A day in the life

Yesterday was a good day. Thought I'd share some deets.

Started out with a solid training ride. Hill repeats on the agenda, and the route we take out passes through one of the state parks out here where its untouched 'cactus forest' on pretty harsh and rugged terrain. Cool. Would have taken pictures of that part if it weren't for all the cars and twists in the road at that point.

After the hill repeats, taking pictures from the lookout at the top of the hill, I got the usual questions from the normal crowd there, that is those who aren't clad in spandex, like "Do you really feel safe going downhill on those skinny tires?" or "That's an awful bony looking... saddle you have there". haha, that's how skeletaurs roll.
And I met a nice group from Thunder bay, who were understandably excited to meet another Ontarian in the middle of the desert a million miles away from home.

Behold! The first gratuitous action shot, cresting the hill at the end of an interval:

Even in the desert the paparazzi is ready. Props to Fred, a masters rider on the team for taking this one. 

 A view of the climb from near the top. This is sorta what those 'cactus forests' look like. Hard to see the forest for the trees joke, anyone? no? ok.. moving on. 

Looking west:

I call this one 'Landscape, as obscured by face'

Looking east:

Feeling generous, left my mug out of this one - squint and you can see Tucson b'twix the cleave! McGrill would love this. 

Adequately fried from the workout and getting a taste of home from the other Canadians at the lookout, I went on my way, down the hill back to the city. It was then that I stumbled upon the most unlikely of scenes, I mean you really never know what you're going to find in the desert. 

It seemed to be a Belarusian of the year calendar shoot: 

Oh see how he leans.

Manton is in Tucson. Proof that I didn't just photoshop that: 

So its a small world, even though the desert around here may seem infinite at times. After the photoshoot was over we rode through this other state park with a fancy little paved loop throughout. Then it was to Manton's temporary pad where we hit up the pool that was warmer than the outside air, kinda like a giant jacuzzi. But it was a chilly evening so the heat was pretty good after a long day out. 

An epic feast ensued where issues at the table included the great and topical sunscreen debate.Check it out sometime. 

Tomorrow its Shootout time, and Manton is going to give it a go. That's a famous local ride here where 50-150 ppl show up and tear each other's legs off. Starting at dawn, the ride sets out from the University of Arizona in the middle of town and races through a native reserve to the top of a small hill where there is a field sprint or the breakaway fights it out for the bragging rights. Then the hardcore version of the ride takes a turn after this, losing half the group who goes back to town, and goes up the Madera canyon climb. 

I gave this ride a go a few weeks ago, and not knowing the climb was bad news. Its about 20km long, but the first ~14km are 3%, its an almost invisible incline, but not invisible to your heart and lungs! So I didn't even know we were ON the climb already except for the fact that I was finding riding at the same speed was getting very difficult! Then it kicks up to 10-15% for the final km's to hermetically seal that hurt box you're in.

At the top we turn around, go back down (its a dead end) and have a 30-40 person paceline back to town. Adds up to 200km from where I'm staying, one hell of a workout and race simulation ride. It's also a pretty diverse ride from everyone who shows up, there were a few jerseys from the Canadian national team and people from ALL over North America. Tomorrow it won't be sub-zero Celsius at the start, unlike last time, so I'm expecting even more people to show up. 

I'm going to try to get into or make a breakaway towards the sprint point, and then see what I have left on the climb. Not many days left here so its time to empty the tank. 

Happy Friday everyone.