Wouldn't It Be Cool If ...

Endurance sports can be a lonely endeavor.  There are very few people I can call and say, "Hey, I just rode Gold Hill in under 15 minutes," and have it mean something to them.

Of course the internet has made it less lonely, and I could share with internet friends, "Hey, I had a PR or KOM."  But, unless they're ridden Gold Hill, they don't really understand.

This is a view from Gold Hill

Lately I've been riding with a friend of mine who is new to the sport, but eager to get into it.  I've been showing him my favorite local routes and when he pauses to appreciate some view or vista, it makes me see it all over again.  And living where I live, one of the biggest pluses in the cycling category is the stuff you get to see!

Last night I bought a bottle of wine, to celebrate and reward myself for a monster week.  I put in over 230 miles on the old bicycle this week and am feeling very great.  As wine often does to me, I woke about 3 AM.  I wasn't sick or hung over, just not sleeping.  Ugh.  I started on of my favorite hobbies under such conditions, imagining different routes and courses.  I got to thinking, what about a Tour?

You know ... a tour, like several days, covering the challenging and scenic routes in the county.  Maybe it could be a week long, maybe spread over a few weekends.  I started thinking and planning, how would it work, wondering if it would work, wondering if I really cared that it would work, it might be awesome to do alone anyway (though company would be better).  It would be a come one-come all type of thing, amateurs would really be the focus.  I remembered reading in a magazine how people were getting very tired of spending $120 to run or ride a race ... yeah, it goes to charity, supposedly, but whatever.  The article was showing how there was a trend of small groups getting together and running their own events at the actual cost of the support for the event.  Applying that idea, here's what I came up with:

• The Santa Cruz County Cycling Tour would take place over four weekends, including seven total rides and a party.
• Minor support would be provided, but each rider is essentially responsible for themselves. 
• Riders could participate in any portion of the rides, but a point system will be assigned.

While it would be a Santa Cruz County Tour, not all rides would be 100% contained inside the county.  After all, this is the smallest county in the state!  Here's how it would work:

Weekend 1:  Date:  TBD
Ride 1:  Pena Blanca to Kino Springs to Josefina to Pena Blanca  (90 miles)

This ride obviously needs a better name!  This ride contains some incredibly scenery and challenging terrain and quite a bit of climbing.  The ride begins at Pena Blanca Lake, which includes a Cat 4 climb, that is way harder than any Cat 4 I know of!  After the Cat 4, it's a fast and smooth downhill for about 7 miles, before hitting some rolling hills and then Gold Hill, which is a Cat 4 climb as well.  This would undoubtedly be a much higher category if it weren't for an incredibly steep quarter-mile down hill right in the middle of the whole thing!

After Gold Hill, there's a fast downhill for another 5 miles or so before the winding Cat 4 climb heading past Kino Springs Golf Course to the village.  Then the ride shoots down the very fast and smooth River Road before entering the Rio Rico area where the ride hits a Cat 3 and a Cat 2 climbing on Camino Josefina.  The ride finishes by returning to the starting point at the lake.

Elevation Profile, Categorized Climbs Inaccurate Here

Weekend 1, Ride 2:  Patagonia - Elgin (50 miles)

90

Day 2's ride is shorter and easier than the first day's ride.  The ride starts in beautiful and historic Patagonia, Arizona, loops through and around Sonoita and Elgin and then back to Patagonia.  There are no categorized climbs on the day, though the scenery is stunning.  Sonoita and Elgin are rich in agriculture including livestock and vineyards.  On a lucky day one may spot prong horn!

Weekend 2, Ride 1 (3rd total):  Whipple Visitor's Center to Madera Canyon (63 miles)

The second weekend of riding will begin at the Whipple Observatory Visitor's center, as pictured above.  The ride will begin very fast as the course will drop down to the valley below some 300 feet in about 7 miles.  Then the ride will make it's way up the most significant climb of the entire tour as it winds up Madera Canyon (category 1 climb).  It's common to see wild turkey and sometimes coatamundi in the canyon.

The route will descend from the canyon and return back up to the observatory's visitor's center, which is a category 2 climb.

Weekend 2, Ride 2 (4th total):  Tumacacori to Tubac Loop (22 miles)

Time trial!  Flat, fast and beautiful!  Tumacacori and Tubac are beautiful and very interesting.  After the short ride there's plenty to see and do. 

Weekend 3, Ride 1 (5th total):  Amado to Arivaca (46 miles)

This out and back begins in Amado, goes to Arivaca and returns.  This ride weaves in and out of Santa Cruz and Pima counties.  The route is full of winding road, rolling hills, interesting properties and majestic views.  The ride is challenging but fast.  There's one significant climb, though it is uncategorized.

Weekend 3, Ride 2 (6th total): Parker Canyon Lake (60 miles)

 This is the only ride I've not personally done, on a bicycle.  I've ridden it on a motorcycle several times, as well as in cars.  It's a beautiful ride.  There's quite a bit of climbing, several categorized climbs.  The software MapMyRide uses to calculate elevation is highly inaccurate, so I'm not sure exactly the nature of the climbs, but it's a hilly ride.  Certainly not as tough as some of the other rides in the tour though.

Weekend 4, Ride 1 (7th total):  The Santa Rita Mountains Loop (115 miles)

This route loops around the Santa Rita Mountains.  It is by far the longest ride on the tour.  It's a beautiful route, lots of rolling hills and scenery, including two very prolonged downhill segments!

By the time it's all said and done, the tour will have covered about 450 miles in seven rides

Can't Control the Outcome

Today didn't go as planned.

That's okay.

A friend of mine has started riding a road bike and has asked to join me on some rides.

Awesome.

Misery loves company!

Today I had planned on my favorite middle-distance route.  It's fifty miles, but a lot of climbing. I think it has three categorized climbs, plus a lot of steep, but short, hills.  Anyhow, it's scenic, hitting all of the great segments in the area.  In the shot to the left, which I stole, you can see the road below.  Fast and fun one way, grinding and painful the other!

The morning was beautiful, even a touch of fog.  So, of course, it was humid.  I rode from my house to a local gas station, met up with my buddy and we headed out.  On the climbs I noticed that my derailleur was rubbing my spokes when in the top gear.  Ugh.  I had to stop several times to adjust it.  I finally got it adjusted, but at the expense of the chain being a little noisy in that gear.

Then, at about mile twelve, my friend's chain started to fall over the top of his tallest gear, almost causing him to crash.  I was able to adjust the stop screw, mess with the adjustment barrel and get his bike operating correctly.  During this time I noticed his front tire was a little low.

I had just one tube, he had none.  He didn't have any air, I thought I had just enough to fill up one tire and then perhaps top off another.  We were a good 7 hilly miles from cellphone signal.  I took a chance and inflated his tire.

Of course, his tire had a more significant leak than expected and we ended up swapping the tube anyway.  I was worried that the remaining air canister I had would be insufficient, but we were able to get him back on the road again.

The work we had done was at a boat launch at Pena Blanca Lake.  There are "facilities" there, namely, an outhouse.  I went in to get some toilet paper, to wipe the grease from my hands.  The world's largest wolf spider jumped out of the toilet paper roll, positioning himself beneath my hand as if to guard his kingdom.  His legs nearly spanned the entire roll of paper!  I'm not afraid of spiders, but holy crap!

We climbed back out of the lake-area, and hit some rolling hills ... they're really not rolling, more like straight up and straight down, about 100 yards each, five total hills.  They're fun if you're fresh, but rough on the body if you're tired.

They got him.

We decided to pull off at a gas station before the tough part of the ride and he was toast.  He almost crashed on his bike.  I ran in to get some food and water, and when I returned he was pale, slumped over and in obvious misery.  We agreed to take an easy route back and cut the ride short. 

Anybody that's ridden has bonked.  It sucks.  I've been there too many times.

It's really my fault.  I should've selected an easier route for the first try at this distance.  But, we rode a difficult section of this route on Tuesday without issue.  The difference was that Tuesday was just 20 miles or so.  

So we're limping home, grateful for the downhill ride back, when about 4 miles from the finish, his tire blows again.  This time, with an audible pop.  No more spare tubes, he had to get a ride.   (I didn't abandon him, but the details are a bit extensive and ultimately, uninteresting.  Just leave it to this ... the rescue attempt didn't go as planned either!)

I hit the remaining ride hard and felt good.  I think I'm almost healthy.  Lungs are clearing up and legs are feeling stronger.  It's going to take another few weeks to get back into shape so I can start training hard, but hey ... I'll take it!

The funny thing on the ride was we had talked about how we cannot control the outcomes of our efforts.  He shared that in his experiences, when he lets things happens he notices great things happening around him.  Today, I figured he'd struggle, but between the humidity and the lack of experience (he didn't drink enough on the route), he bonked.  Still, though, I had a great ride and a great time.

I'm looking forward to next time.  Plus, this way, I can ride again tomorrow.

On a side note, I was entertaining the idea of running a marathon in January.  I ran twice this week and my left ankle has a lot of soft tissue discomfort.  Unfortunately, it's not just when I run, it's all of the time.  I'll be patient, let things run their course, but at this point, I'm not sure I'll be able to participate in the two half marathons I've already paid for!

What was that about letting things happen again?

Rejuvination

The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.

Yup, that about says it.

My plans for May were simply to pound out some mile running since I would be finished with the bike race I'd trained for.  My body had different ideas.  I got sick, started getting weird problems like an infection in my ear lobe where I used to have it pierced.  It all pointed to one logical conclusion...I needed some down time. 

Reading some accounts of various people who didn't listen to their bodies and suffered monumental complications because of it, I decided to just take the month of May and enjoy life.  I did participate in a bike race last weekend, and did have a vigorous hike the weekend before that, but I'm taking it easy.  I'm sleeping in, mostly, eating loosely, and just not worrying about stuff. 

This week I managed about 14 miles of running, but two of those runs were excellent.  The first was on the treadmill (it was almost 100 degrees outside) where I just kept increasing the speed to get the workout finished.  I ended up running the last mile with a little incline in just over 6 minutes.  The second run was with the running club where we ran four miles with splits of 7:57, 8:00, 7:46 and 7:15.

And riding went well, too, though again, with low volume.  I had a strong ride on Monday and another Wednesday before joining about 90 other participants in the Ride of Silence. It was quite a strange experience riding along very slowly for about 6 miles in total silence with police escort.  The loudest thing I heard was my hub whirling as I coasted.

In the picture, taken from the local newspaper, you can see me in the white jersey, behind the person in the recumbent bike.

I've been watching the Tour of California and it's been very inspiring.  So, today I decided to get up early and hit the road on my bike before dawn.  I often have high aspirations in the afternoon that seem to be misplaced sometime during the night.  Last night was no different.

My uncle from Minnesota was visiting and a potluck was hosted at my grandmother's house.  While there, my cousins and sister busted out this very fancy portable espresso machine, so I had some.  The end result was that at 11:30 at night I laid in bed jittery.  The morning came quickly and I almost postponed my ride.  But with a projected 104 temperature, I decided to just get it over with.

My first experience riding predawn was great.  It was neat eating breakfast on the road, coasting hands-free in the cool desert morning air.

Today's ride was 50 miles of hills, with a few very difficult, but short climbs.  All told, the route had me climbing 2850 feet.  I saw one other cyclist and just a handful of vehicles. 

I spooked some javelina and listened to a podcast on "fastbacking."  How cool would it be to hike the Pacific Trail?  Dang ...

Because of the race last weekend, I figured that hitting some hard hills at the tail end of my rides would be a wise course to promote some strength and improvement on the bike.  So I ended today's ride with a jaunt to Pena Blanca Lake.  It's one of my favorite routes because it's scenic, remote, minimal traffic and challenging. 

The picture to the right is from a picnic area that overlooks the lake.  I'm taking a picture in the opposite direction where you can see the road as it slips between a few hills.  Eventually, the road winds up those hills.

On today's ride, I hit just over 56 mph on the hill that in the picture below.  Unfortunately you can't get a sense of the grade from the photograph.  But trust me, it's steep, lots of fun on the way down, lots of pain on the way up.

Another thing that has happened this week is that I suddenly feel fantastically comfortable on my bike.  I've owned it since early January and it's been a long time tweaking this and that, trying to get it dialed in perfectly.  But now, I'm confident to say, it's dead-on.  When I climb on the saddle and clip in, it all feels fantastic.

The bike is a 2010 Lapierre Sensium 400.  The bike comes nicely equipped with SRAM Force components, including brakes.  The bike is carbon fiber, but the handlebars and seat post were not.  I found a steal on some Easton EC90 handlebars that were special ordered and never picked up at a bike shop, and bought a gently used EC90 seatpost on eBay.  The wheels are Fulcrum race 5's, which are sufficient, but probably the next upgrade.

And one thing that really made me smile about the bike is pictured below:

That said, I'm going to enjoy my last week of easy workouts before getting serious in June and July.

Thanks for reading and I hope you and yours are happy and healthy and well.

What Racing's Done for Me

2011's Tour of the Tucson Mountains was my first athletic endeavor as an adult.  After just having completed this year's Tour of the Tucson Mountains, I thought it would be a good time to pause and reflect on what's happened.  Besides, I could use a bit of a pick-me-up.  I've had a lot of stresses lately that are really not worth the weight I've placed upon them.  I've been a bit sick, or something, and haven't been able to exercise much either.  So, I decided that putting this together would be a good way to remember and celebrate.

In the picture below, you can see the change in a year.  In last year's race I was in over my head, but this year, while I didn't meet my goal, I was rock-solid.   

In the past 12 months I've participated in 13 events which included a duathalon, warrior dash, two metric centuries and a century ride, one Pikermi, a trail Pikermi, a 10K and the rest were 5K's.  In the past year I spent quite a bit of time injured. I've had problems with the rear chain, from glutes to calves.  Part of the source is weakness due to being out of shape, but I'm afraid some of it is due to a back injury from 1998. But I'm patient, pay more attention to how things are feeling, and devote a lot more time to strengthening things.

One of the coolest things was mentioned by my brother-in-law last weekend.

He commented, "Isn't it cool that your dad, sisters and brother are now into running because of you?"

I would agree 100% if you crossed out the "because of me," portion because regardless of why they run, they run now for their own reasons, just as I do.  No matter who started us, we laced our shoes (or in my case, slip on my VFF's) each morning for personal reasons.

Below I've taken a picture of the bibs and medals I've collected this year.  I was surprised that I've earned 5, first in age groups and two second places (one I was nursing a bad hammy and was beat by like 5 seconds).  In all fairness, the 10K was REAL small, as was one of the 5K's.  But hey, I wasn't the only one in my AG, so it's legit.   

My favorite race was the first one, but I was an emotional wreck during and for about an hour after.  I was angry, sad, remorseful, proud, all at once.  During the race I faced a lot of things that had been bubbling to the surface during the previous few months of training.

My least favorite was my slowest 5K, 21:30.  I finished 3rd but led most of the race and just BONKED in the last half mile.  Had I run a smarter race, I'd have won.  

Either way, before I raced I had lost about 50 pounds or so in the previous 6 months, and another 40 to 50 since.  But I don't think I would've lost the second half, much less even kept off the first half, without racing.

Racing is my new hobby, and I love it.  It gives purpose beyond selfish and conceited reasons to exercise.  It gives me confidence and identity, both the quiet type.  I'm so glad I took the plunge and tried the first one.

Saturday I race in a metric century.  I'm a bit worn out and not sure how I'll do.  It's not a race I was sure to participate in until last week.  So I'll go, enjoy my time there, push as hard as I can and see what happens.

PR and an Ice Bath and Doggie

Last night I was up past 11, usually in bed by 9.  The morning came fast.  I dragged myself out of bed at 6, headed out the door, returning inside three times, having forgotten something.  I made it to the race, all essentials in-tow, registered and had a good time talking with some friends.  One of the local middle schools had their cross country team in uniform attending the race.

The morning was BEAUTIFUL, low 50's at start time with nice sunshine.  It's going to be 85 today, so it warmed up fast.

The race wound through the old neighborhoods here, the same ones where I grew up.  I took my warm up jog, a bit over a mile, through the old streets, looking at my old houses, houses of friends, remembering where this big mean dog named Coors resided.  I turned onto a street whose name has been shortened to Placita Baca, from Placita de Baca, place of the cow.  I used to infuriate my sister, telling her the street was named after her.

For some reason, the stroll through my old haunting grounds inspired me to want to do well.  This is where I'm from.  I'm who I am today because of experiences I had here.  But I was concerned because my calves still ached and didn't feel right from Monday's tempo run.  Plus, I climbed over 6,000 feet in my last two bike rides...can you say, shot legs?  I'd just see how it went.

At the start of the race all of the middle schools crowded the starting line.  I knew a few of them would probably beat me, they run pretty fast.  But many would just be in the way, so I had to get around them.  Of course they took off fast, and in passing them I completed my first mile in 6:23.  Oops.  I passed all but three of them about half way through mile one, knew I was going too fast, but couldn't slow down or they'd pass me again.  And I didn't want to dodge between kids and people up the hill, which took most of mile 2.  

Heading up the hill I was in 5th place.  Three boys in front and a friend of mine who is wicked fast and ended up finishing in 17 and change.  Mile two only climbed 146 feet, which is half of what the Cookie Toss Mile in my tempo run was, but it killed me.  My calves really started to hurt.

At the start of the hill I heard one of the boys I was running with spit.  It wasn't just a spit, it was the type that tells me he was tapped.  I've noticed that when I have that dry spit I'm done, and when racing, if someone I'm with spits, soon they're dropping.  But I encouraged him to keep going.

Regardless, soon I was in 4th place.  The kid I was now running with was TINY, probably all of 80 pounds.  But he was running strong.  There was another boy in front of us, about 200 yards up the hill.  I told the boy, "See him...he's dying.  You got it.  You're tougher than him, go get him.  This race is yours."

He tried, and closed a significant portion of the gap, but at the end of mile two we headed down hill, and the other boy took off.

Once at the bottom of the hill I was toast, tooling along at a 6:45 pace or so, not pushing.  I had no idea of my time as I'd just looked at my pace on the Garmin and thought that with the hill, there'd be no shot at a PR.  I had a half mile left, just bring it on home...then BOOM, left calf totally locked up.  I hopped, thought about stopping, but didn't want to be passed.  How stupid is that?

I limped the rest of the way in.  At the start of the chute I saw 19:57 on the clock ... Come on!  I've been dying to run a sub-20 5K, this could've been my first.

I finished 4th, congratulated those in front and the small boy thanked me, twice, for pushing and encouraging him.  That was as cool as anything else.

For my effort I got the race t-shirt, of course, and first place for each age group received these medals (females had female runners on theirs).

 Here I am, pre-race:

Limping down the chute:

Funktown - Burned Down

It felt as if the wind had personality, and was angry ... at me.  It whipped me, pushed me, slapped me around for 80 miles today.  I took it, all of it, and never faltered.  I never thought of seeking shelter, calling home for my wife to come get me.  The wind punished me over the 3200 feet of climbing.  Climbing up the second to last big hill the signs warning of a winding road ahead rocked back and forth.  The trees bent steadily to the wind's insistence.  I loved it!  At mile 70, when I finally turned so I had a tailwind, I slammed down the gears, finishing mile 75 in under 3:00 on dead legs. 

Funktown -- burned down! 

I burned that funk to the ground...or, maybe I shouldn't take credit, but it's burned and that's the important part. 

Maybe it is because I had a hard, but yet relaxed ride Thursday, that reset my perspective.  Maybe it's because it's my anniversary and I'm very happy about that.  Yesterday we celebrated, low key, as is our fashion.  We went to the movies, saw The Hunger Games, with our youngest daughter.  Funny, but we've gone out as a family for our anniversary three of the past four years!  We just get along, I guess.

Maybe funktown burned down because of pent-up emotional energy.  This week our dog died unexpectedly (perhaps an owl got her).  My oldest daughter joined the National Guard (they can provide an avenue by which she can be a veterinarian), and has her first drill this weekend.  My wife had an upper GI scope done Monday and luckily her gal bladder is fine and she just has an ulcer.  

Anyhow, because of a stiff back and a very humbling route planned today (I love and hate this ride), I took yesterday off from all exercise.  I checked the weather last night and the forecast called for headwinds both ways of an out-and-back 80 miler.  Seriously.  Fifteen mph winds with gusts up to 20 heading east until 10 am, then from the south for a short time, then from the west from 11 on, all day the speed picking up.  Wow!

Maybe the funk is busted because I mentally focused last night, running through a check list of goals, items of focus and especially steeling my nerves for what lay ahead today.

Regardless, my average pace was very slow, 16 mph, but my effort and focus were as good as I've ever had on a ride.  I'm pretty charged up!

I did manage to take a few pictures today.  You can see them all here.  

The picture above is one of my favorite stretches of road.  It's on Arizona State Highway 82, just west of Patagonia, Arizona.

And old stone home I always love looking at.  It was built long before the two-lane highway existed.  How upset do you think they must've been when the route went right THERE!?

Yup, there's wine in Arizona...even a 5K that the wineries host where you get to sample various wines after the race!

An old abandoned ranch house north of Nogales, Arizona.

Some of the wild life!

The Santa Cruz River.  Not much water this time of year.

The picture above is taken just before an OSOM stretch of road, when headed this direction.  It's about 4 miles of down hill....think 40 mph on a bicycle down hill. 

The picture below is Mt. Wrightson, which my brother-in-law and I will be climbing on May 5th.  I'm super-excited about that!  I've been wanting to climb that thing my entire life, just never have.

Here's how I set up the display on my Garmin 405 for riding.  A lot of cyclists apparently hate it, but this shows me what I need, HR, cadence, and speed.  A HR of 108 means I'm obviously not working real hard while taking pictures! 

As I near 100

I don't know exactly when I'll hit the 100 pounds lost, or if, for that matter, I already have.  It's truly irrelevant because my original goal was never to lose weight.  But as I near the point where I weighed myself at my heaviest, which was after about two months of diet and exercise where I'd lost a very measurable amount of weight, I thought I'd share some things that I've noticed, learned and experienced.

Originally I started blogging to chronicle those very experiences.  But, now, in hindsight, some things are quite different. 

There is nothing special about me, save one thing:  I can pick a great wife.  That's the only thing I have that is truly superior.  I'll spare the details, but the point is, she's helped me a lot just by being supportive and patient with me.  I also mention it because there is no secret to losing weight.  This isn't something that just works for people in group A and if you've tried to lose weight and failed you're in group B.

In this post I'd like to share what I believed help make this attempt successful.  I'm not going to suggest or advise people on things in particular, I'm not an expert at all, but rather just share what worked for me in a general sense.  Also, I'd like to remind you that this is in hindsight.  I didn't know these three things would be important before I started.  But after talking with people and thinking about how things played out, I think these three things were key.

I think I was successful because of three major things.

1.  My goal was simple, appropriate and approachable.

My original goal was simple:  I wanted to be healthier and more active.  I wanted to run, always loved it. I wanted to feel better.

I had tried other motivations like looking better, getting recognition in contests and so on.  But the truth is, while I'm as conceited as the next guy, I'm not really motivated by those things.  The push wasn't strong enough to last more than a few months at the most.
 
2.  I had an easily executed plan.

My plan was to exercise every day I worked.  So, no exercising on the weekends or holidays.  But if I worked, I'd get up early and do something.  At first this consisted of just walking a few miles, though they're very hilly and even now are exercise for me.

After a few weeks I began to sprinkle in a little running here and there.  Not only was I way out of shape, but I was so heavy (started running at about 290 pounds), that it was murder on my body.  I'd run in the morning and could barely walk the rest of the day, knees looking like balloons.

It was only at this point that weight loss began to become part of my thinking.  And this time, opposed to previously, the weight loss was in support of my original goal, to be healthier and more active.

3.  I kept it to myself, kept it low key.

There is a small scene in John Steinbeck's The Pearl, where the natives are talking and the conversation grows boisterous.  The men are bragging, become full of themselves and their language grows to match how they're feeling.

Kino, if I remember right, thinks to himself that if he speaks his intentions, he'll certainly betray them.  I have found this to be very powerful and true of me.  I certainly can be full of myself, but am usually well-intentioned.  However, I find that if I speak my intentions, I am somehow relieved of the obligation to follow through.

It's similar to someone that says, "I'll be honest with you," or, "I'll do my homework today, I promise."  Most of the time, the people are true in their sentiments, but later their actions drift away from their intentions.   It's just human nature.

The point of it all is, I didn't mention anything to anybody about being healthier for the first month and a half.  I'd say that I went for a walk, or maybe that I was exercising.  I'd share with a friend that I wasn't going to eat a double quarter pounder with cheese today because I wanted to be smarter.  But those came up in natural course of conversation.  I never looked to share news with someone for a while.  I had to own it before I could share it.

There are other factors, of course.  My cousin had started losing weight before I started and I was able to use him as a resource.  I have friends that are athletes and I pick their brains time and again.  My grandfather exercised every work day.  He'd get up at 4 am and lift weights and go on a run.  Unfortunately I never really got to know him as an adult, but I remember how he'd go about his business.  But I had him as a role model.  These made things easier for me.  I didn't have as many things to figure out, no doubts that it could be done.

While I'm doing a lot more now than exercising every work day, and at the moment I'm aggressively cutting weight (for the first time), my goal is still to be healthier and more active.  Right now I'm chasing a weight because it will help me ride and run faster...and I want to race!

A picture is worth one thousand words...so...

I hope you find this informative and encouraging.  The key to losing weight for me is this:  The goal is to be healthier, the weight will follow.

Yeah, that was tough.

Today I took a little lap around the Santa Rita Mountains. It turned out to be 119 miles and took me 7:15 of riding time.  I took pre-scheduled breaks and a few unplanned potty breaks.  It was an awesome experience, one that is unique in difficulty of all of the things I've done, and one I won't likely do again any time soon.

In the picture to the right you can see the mountains on the horizon, about 30 miles away or so.

The ride started at 7:40 this morning.  My hands froze for the first 6 miles.  I tucked them behind the handlebars and tried to protect as much exposed skin as possible by pulling my arms in tight against my sides.  I love running in cold weather, but riding a road bike is a bit different.

There was a slight breeze in my face as I made my way into the town of Patagonia.  I had really struggled, despite the beautiful route.  Many times I wished there was another GABA ride so I'd have people to chase.  But as it turned out, I managed just over 15 mph average.  I've not been that slow since ... March?

I hadn't planned on stopping in Patagonia but I needed to use the restroom and to think about why I was struggling.  My legs weren't tired and I was rested and had good fuel.  I was just kind of emotionally flat.  Not an appropriate state of mind for what lay ahead!

Patagonia is a neat place.  Everybody lives there by choice and it's community reflects such.  Above is a picture at the public restroom in the town park and it's obviously nicely decorated. When I walked into the restroom, I became aware that a previous rider had been having a crappier ride than I was.  Warning, it's kind of a gross picture, you've been warned.

I realized that my cadence had been too low, so I focused on keeping it over 90 and had much better performance for the rest of the day.  As I left Patagonia, about 4000 feet in elevation, to head the 12 miles up to Sonoita, about 5500 feet elevation, I was very disappointed to find that the top layer of the highway's asphalt had been removed.  ADOT was apparently going to resurface.  Ugh.  This was sure to be the hardest part of the ride anyway, as the wind is ALWAYS in my face on this ride, and the climbing is steady and relentless.

When I pulled into Sonoita, which was my first scheduled stop and 40 miles from home, my feet, seat and hands were all numb.  I grabbed a few goodies and replenished my fluids.  How is that for a healthy mid-morning snack?  Chocolate milk, snickers and nutter butters?  The joys of riding.

I hit the road going north with a bit of anticipation.  I'd never ridden this route before.  It had the single largest climb according to the research I'd done.  I just knew that the scenery would be unparalleled.  The high desert grasslands are incredible.

This road, AZ highway 83, was in excellent condition, though it had a small, ever narrowing shoulder.  The surface was smooth and flat, a welcome change for my rear end.  With the new surface my speed picked up and I rolled along at an easy 18 to 19 mph until I hit the hills again.

In the picture above and right you can see that I'm now on the other side of the Santa Rita Mountains.  I really enjoyed this part of the ride, though I had to pee again only twenty minutes after leaving Sonoita again.  I've been trying to become more efficient with fluids by hydrating more fully before a long ride.  Today was the first time in a while I had trouble.

It was all fun and games until I hit the hills.  I'm not sure if this picture will really capture the climb.  It's not that it was so steep, I've ridden steeper, but this was steep and long, about a mile and a half without break.

I love climbs like this though, really.  When I'm at the top it's an accomplishment to be sure.

Now of course what goes up, must come down.  And down I came.  For the next thirty miles I was cruising downhill.  Unfortunately the shoulder completely disappeared and the road became in disrepair shortly after leaving Santa Cruz County and entering Pima County.  But, what a rush.  That first downhill made the entire ride worth the effort.

How sweet of a sign is that for a cyclist?

I dropped in elevation from just under 6000 feet to just over 2000 feet pretty quickly.  The road wound down through a narrow canyon, the road carved out of solid rock on each side.  Eventually I shot out onto a gently downhill sloping flat covered in cactus.  It looked like something in a scene from The Hills Have Eyes.
I pulled in for my second planned stop at bought some sunscreen and some more fluids.  I was waiting in line to pay when some young teenaged girls asked me if I'd ridden there.  They shared that they too had ridden, and almost died.  It was TWO HORRIBLE MILES!  I didn't share how far I'd gone.  I was at 68 miles.

At this point I was beginning to create small goals.  Get here and maintain your average pace all of the way and then we'll evaluate how things are and make another goal.  I continued down the hill into the Santa Cruz Valley and the temperature continued to rise.  I couldn't wait to be done.  This road was getting worse, the traffic heavier and the sun was ROASTING!

I finally reached my turn and headed south through some pecan groves.  The groves are interesting as they add some humidity to the local area, which has a cooling effect.  The road again was smooth and the shoulder was sufficient.  There was a slight breeze at my back and I hoped it would remain there for the final 45 miles of my ride.

I stopped in Green Valley and bought pretzels.  They sounded, and were, fantastic.  I was also thirsty for just water.  No more Gatorade or Powerade.  Weird how that happens. 

Now I was really at the point of just picking places to stop.  I had one more scheduled stop in Tubac.  I made it there going well.  I was tired but strong.  I bought a peanut butter cookie and a banana.  I hit the road just wanting to make it to the north side of Rio Rico, then I'd evaluate what I had left and create a game plan.  

The last five mile stretch before I hit the residential area is on the interstate.  The frontage road is flat dangerous, busy, fast and has no shoulder, often the white line is painted over broken asphalt.  Over the last two miles on the freeway I decide to open it up with whatever I had left.  I had been maintaining between 16.5 and 17.5.  At first I'd have been happy maintaining that as the road began to incline.  But, I pushed and brought the speed up to 20, 21 and sprinted to finished at 22.5.  That was a hugely taxing effort that will have a huge dividend to be collected on 11/19 (El Tour de Tucson).  

When I got home I was as tired as I can ever remember being from a bike ride.  My wife said a friend of her's husband rode a lot in California, touring the Sierra Madres.  The story went, he was used to elevation and chose my route today as his first Arizona ride.  It turned out to be his last serious ride in Arizona.  Too much climbing and too much heat, he said.

Next weekend I'm riding El Tour's route with my brother-in-law.  That's going to be no walk in the park at 111 miles, but by comparison, shouldn't be nearly as bad.

A Day in the Life

Yesterday, the day after my first century ride, I got up at 4:30 and ran four miles.  The first mile was 10:30, but then I woke up and the rest were in the 7:30 range.  I went to work and had a rough day, I was flat and my students were nuts.  After work I had an hour long meeting ... I think we planned the next meeting in that one.  Then, I taught two classes for the community college, finishing up at 8:00 pm.

Last night I couldn't sleep well.  There were javelina rooting around outside causing the stupid fat chihuahua we have to bark and bark and bark, and forget to stop barking.  I rolled out of bed at 4:15, headed out for a short two mile jog and then a full upper body workout at the gym. The picture is me at the gym this morning, see how busy it is?

Today I sat in a meeting for two hours and didn't even get grouchy!  That's a miracle or enormous proportions.  The Pope should be notified!

During class today, I saw nearly instant karma.  I was chastising a class, saying to the group, "This is stupid behavior."  A girl said, kind of under her breath, "You're stupid."  The funny thing is that when I checked my email after that period, I had an email from that girl's mother!  How's that for timing?

After work, I took off for a 40 mile tempo ride that has a measured 1100 feet of elevation gain.  It was quickly apparent that my legs were TOAST! I try to keep my tempo at a minimum of 17.5 mph, but no-no-no, not today.  Not with the dead legs, not with the wind.  I kept reflecting on the need to have purposeful rides once the base cardio work is done.  So I compromised.  When the wind was strong and I was going uphill, instead of trying to keep at 17.5, I'd lower the number to what I felt I could sustain.  As it turned out, most of the time I was able to maintain my 17.5.  I was happy with that!

And to make the experience better, look a the sky.  What a place to live where I can ride all year long on nice, empty roads like this!

Tomorrow morning I'm going to do a running workout, 4 mile repeats, along with the normal calisthenics I do on run days.

I also decided, on today's ride, to shoot a couple of videos of what I spend hours at a time looking at.  So, here they are: