yesterday was the big day, el Tour de Tucson.
I went down to Tucson early Friday, worked from there for the day, then went to my hotel, the expo (the largest expo I've been to, far bigger/better than that of the PHX/PF Chang's marathon), met some friends for dinner on 4th Ave (Tucson's version of Tempe's Mill Ave), then went to bed.
I was so paranoid that I'd oversleep or something Friday night that I hardly slept. I woke up every hour to pee... finally woke up for the race and it worked out ok:
El Tour de Tucson 111.19 mi 06:01 18.5mph pace
I had mixed feelings about this ride from the get go. Questioned my training, if I felt ready, and I hardly slept last night. But when the time came to take action, I actually felt prepared. After doing a few other bike events, I expected a CF at the start, but this really wasn't too bad. One downside about doing this one is that I used to live in Tucson; I don't remember much of town that well, but when we were down near the airport, all I could think is that I still had to get wayyyy up north. I was extremely happy with my decision to switch out my good shoes for my mountain, as both washes were really bad, tons of sand. The climbing really wasn't too bad. As far as weather, yea there was some wind, but not nearly as bad as when I did the Gran Fondo. There was cloudcover the whole time, which I think really helped, both to keep the sun out and kept it a hair more humid than AZ usually is. Overall not a bad showing for my first 100+ ride. One nice thing about knowing some of town...when we turned to Speedway at the end, I knew the end was near, and I turned on the volume. Only I hadn't looked at the course map that closely, when we passed Broadway to go down to 22nd St, I was silently cursing, but what's an extra mile or 2 when you're riding this much?
http://app.strava.com/activities/28136005
My official finish time was: 6:18:37.23
I commented to several people how something like this could never happen in the Phoenix area. If you look at the map, you'll see that the course hits most of the area:
I can't imagine how many police were involved to close the roads. we had flow through for most stoplights (sorry to those stuck in long lines of traffic...)
I did get stuck by a train though, it seemed long, but probably only 2-3 min, up near the Cortaro Rd/I-10 area
I'm still trying to figure out how many freeway exits along the I-10 had to be closed; I'd guess 10 to 12, and in 3 different areas. I saw plenty of Tucson, Oro Valley, Marana PD out, together with Pima County Sheriff's dept, as well as ADOT officers.
the community support for this is simply amazing. there were hundreds (maybe thousands) of people out cheering, ringing bells, giving high fives, some giving water and their own snacks, throughout the course.
I was really glad I reserved a hotel for 2 nights. I debated if I'd drive back last night, but I decided to stay down there. I had no problems sleeping, pretty much just passed out and slept through no problems. I really love the mountain views. this is the view that greeted me from my hotel room this morning:
I took a rather leisurely drive through town back to the freeway, then drove home. was back around 11, then ran some errands. eventually decided to drop my bike off at the shop (for a tune-up and to put my good pedals back), and for a swim...
the swim was a bit tougher than I thought it would be. I managed to get in 2100 yards, when normally I'd crank out 3000+ after a normal Sunday ride. I think the race together with a little travel, took a little toll on me.
I'm really looking forward to a little time off the bike. I don't have anything formally scheduled, but I have a couple of tentative things in mind for next year.
I really just can't imagine going from riding this...to running a full marathon.
having done both (well 3 marathons), I can safely say that the bike portion is easier, for me at least.