El Tour de Tucson

Sam, my brother and I wait at the start line.

I rode in my 5th El Tour de Tucson last Saturday. It was excellent! I have a new baby in my family so I haven't been riding as much as years prior, but I still was in decent shape from commuting to work and riding with Sam on weekends. Most importantly though, my brother was out to ride with me. I wanted very badly to keep up with him. He's skinny, doesn't own a car, and is insanely motivated to push himself. He's also vegan, which I hoped would help me given my larger fat reserves and relatively flat course, but in the end (or in the middle actually) he took off like a wild pierced demon and I didn't see him again until the finish. :)

This year was a milestone for my family because it was Sam's first attempt at riding a century. I was worried about her abilities this year until we rode Tumacacori a month prior and she did an amazing job. After that I was confident she could ride the 109 miles and it was only a question of how fast.

We spent the Thursday night and Friday night carbo-loading. I got to experience the joy of feeling full at 9:30 pm and then eating a bowl of cereal, just to get more calories stored in my system. It sucked.

Friday afternoon my brother arrived and we prepared everything for the next day and then ate some more food, finally retiring to bed at the late hour of 10 pm. 6 1/2 hours later (4:30 am) I awoke to the soothing sounds of my alarm and rose to face the day! Sam was already up and getting dressed, amazingly. She neverwakes up for morning rides, but apparently a 109 mile bike race is sufficient motivation. Everything was packed in the car already and it was just a matter of stuffing more food into our full and nervous bellies and then getting my 3 year old and 5 month old into the car peacefully. Luckily it was 57 degrees out so there were no problems with being cold. Sam was a little grumpy, but she was doing an excellent job of hiding it. :) We left the house at 5 am and sped towards the downtown start line.

Elias doing his "victory pose" after finishing the 1/4 mile Kids Fun Ride.

We arrived and had our bikes out and prepped by 5:40 am. By this time the gold start line was completely full and we started at the front of the silver line. Waiting in line is always interesting because there are 5000 cyclists all waiting a couple hours in the cold and trying to find the right time to eliminate before the start. People are generally cheery and it's an excellent time to people watch. My daughter was awake but happy, my son was awake and wanted to go back to the car. We parked our bikes near the fence of the start line so Kris and the kids could easily talk with us. I spent the last half of our wait time holding Elias who was either cold or tired or both. It kept him happy and it kept me warm. :)

At the start line we made Sam down a couple of Gu shots, which are basically super concentrated sugar goop. They taste disgusting and make you thirsty, but they help get that little extra boost of energy straight to your blood stream. Sam hates them. :) My brother, Sam and I were lucky enough to have Kristin and the kids there as a mini support crew. This meant we could wear warm jackets and pants while waiting in line, and then strip down to shorts and shirts at the last minute, handing our extra clothes to Kristin. The problem with the El Tour and my lovely city is it starts out cold (50-ish degrees) and then hits 85 degrees by the time you finish. If you can tough out the cold for a while you have a really nice afternoon ride.

After a long wait, the countdown to start finally began, and we eagerly awaited our race. Unfortunately because we were in the silver line, we had to wait for the entire gold line to leave before we could even start, so we were stuck at the start line for another 5 minutes while all the early birds got to begin. Once we could start we had some catching up to do!

The beginning is by far the scariest part of the ride. My brother and I weren't the only ones who had aspirations of finishing in under 6 hours but happened to arrive too late to get in the gold line. Everyone is jockeying for position and one reckless rider can take down a whole group of safety conscious ones. We held back a bit for the first mile to avoid any accidents or endangering any of our riding companions. After that we opened it up and started passing people. This is where we lost Sam. I never intended to stay with her. She does much better if she's by herself but knows that someone is up ahead. :) My goal this race was to hang onto my brother for as long as possible. This point in the race is when it gets exciting. You are full of energy and adrenaline and there are police blocking every intersection so you can ride as fast as your legs and lungs will allow.

I was feeling good, but not as good as my brother. He was on fire! We would catch up to a group that was going decently fast and I would think "Phew, we can hang here for a minute and catch our breath..." Only to hear my brother say "This group is slow, let's catch the next one!". What could I say but "All right, let's go for it!" :)

We kept up this frantic pace for the first 50 miles or so, stopping only once for a quick snack and bathroom break. At the 50 mile point we stopped again, very shortly at the Sabino Creek crossing. This is a tradition on the El Tour where all the cyclists dismount and walk their 5000 dollar road bikes through the dirt. They reward you with yet more food and a small break in your riding.

Me crossing the finish line. It's important to smile when crossing. :)

After the Sabino crossing the ride starts heading up hill and the packs break apart. I kept with my brother for a very short time, but he had more energy to hop on a pack and eventually took off. I kept up as fast a pace as I could and gradually recovered my strength for the last half of the ride. I managed to find a pack that was going about my speed and hung on with them. The ride was very peaceful and I didn't really speak to anyone on it, but I was always around people. Usually I ride with a group of friends, but this year they all decided not to race so I was alone with strangers.

Usually around mile 90 I start to break down and lose hope. I think this is when my body burns through all of its food and it hasn't had enough time to digest new food yet. Either because I'm fatter this year or because I ate better I didn't feel this at all this year. I rolled into milepost 95 and felt fantastic. I wolfed down a few cookies and pretzels, gulped a bottle full of water and took off for the final stretch - Silverbell!

I hate Silverbell road. It's bumpy, hot, windy, and miserable. This year was different. There was no head wind. My energy level was high. The road didn't feel as bumpy (it must be that new carbon fiber bike). It was fantastic! My brother and I were targeting 5 hours and 45 minutes for our finish time and in order to achieve that I would need to go 22 mph down Silverbell. "No way", I thought! I usually go 10! I latched onto the wheel of a girl in a purple TriGirls jersey and looked down at my speed. 21 mph! What the heck? This must be a different road!

I kept pace with the tri girl for as long as I could and then slowed it up a bit for the last few miles, but by then my time was excellent. I crossed the finish line feeling strong at 5 hours, 47 minutes and 51 seconds. Yeah!

My speedy brother finished in 5 hours and 30 minutes. I was very impressed. I'm definitely going to have to kick up my riding next year to keep up with him. :) We walked our bikes to a shady spot Kristin had reserved with a picnic blanket and relaxed while we waited for Sam to finish. She called us 20 miles from the finish line and said she was feeling great!

Sam completing her first 100 mile ride!

My good buddy Keem and his girlfriend Dawn came to help Kristin out with the kids and film the ride. They brought their new HD camcorder and filmed me as well as Sam crossing the finish line. They also took many pictures of my son riding his orange tiger bike on the El Tour Kids Fun Ride. It's a quarter mile ride packed with 0 to 6 year olds that ride in trailers, on bikes of their own or on tandems with their parents. Elias loves it and he's done 6 or 7 of them so far. One of these days he'll be old enough to do the full thing with me on a tandem. :)

Sam crossed the finish line in 8 hours, 37 minutes and 44 seconds. We were very impressed and very happy for her. She actually wrecked on her bike a week before and still had bright red cuts on her leg from her front cog digging into her. She likes to think she's not very tough, but deep inside she's a stubborn trooper. :) Her knee was sore and she was tired, but the hype from finishing such a feat kept her going long into the afternoon. Then she crashed. Hard. :)

The day was the best El Tour I've experienced so far. The weather was great. My energy level and motivation was high. My family was happy. It was wonderful. I can't wait for next year!

Nightly Walks

Another successful night!

I just returned from a nightly walk with the wife. Kris bought a double jogging stroller off of EBay a couple weeks ago. I was reluctant to spend the money at first because we are not really a stroller kind of family, we're more of a carry-your-kids kind of family, but I am very happy with it now. Elias has been skipping his naps for the past few months and so he's been ready for bed around 7 pm. Eva has been getting crazy and wild around that same time and a stroll in the stroller puts them both right to sleep.

Tonight Elias was pretty energetic when we went to leave so we let him run along side us for the first half mile or so. And I do mean run! He grabbed onto Ryka's leash and skipped and sang to himself happily for the first part of our trip. He started to wear down around the half mile mark so he climbed into the stroller and soon fell asleep.

Our kids like these walks, but Kris and I love them. Once Eva and Elias are sound asleep we get a nice quiet hour to talk. With the busyness and hubbub of modern life, an hour to talk with your spouse uninterrupted is a beautiful thing.

After eating dinner it's also a great way to start the digestion process and stretch the legs out. I thought that riding my bike would diminish my enjoyment of the event but walking stretches a completely different set of muscles than riding a bicycle. A post bike ride walk feels fantastic!

We've gone on a 3 mile walk every night for the last five nights and probably 10 times in the last couple weeks. I think we'll keep up the trend as long as Elias doesn't take naps and Eva needs the wind down. Plus the Christmas season is almost upon us and that means people will start hanging hoards of Christmas lights on their houses. That is the best time to walk!

Cultural Diversity is Awkward

"What color is Sam?"

While on the Flag Ride on Monday, my family met me at Brooklyn Street Pizza Company for lunch. This is in downtown Tucson which has a lot of university traffic. We ordered our pizzas and sat down at one of the tables. I drank my high fructose cocktail down to the bottom and got up to get a refill. Elias came with me.

While we waited in line a guy walked in, about 20 years old, black, and carrying a laptop with him. He sat down at the table next to us, pulled out the laptop and started working away. Elias stopped, stared at him for a minute, and asked me (loudly) "Dad? What is that black boy doing?" Great. Thanks kiddo. :)

I answered him by trying to steer the subject a bit "I don't know, he's probably working on his laptop. Hey look, he has a laptop just like Danny!" He responds with "What is that black boy doing with his laptop?" "I don't know, SODA PLEASE!" We returned to our seats.

Now my son is a big fan of categorizing. He categorizes pretty much everything in his life, and he loves descriptive terms. We haven't ever sat down and taught him about race and color, but he's a huge fan of differentiating people by gender so it's no wonder he's picked up on color as well. The other day we were talking about what color different people were and the conversation went something like this.

Elias: "What color am I Mom?"
Us: "I don't know, what color are you Elias?"
Elias: "Brown."
Us: "What color is Dad?"
Elias: "Brown."
Us: "What color is Mom?"
Elias: "Brown."
Us: "What color is Sam?"
Elias: ... "Light brown."

During the same lunch, Elias and I were sitting on bar stools eating our pizza and he swung around in his seat, pointed at a man with long hair and dark beard stubble and said "That's a girl!" Wow, my son is in rare form today! The bearded "lady" in question started cracking up and I told Elias "He can't be a girl, he has a beard." Elias said "Girls have beards." "No they don't." Heh heh, good ol' kids!

To top off his exciting day at the pizza parlor, Elias and I visited the restroom before we left. I commented to him on all the cool industrial plumbing and piping lining the walls, then proceeded to do my business. I heard the sound of trickling water behind me and turned around quickly to see Elias turning some wheel valve on one of the pipes. ACCKKK!! I quickly closed the open valve and stopped the oncoming flood of water.

Phew! What an exciting visit to the pizza parlor! :)

El Tour Flag Ride

Elias must be wondering if his Dad is still alive.

I rode in my 3rd El Tour Flag Ride today. The Flag Ride is an event put on by Perimeter Bicycling where cyclists volunteer to carry the flag of El Tour around the entire route of the race in the weeks before the actual race. I took the day off from work, woke up at 5:45 am and rode 113 miles today.

I am utterly exhausted. The regular El Tour is much easier than the flag ride because there are kind policeman stopping traffic for you, waving you through lights. You can ride with thousands of other riders who take the brunt of the wind leaving you with an effortless glide around the perimeter of the city of Tucson.

The Flag Ride has no such niceties. We always ride on a week day fully engulfed in traffic and stop lights, with only 3 of us (this year) forming our "pack". It's really fun though. What a way to spend a day off! I left the house at 6:30 am when it was just light enough to ride with a minimum of car-to-bike visibility. I met my riding companions 8 miles down the road at Saguaro National Monument and we embarked on the official El Tour route.

The beginning of the route is really pretty. It heads up to the north side of Tucson and we rode alongside the base of the Catalinas. The mountains are beautiful with a warm glow of morning light and the air is crisp. After riding along the south side of the mountains we turned north and rode along the western edge of the Catalinas. This took us into Oracle and through Rancho Vistoso. I like the north side of Tucson, even if it does have a bit of a Phoenix feel to it, but it's so far away from where I work, let alone where I live so I rarely visit it. There is just as much development on the north side of Tucson as on the south side though!

After we hit the northern most edge of the route we turned west on Tangerine. This is where the ride starts to get ugly. Tangerine is wonderful during the official El Tour. It's downhill. It's fast. And it's 80 miles in so it always feels great to really fly. On the Flag Ride we do it's crowded with big rigs and cement trucks. They are generally polite to cyclists but there is no bike lane to speak of and they form quite a wall of wind. It's scary.

We survived that section and continued to Silverbell road which is bumpier and rougher every year. It's an OK road, but not my favorite side of town. We cut over the interstate around downtown Tucson and went to lunch at the delicious Brooklyn Pizza Company. Kristin and the kids met us there so I got to see my crazy son and my cute daughter. Elias was THRILLED to see me and insisted that he sit on my lap. In order to consume any lunch I made a deal with him to sit at the bar on a bar stool. The pizza was excellent.

With only 30 miles to go and sore bodies, we made our way back through downtown and rode along the edge of the pristine east side of Tucson. Woowee, it's pretty ghetto! Along Mission Road there must be some sort of competition to see who can smash the most glass bottles in the bike lane. At first I just assumed some kids had a wild night, but when I looked upon the dirt lots we were riding next to I saw nothing but a sea of glass. It was amazing. Almost beautiful, like a mosaic of discarded alcohol.

The glass tour continued as we rode further south into the dreaded southwest side of Tucson. This is a land of jacked up pickup trucks and loud stereos. We luckily hit this section before rush hour so we encountered relatively light traffic.

We turned east to head back home and entered the bumpiest section of road in the tour. More big rigs and cement trucks passed us, this time along with school buses to make me nervous as they buzzed past. The bumpy road and the pizza were not in agreement with my stomach and I had to slow down to stop from throwing up. I rode most of this section at a crawl and burped very carefully.

My odometer ticked over to 105 miles as I entered back into the familiar territory of home. My stomach was feeling better but my legs were far weaker than they were this morning. I limped home and arrived exhausted and relieved. I am ready for a peaceful night. Perhaps a movie... :)