Road Trip Tucson part 1
The wife and I did our annual trip to Tucson the first week of February. Officially we went to the Gem and Mineral Show to buy, get this, gems and minerals! I get to wander around with a loupe, calipers and a micro UV light pretending I know what I am doing. If you THINK you are tough, try taking a class in Biphasic and Triphasic Inclusions in Beryl at 8 AM, ahem, slightly hungover. Penance is carrying a backpack with 30 pounds of rock around all over Tucson. Rock is defined here as anything heavy and consists of pearls, semiprecious and gem quality beads, glass and tools.
Last year my wife, hereafter known as Nancy, took a class and I rented a bike. She had a great time, as did I. This year we did the same thing. She once again had a great time and I suffered albeit enjoyably.
The bike I rented last year was a midlevel Giant and it was less than stellar. This year the guys at Fair Wheel Bikes (http://www.fairwheelbikes.com/) upgraded their rental line and provided me with a Scott Speedster. (http://www.scottusa.com/product.php?UID=9760). It was not as nice as my nearly perfect Co-Motion but was a very good substitute.
I went out the first day by myself and did a 40 miler in the SW foothills. Nothing major in the way of climbing, unless you are a flatlander like me, and the pace was leisurely. I would have gone faster but there was a nagging desire to check the map and not get lost.
Saturday I went out with “Tom’s Boys aka Picor aka Genuine Draft”. This could have been a lapse in judgment. It was brutally cold when I left the hotel. the thermometers were saying 32° and by the time I rode the seven miles or so to the ride my feet were pretty much out of the loop. I rode with these guys last year for a very short time. I needed to get back to “work” and bowed out early. This year I had plenty of time, a little short on conditioning perhaps, but lots of time.
Smart money said pack a map and wear your bifocals so you can read it. The route changed in the parking lot and my map was rendered useless. The guys were nice enough to not drop me out in the boonies. We went to The Saguaro National Forest East and did an eight mile loop around the park.
The ranger will tell you the first left is a doozy and he isn’t lying. It drops straight down into a right hand turn and it’s a roller coaster ride after that. Those aren’t hay bales on the roadside either, they are cactus. The road had new asphalt all the way around and I held up pretty good until we hit the climb up the back. It did not look all that steep but I ran out of gears in a hurry and the lead guys were in a different time zone real fast. I wheezed my way up, not the last guy in the pack but challenging his spot the whole way. When we regrouped the consensus was that it was a real puker and we should do the second lap a little slower. Well the bottom part was slower if you do some sort of funny bi-demensional Escher math but the climb was very reasonable. We actually climbed as a group.
The way home was interesting. I thought we were done. The shoulder was narrow and rough. I was wrong as usual. These guys hit it fairly hard and actually stayed in a single file. I hung on for dear life and was overjoyed to discover this was not a fast ride.
I’ll be back again next year. Punishment is much nicer when it is not routine and, these guys are fun.
(more soon)
Last year my wife, hereafter known as Nancy, took a class and I rented a bike. She had a great time, as did I. This year we did the same thing. She once again had a great time and I suffered albeit enjoyably.
The bike I rented last year was a midlevel Giant and it was less than stellar. This year the guys at Fair Wheel Bikes (http://www.fairwheelbikes.com/) upgraded their rental line and provided me with a Scott Speedster. (http://www.scottusa.com/product.php?UID=9760). It was not as nice as my nearly perfect Co-Motion but was a very good substitute.
I went out the first day by myself and did a 40 miler in the SW foothills. Nothing major in the way of climbing, unless you are a flatlander like me, and the pace was leisurely. I would have gone faster but there was a nagging desire to check the map and not get lost.
Saturday I went out with “Tom’s Boys aka Picor aka Genuine Draft”. This could have been a lapse in judgment. It was brutally cold when I left the hotel. the thermometers were saying 32° and by the time I rode the seven miles or so to the ride my feet were pretty much out of the loop. I rode with these guys last year for a very short time. I needed to get back to “work” and bowed out early. This year I had plenty of time, a little short on conditioning perhaps, but lots of time.
Smart money said pack a map and wear your bifocals so you can read it. The route changed in the parking lot and my map was rendered useless. The guys were nice enough to not drop me out in the boonies. We went to The Saguaro National Forest East and did an eight mile loop around the park.
The ranger will tell you the first left is a doozy and he isn’t lying. It drops straight down into a right hand turn and it’s a roller coaster ride after that. Those aren’t hay bales on the roadside either, they are cactus. The road had new asphalt all the way around and I held up pretty good until we hit the climb up the back. It did not look all that steep but I ran out of gears in a hurry and the lead guys were in a different time zone real fast. I wheezed my way up, not the last guy in the pack but challenging his spot the whole way. When we regrouped the consensus was that it was a real puker and we should do the second lap a little slower. Well the bottom part was slower if you do some sort of funny bi-demensional Escher math but the climb was very reasonable. We actually climbed as a group.
The way home was interesting. I thought we were done. The shoulder was narrow and rough. I was wrong as usual. These guys hit it fairly hard and actually stayed in a single file. I hung on for dear life and was overjoyed to discover this was not a fast ride.
I’ll be back again next year. Punishment is much nicer when it is not routine and, these guys are fun.
(more soon)
posted by Speedo at 1:42 PM
4 Comments:
was that fahrenheit or celsius?
That would be Kevin. Just like Kelvin but completely different, more like Farenheit or a Maxwell's demon.
Sounds like a little frostbite of the brain. Welcome back. Are you doing the Jalapeno 100. Read my post on the Team forum.
there are a bunch of pro cyclists out there this time of year... come across any?
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