crack about child abuse which was funny because they were a lot more jazzed this week.

Near the top my youngest gave me his coat again.  Not too long after I snapped the above picture I dropped his coat.  I told them to keep going (since they were only going about 20 mph I figured I'd catch up quick).  After retrieving the coat I peddled like a madman and had almost caught them when my pump came loose.  So,  after retrieving the pump, I peddled like a maniac again,  and this time I caught up much to my son's amazement.

 My oldest son conquers King Kong

We didn't have a glorious tailwind this week on the back side unfortunately.   Still the boys did good as they were looking forward to dropping down Little Kong.  We managed about 10-12 mph most of the way and stopped at the bottom of big Kong to shift them into their granny gears and down some cookies and gatorade.  Then we attacked the hill (which holds 9% for a good stretch).  I told the boys to go as far as they could and they could walk from there.

My first son was a ways ahead of us when I started out with the younger one.  I told him I'd be happy if they made it past the stop sign since that's where the first one stopped to walk last week.   I was amazed to see my boy ahead pass the stop sign and keep pushing strongly up the hill.  I talked to my nearest son about setting intermediate goals on this hill.  Mentally telling yourself you'll make it to the stop sign,  then the next power pole,  then the speed limit sign,  and after that..... the top.  I stared on in amazement as they passed each mark and kept going.  Just before the top we caught the front son and I was just able to get far enough ahead of him to snap a picture as he hit the canal bridge at the top.  But wait,  there's more.

I kept up with the congratulations and atta boys as we moved down the road and then a few of the riders that had been approaching from behind caught up to us and asked me how old they were.  I confess I about burst my jersey zipper with pride as I said they were 8.  This led to an interesting conversation.  Turns out one of them was a cycling coach and had a junior cycling team.  He said the age cutoff was 10 years old for racing but they were welcome to come train with them if they wanted to in the meantime.  Interesting...  I might have to mull that one over.  My only issue is we don't ride on Sundays and a lot of races are on Sunday.  I guess we have a few years before we have to worry about that though huh? 

The boys climb the pass...

 The boys ascending the hinterlands 

There is a pretty standard training ride around here that is well loved among roadies.   I have included it in a number of blogs.  I've ridden it with scouts,  I've ridden it in the pouring rain, I've ridden it in the dead of night, I've ridden it in the raging winds, and I've gotten heat exhaustion on it in the steaming dregs of summer.  Until today though I have never ridden it with my sons.  A few weeks back we nibbled at the skirts of the frontside of Usery and since then I have speculated whether or not my boys could in fact make the whole loop without a catastrophic tantrum born out of boredom and exhaustion or even a full stop due to a complete inability to keep forward momentum.  So,  can a pair of 8 year olds do the usery loop?

 Proof Positive, a sign, a thirsty boy, and a smiling Dad.

Seeing as some have finished the El Tour De Phoenix short course in the past it must be possible.   I figured we drive to the Walgreens outside of Las Sendas and do the mini-loop which everyone knows and loves.  As we pulled up there were three or four other sets of cyclists getting ready to go Mountain Biking.  Seeing as one of my boys had slicks on (and the other one got his in the mail when we got home), mountain biking was not an option today.  The boys were to get their first taste of a big hill.  Well,  ok so it's only a 6 mile gradual climb of 600 feet, it's still a daunting task for an 8 year old.  Every few miles they would stop for a drink (I have no issues for them stopping for drinks since they don't ride so well with one hand yet).  Towards the top they got a little discouraged and I had to keep helping them along.  The top of Usery plays mind games with you as it has a bunch of false tops.  I am pleased to say that after stopping to take a picture they made it to the top and I shifted them into their big rings on the front.

 Not ANOTHER picture Dad!

I didn't have the heart to tell them that 20-22 mph wasn't that fast going down the backside because we had a headwind.  They really didn't care,  they just had a ball rounding the knob at the top of the hill and then gazing in awe and wonder at the valley far below and asking me if we were going ALL the way down THERE? 

 Granite Reef on the Salt River, w Red Mountain behind

I found it highly amusing that after we turned the corner we were going almost as fast as we had come down the backside because of a wonderful tailwind that blew us along down the bush highway to Granite Reef where we would stop for their final "airhead" break before they would attack Kong.  We actually hit 26 mph heading down little kong into the river bottom.  My son's say that was their favorite part.

The woods are long and dark and deep but.......

Both of them had to hike a bike Kong (which I had planned on).  I was pleased to see my one son made it 3/4 of the way and he only stopped as his chain came off.  My other son ended up climbing about half of the hill.   Just between you and me,  that's a bit better than I did the first time I tried to climb it.

 Dig that stylish jersey.

Final damage?  We went 17.3 miles, climbed 870 feet, in about an hour and forty minutes of riding time (we did stop a bit though and ended up at around 2 hours elapsed time).  Not bad for 8 year olds.  I think they will do fine on the 40 mile route at el Tour.  The hills they climbed today are much worse than anything on that section.   Maybe I should volunteer for bike patrol?  I am a bit of a crossroads.  I don't want to jeopardize my son's finishing but we all know I will end up stopping to help people anyway so I'm thinking of riding as bike patrol officially but I'm still on the fence.  What do ya'all think?  Should I just enjoy this event with my sons, or should I try and do 2 things at once?

Guess who got new gloves this morning?