No Gas Station Necessary

Hi Friends,

I am relaxing in the rental house that Team Rio Grande has for this week at our training camp in Tucson, AZ.  I headed down here after the criterium in Mesa, AZ yesterday.

Sunday's Crit:

We raced at the "Firebird International Raceway" in south Mesa, it is an auto race course.  I have never had the chance to race my bike on a car race course before and it was a ton of fun.  There are a few tracks at the complex and we were on the short track which was about eight tenths of a mile around.  There were two straightaways, a short front straight and a long back straight.  The Start/Finish was on the front straight and the course went; left then right "S" turn, 45 degree right, 90 degree left, 120 degree left, back straight, 90 left, right then left "S" turn, front straight, repeat.  There was a field of about 60 guys at the start of the race on a warm and sunny day.  It took a few laps to warm up my tires but once I got them up to temperature my Specialized was going around corners like a slot car, on rails BRRRRAP!  There were 3 big teams represented and none of them were willing to let a breakaway get up the road.  We spent our 75 minute race pretty much all in one big group but going at a pretty fast pace.  I am feeling good about my level of fitness against these Arizona guys who have had the nice weather to be on a steady training plan since October. They just don't seem all that fast.  I did make one little tactical blunder on the last lap that lost me a few positions and ended up 13th on the day.  It was a good mistake to make and remind me the correct way for next time.

Flash forward to today in Tucson at team camp:

We rolled out in the team van today with all seven fellas and our team director Scott Glasscock driving.  We drove from our house on the far east of town to the west side where we started riding, this was mostly to avoid having to ride through the traffic of the sprawl.  The ride was straight west of town to the base of Kitt Peak and the 12 mile, 3500 foot elevation gain climb up to the top.  It was again a sunny and warm day in AZ and the jerseys were coming unzipped on the way up.  We had the team van meet us at the top for snacks and clothes for the descent.  It is amazing how great it is to have a car rolling along with a long training ride like today's.  No stopping to fill up bottles or get more food, just drop back to the van and have it passed out the window to you.  I had another very fun descent on my bike, it goes so fast!  I saw 56 miles an hour going downhill today.  By the time we got back to the western edge of town we had been riding for 5 hours and 45 minutes and we piled back into the the van for a shuttle ride back to the house.  I jumped in the pool when we got back, it was cold, bracingly cold.  Then I ate food, a whole lot of food.

The rest of this week is at the house in Tucson here.  On Friday I am headed back up to Phoenix for the first day of the 3 day Valley of the Sun stage race.

Have a great evening all!

Ride On,
Drew