Adam met us at the house today for 10am and we were were ready for him. The three of us (myself, Kaitlyn and Elyse) had woken up at 8 am to ensure we had time get eat breakfast and digest - we knew it would be around 4 hours in the saddle today.
So we step outside to get a move on and lo and behold, Emily is here too, just back from the Canadian national team camp in California. Adam gives another quick run down on today's plan (endurance ride, high rpm and throw in some paceline work to keep in fun
Our route out of the city took us along the popular university bike path. Tucson is littered with bike paths and this one in particular is used by all university students who bike into class. The road eventually leads into what can only be described at their main strip - think UofT St. George only 90% of it is a pedestrian only zone. The first half of the strip comprises classrooms and such, and the second half is clearly their Part Zone. Restaurants and bars galore and not a single one of them without a patio. This is the place to be on gameday..
Our route continues to A Mountain. Yes that is "A" Mountain, as the side of the mountain has a large letter A carved into it. It's an easy climb, short and sweet but it gives you a great view of Tucson.
And it provided us a moment to snap a quick pic!
And yes, Kaitlyn and I are rocking the new Wired For Performance kits! Love em! (I'll feature them in a later post)
A quick descent down the way we climbed up and we took a road that led south of the city towards Green Valley. This entire road south is one big false flat. The grade is very gradually increasing all the time so when you think your legs are hurting because of an extended effort, it's actually because you're going a lot more upward than you think you are. This road we did some rotating paceline work - superquick pulls to the front and immediately moving over for the next person. We did that for about 20 minutes on the false flat before the road really started to turn upwards
We eventually peaked and made our turn towards Green Valley, it was a fast descent but somewhat hampered by the headwind. Once we made our turn to go back towards the city the wind shifted and decided to hit us straight on in the face. (For you experienced riders, you know this is normal wind behaviour, as no matter what you do on a ride, the wind will always be against you on the way home. For the uninitiated, don't think that if you start your ride into the wind, you'll have it at your back for the return trip. Wind is a fickle bitch and just doesn't work that way.)
As we reached the Tucson city limits I had my first hunger stab. Almost 4 hours into the ride and my stomach decided to throw a hissy fit. When you're riding for this long and you start to feel hungry, your stomach adopts the demeanour of an infant child. You can coddle it and give it everything it wants but it's still going to whine and complain regardless.
Finally made it back to the house where I commenced the feasting. Thank god for chocolate milk.
116km distance covered on the first day is not bad in my book, not bad for climbing either.
Tomorrow's plan is another 4 hours ish only this time we'll be working on Mt. Lemmon. This mountain is pretty much why Tucson is worth coming to for cycling. I mean it's great that it's warm here and all but if there was no Mt Lemmon, I doubt many people would bother making the trip...
It's an odd feeling to look at the clock, see that it's 9:30 and be ready to sleep. (Even after napping earlier in the afternoon) What's great about training camps is that while you get to do amazing rides, you don't have to worry about doing anything else all day. You ride, then eat, then nap, eat some more and then sleep.
Good night for now!
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