Tuesday, February 21, 2012

APC and Tor de 50

The idea of a "getting in shape race" is an excuse I use often for that really long race that comes around where you are not prepared. That is my reasoning for doing the Antelope Peak 115 this year instead of the shorter 65-mile version.

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:

Anonymous said...

Great spiky cactus with sunset photo!! Good stuff.
Auntie Jo

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