02/24/07-03/02/07 by Bob Grimm
Todays ride got under way in sun shine at 10 AM with temps at 53 warming to 61. Gates Pass climb came after 35 miles and the last 1.4 miles was very steep 10% and I used a 39-27 and rode over the top, one little climb down and lots more to come. After 3.5 hours of riding Scott Thor did a 30 minute interval going up a 12 mile grade that climbs 450 feet. I stayed with him until the last 1/4 mile when a 5% hill did me in. The Stats were: 72 miles in 3:58 18.7 avg.
I hope my legs can get enought rest tonight, we ride 90 miles Sunday.
Here are some pics.
Day Two
The sun came out again today as we headed south to Sonoita a little town about 30 miles North of the border for a 90 mile ride. On paper this ride doesn't look too difficult with a gentle grade for 25 miles of climbing to the tiny town of Sonoita, but just like last year the wind was brutal on the way out and even on the way back. The wind was out of the SW going South, and then changed to come out of the West and on the way back it was strongest and out of the North West, it made what should have been a fast return trip down hill a very hard slow return. It's always tuff when the wind blows front to side all day and there's no place to hide.
The big day will come tomorrow a 112 miles, with 26 of it up Mount Lemmon to 9500 feet.
Todays stats, 90 miles in 5 hr 5 min 17.8 avg. and I burned 3450 cal.
Here is a link to some pics.
Day Three
The ride to the base of the mountain was 30 miles, before we started the 26 mile climb to the summit of Lemmon.
The group was spread out all along the climb but everyone finished the climb. Dan won the KOM even after taking a wrong turn a few miles from the top. He finished the climb in 2hrs. 5' 33 minutes in front of me.
Descending Rick Parr and I teamed up and came down the last 21 miles in 38', averaging 33 MPH not tuching my brakes once the last 21 miles, top speed was 46.5. We regrouped at the bottom of the mountain and started the 30 mile ride back to the house together.
Stats; Seven hours 40' of ride time and a whopping 4515 calories burned. 117 miles, 6,900 feet of climbing. and two tired legs. Weather today 81 in the valley and 50 on top of Lemmon it's 9,500 high.
Recovery ride tomorrow 30 miles with a stop for food.
Here is a link to some pics.
Day Four
Short recovery ride in the early morning today in the sun shine and 56 degrees, and that's in shorts, and without any jacket. When it's 60 here it feels warmer because the sun shines and it shines 360 days a year. Long ride to Kitt Peak Wednesday with a 8AM start, 100+ miles planned.
Todays stats: 25 easy miles 16 avg 90'
On our recovery day we went to down town Tucson and checked out the big three bike shops, and ended up shopping in the U of A plaza and got a pic of a local bike guys, here is a link.
Day Five
The weather was right on about the cold temps here today. It only hit 60 and when our ride started it was only 48 and a strong wind out of the West that got stronger in the afternoon. Our ride out to Kitt Peak was 64 miles and 44 miles was into a 15-20 MPH head wind.
I did the 12 mile climb up Kitt Peak in 1hr 28' (the race record for my age is 58', I can't climb) and at the top 6850' the temp was 40 with a wind chill of 30, that made the climb a little chilly, but the 30' trip back down was down right cold. The windy ride down the mountian made bike control my main concern and speed wasn't.
At the bottom of the mountain, Scott, Dan and I decided to take advantage of the wind that we rode into on the way out. We headed East with the wind behind use and a down hill grade for 16 miles, and then a long flat road for 25 miles. The three of us covered that 41 miles in <90' at a avg speed of 27 MPH at was 53-13-12 for 41 miles, and 95-110 RPM's.
Stats: ride time 8hr. 38', 150 miles 17.8 avg 5,600 cal. burned
Here is Scott's report and a pic.
Day Six
Recovery ride a easy 40 miles with temps 60 and a lot less wind then yesterday. It was a good day to work on your tan and talk about dinner plans. All I wanted to do was get on the bike ride for a hour and get off so I did the short ride, most of the campers did the 70 mile ride. It's kind of nice having a standard lunch in place of a on the bike one, with Power Bars, Gu, Sport Drinks and Parr Cakes.
Tomorrow will be our last ride and then we'll pack the bikes and head for the airport Saturday morning.
Day Seven
Today was the last ride of camp and we headed South to Madera Canyon a 13.5 mile climb that starts with 2-3% and ends up at 10-11% for the last 3 miles and it only cilmbs up to 4500 feet. When you get to the end of the road in the canyon you can look up at the top of the mountians with snow on them and another 5000 feet almost stright up. On the way out to Madera Canyon we went by a active copper mine and a 20 square mile lake of green copper water. The weather was in the low 60's again today.
Stats for the ride: 6hr 48' 114 miles 17.8 avg. I burned 4123 cals. today.
Here is a link to some pics.
Conclusion
Saturday morning we got up and started packing all our cycling and personal garb, I don't have a clue how I got all that stuff in one suitcase for the trip there, because I packed and repacked several time before getting everything back in that case. After packing our personal stuff we then went to Marshall's parent's house to pack the bike and make shipping labels. I had to drop my bike off at UPS because everyone else was using DHL. Five of us were flying out of Phoenix at 2:28PM and we needed to leave Tucson by 11:30 to get there an hour before our flight. We've got plenty of time so we stopped and ate just North of Tucson and got back on the road by noon. We were making great time until we got within 50 miles of Phoenix on route 10 and the traffic slowed to 28 MPH for the next hour, it looked like the five of us were going to miss our flight. The van pulls into the airport at 2:05PM and the five of use started doing our interval training and heading for check in and through security. I was last to check in and was told my luggage wouldn't make it, and I better run to security and my gate. Well I get through security and the gate is the first one, so a short interval gets me there at 2:32 and the other four are standing there, my first thoughts were it's to late, but no the flight has been delayed because someone reported a seat problem and it had to be fixed, 40 minutes later they fixed the seat and we left Phoenix.
The week in Tucson was warm all week with the morning start times in the 40's and most of the rides were in the 60's, but when you go up the mountains it gets colder and even though it's 60 in the valley it's 15-20 degrees cooler on top of the mountains. The cooler climbs are OK but the descents are down right cold.
I've never ridden as many hours or miles in a week and I learned a lot about what to eat and how much. I think I ate more then I needed, because I sure wanted to have enough energy to get back. The drinking part is easy I need about 20 oz per hour and most of it needs to be in the form of a sport drink formula, any additive works for me, but it's great to just drink one or two bottle of plan water as well.
The stats for the week total like this: 36 hours of ride time, 608 miles ridden, over 25,000 feet of climbing, 24,250 calories burned, and 17.2 average speed.
High lights for the week; return from Kitt Peak 41 miles at 27 average, the descent down Mount Lemmon 21 miles in 38' going 33-46 MPH, and never touching the brakes, and my stuff made it to CAK airport.
