This last saturday was the El Tour de Tucson in Arizona. TH & I attended with a few of our athletes. After a couple airport snafus we arrived, via Las Vegas, in Phoenix. This was not Tucson, of course, so we rented a mini van and booked down I-10. Thirty seconds into the drive we all started to fade fast. The only place open at 2 am on I-10 is Circle K mini-marts. So beef jerky & gummy bears were the only adjutants to keep us awake. The Circle K stop worked us over enough to keep us awake & we rolled into The Tucson Inn at 3 am. We went straight to our room, where Mike Sayers was sleeping like a 14-year retired pro. We woke him up and fell asleep.
This trip was a true test of our new Skins. We wore our travel/Recovery tights & long-sleeve Skins during our expedition. Friday morning Sayers got us back & woke us out of bed. After breakfast and a quick bike build we rode out to check out the first 20 miles of the El Tour course. The legs were surprisingly good…Skins pass big first test!
I barely got out of my Skins the rest of the weekend. I decided that I was going to wear my long-sleeve Skins as a base layer under my short-sleeve jersey on race morning. Todd went with the arm-Skins. The sleeves provide SPF 50 UV protection. Our pale November Seattle skin could definitely use the help in the 80-degree Tucson sun. I was initially concerned with over-heating. But I was great, no problem over-heating.
So, the skinny on the race…
What exactly is the El Tour de Tucson? Is it a race? A ride? Well, it’s both. It’s like STP if it were timed. It’s as close to a Grand Fondo as you’ll get in America. 109 miles, 10,000 riders, mostly enthusiasts, all categories including a handful of pros representing many states and countries.
We lined-up about 500-1000 riders back. The gun sounded and 30 seconds later we were off. I went into crit mode and started an assault to get to the front. On the way to the front I spotted Chuck D and guided him in the right direction until TH arrived. TH was glued to Charlie all day guiding him through the 109 miles of desert.
I made it to the front before the start of the first river wash crossing…about 400 meters of dirt. No problem. I looked back and saw the last rider, Mick Walsh, coming across after the wash. The group was whittled to around 100. This was cool, 80 miles to go & only a hundred riders to race against. I thought to myself that nothing was going to get away without me. 100 riders was very manageable. As we were cruising down a road at around 30 mph. I noticed a long train parallel to the road we were riding on. I was wondering how we were going to get across to the road we were supposed to be on. Well, the train was in the way & we had to stop. Our manageable 100 became 200, then 300, then 400. So much for manageable. When you have 400 riders trying to get to the front…well, let me just say you need to be paying attention. I managed to avoid all crashes. They were like land mines going off intermittently all over the huge pack. We entered the 2nd wash & it was a real war zone. Riders were scattered everywhere, mostly laying on their backs in the six-inch deep sand. I went into the wash about 100 riders back and exited 20th, or so. But as I exited I looked up the road & saw 14 riders away. I was told that nothing ever goes that far out. I wasn’t convinced, so Mike Creed & I started to work hard with a group of about 10. We started to close the gap, then most of the guys in our group blew. As the breakaway riders rode away, our group grew to 20, then 50, then 100. Sayers made the break which had 4 motivated team mates from Mexico. The Mexicans dominated the race and blanketed the top 4 spots! The next race was the field sprint, which I wanted to take. So I made sure to make all the selections & have enough in the last 500 meters to win. I wanted to play my sprint from the front (top 5), so if I won or lost it was in my hands, not at the mercy of other riders. I knew where I wanted to start my sprint, so I worked backwards from there. Attack, attack, attack. I was on them instantly. Another attack fired-off just before where I wanted to sprint. So, I covered it and punched it around the dude before he slowed. A free lead-out, nice. I looked back around the last corner and saw daylight. The field sprint was mine…too bad I missed the break…that’s Grand Fondo racing.

Rocket