The camera was going to be left at home for this ride. We opted for a later time this year, instead of the 3am start, it was pushed back to 5am. I felt good (but cold) from the beginning, staying ahead of Ray and behind Neil until we reached Bloodsucker.
I saw Aaron, Kurt and Max all descending from Antelope Peak, so I figured it was my turn to climb the peak also. The rest of the day went by fairly normal. At one point, I got excited when I could see Ray climbing up Ripsey. Although a quick break to send some text messages and some water issues put me farther back. I never saw any rider again after the climb up Antelope Peak. I finished with a respectable 14 hours, 2 hours off my earlier finish with Scott.
A recovery ride was in order, so I climbed A Mountain
and Sentinel Peak in downtown Tucson.
The next chore was to find a better route between Catalina and the Tortolitas. I was pleasantly surprised to find an existing double track that is used by a rancher. A few rides to cut back some overgrowth would prove to make the route rideable for the next event, Tor de 50 from my house.
A friend of mine from Oregon, Steve Westerberg, flew down for the event.
We headed to Starr Pass on Thursday for a semi-techy loop.
The Tor de 50 had 55 people show up for the 54 mile loop.
I led out for the neutral start and was feeling pretty good in the Top 10 before my pivot broke on Upper Javelina. As fate would have it, I met a nice hiker that gave me a ride back to my house. I have really taken a liking to cooking, so it only seemed fit that I would end the day doing one of my favorite things...a few changes in the course and setup for this ride is bound to make this ride a classic. Nothing says a good ride like good grub, especially carne asada tacos. The results hint at the difficulty of the race, as less than 50% finished the route in its entirety.
Great job to all the racers, especially Scott who killed it.
1 comment:
Great spiky cactus with sunset photo!! Good stuff.
Auntie Jo
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