Southwest - 2007 El Tour de Tucson

sometimes you get lucky, they might post a "photo ahead" sign & you'll get a chance to move to right, get a nice gap in front of you and signal the photo dude or whatever. Just get one of the sticky numbers on your front/right side, and note the time

Who's ready?

The most training I've been doing is hitting the rollers for an hour. Previous weeks I was on maybe 3 times a week with weekend rides both days. This week I've hit it everyday, and am taking off tomorrow since I'll be driving down after work.

What's everyone else been doing to complete the day? I'm doing the 109 btw.

Who's ready?

The most training I've been doing is hitting the rollers for an hour. Previous weeks I was on maybe 3 times a week with weekend rides both days. This week I've hit it everyday, and am taking off tomorrow since I'll be driving down after work.

What's everyone else been doing to complete the day? I'm doing the 109 btw.

I rode 84 sunday and rode about 20 on wednesday.. probably should have rode more this week but im not worried about it, it will be fun. went to pick up my pack today and they have lots of vendors set up. Calfee was there with his bamboo bikes, pretty cool.. I wish I would have rode one to check it out.

after 109 ill probably have a huge meal and sleep.. well sleep as much as possible when you have two young children.. :D I was pretty gased after 84 to be honest..

Very cool. I'm excited. I'm counting on my youth to get me through it. Longest I've ridden in a while was 50 miles about 2 weeks ago. I did 78 miles my first day of my tour without any training whatsoever. So I'm not too worried about this.

Is there an unofficial parking lot a lot of cyclists arrive at and sleep in their cars? Would be nice to find something like that rather than being in some more random parking lot.

Very cool. I'm excited. I'm counting on my youth to get me through it. Longest I've ridden in a while was 50 miles about 2 weeks ago. I did 78 miles my first day of my tour without any training whatsoever. So I'm not too worried about this.

Is there an unofficial parking lot a lot of cyclists arrive at and sleep in their cars? Would be nice to find something like that rather than being in some more random parking lot.

IDK, I dont think TCC will allow you to sleep there.. You could always stay at a campground I guess.. Catalina park is about 25-30 minutes away..

http://www.desertusa.com/azcatalina/azcatalina.html

What's the parking situation like? We're new to this event; and are too far away to ride over. Suggestions?

What's the parking situation like? We're new to this event; and are too far away to ride over. Suggestions?


I originally was going to park at my business and ride over about 3-4 miles, but after going to the expo I decided to just use TCC parking. they told me if im there by 6am I should be able to get a spot. Parking is 4 bucks and will be open for the event..

Hope you all had a great El Tour #25! Rode as bike Patrol and it was my 24th El Tour.
Perfect weather/day for a bike ride with lots of company!
Momod: Have known Craig Calfee's for years, and have ridden one of his bamboo singles; bamboo is mother nature's carbon fiber. Every bit as good/smooth as the man made stuff. He is also producing a bamboo tandem this year (he did not have one at El Tour Expo but showed one at Interbike trade show in Las Vegas) same price as the carbon one: $3,995 for the frame only . . . you pick/pay for components.
One of his bamboo singles was ridden in Paris/Brest/Paris event this year and the rider said it's the most comfortable ride he had on PBP, even with 3 days of hard rain.
One guy in Tucson owns/rides a Calfee 'boo single.
Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

Here's a recap of my tour experience. If you don't feel like reading it my thoughts come down to this. The tour is awesome. I was stupid and terrible

I live and work in Phoenix, and decided to drive down the night before after work. Stupidly, I had scheduled a hair cut a month prior for the night before the tour. I got off work at 5 and went to the hair appointment, which took longer than expected because I had forgotten how to get to it exactly. I wasted about 20 minutes right there.

When I got out of the hair cut it was still rush hour traffic. I decided to take some back roads. It took a while longer, and luckily made my way home just by randomly picking roads that went in the right direction. It was still better than taking the major highways. I got home and started rushing. Throw the bike in the car along with my pump, clothes, gear, powdered drinks, etc.. The whole ride down to Tucson I was calculating mph and time left till 9. It was going to be tight.

I didn't make it on time. I was 15 minutes late and would need to come back around 5 AM to pick up my numbers and chip. Fine, whatever. I drove to my friends house and skipped on dinner since I had to be up at 4. Instead I had a bottle of my powdered amino acid/carbs. It filled me up at least.

The next morning I half expected there to be vendors selling breakfast of some sort at the starting line. There weren't. I had another bottle of powder and got my numbers. I felt fine since I was on an adrenaline high. The race went off fine. I got clipped in well and didn't cause any trouble. There was one fellow I felt bad for. As soon as we started moving forward, around 7:04, his seat post snapped. He was done for the day. Ouch!

Let's recap my two mistakes so far. No dinner, no breakfast. Mistake number 3 was putting myself in a pack of some of the faster riders of the tour. Well really, that wasn't the problem. The problem was that somehow I managed to be 1 of 2 in that group who led the paceline. I was fine for a while and I had averaged 21-22 mph for the first 50 miles. I would have been fine if I was anywhere but the front. I burnt out after the first 50 miles.

About the same time I was burning out I had my first flat too. I decided to just swap out the tube since I had the spare. The aid station with the performance guys was great. They gave me food and changed the tube. Definitely a big thank you to the girl scouts, their parents, and the performance guys. Not sure if I appreciated the sign saying there were 60 miles left.

I got rolling again and got in another paceline. This time I stuck to the middle. We were going well. Pacelines are real nice when you're not leading. A later paceline around miles 70-80 we were banging away at 30-35 mph. It was awesome. That second paceline I nearly avoided disaster though. I think some guy clipped another riders rear tire and he went flying. He went down and literally bounced off the road. He knew he had to get out of the way so he was on his feet as soon as possible. Unfortunately this meant he bounced up in the direction I was breaking off too. He came withing a foot and a half of hitting me. Thankfully he didn't, and he seemed to be alright.

The rest of the tour went like this. Me - tired. Tires - flat. I only had CO2 and ran out of air quick. Those things really don't have enough air in them. When I got home I drove straight to my LBS and bought a frame pump. At miles 99-109 I literally was without any air. My rear was flat and I thought it was only down to maybe 60-70 psi. I got off because the road was too rough at one point. The air was completely gone and I was riding rim essentially. Time to walk.

One rider stopped to see if I needed help. He was a nice guy, but out of energy and needed an excuse to stop. He didn't have any air or tubes to help. Then another man who was a plumber in the air force came to the rescue with about 8-9 miles left. I bought a tube and some CO2 from him. I was tired enough to not think logically. It took me a while to get my wheel back on.

Once I got everything straight the last 8-9 were pretty straight forward. People were strung out enough at this point that pacelines were only 5-6 deep instead of the 20-30 I had been riding with previously. I finished in a time of 6:29. Ugh. I wanted the sub 5 hour. I still feel like I could have if I hadn't wasted all my energy in the first 50, had eaten dinner and breakfast, and didn't have my flat troubles. Now I have to wait till next year. Oiy.

Other then that it was a gorgeous day of riding. Getting in some real good pacelines was a blast doing 30+ mph inches off someones wheel. The aid stations were god sends. I particularly enjoyed the grapes and oranges.

Adios for now. Matt

Matt,sorry to hear about your misplanning . . . but experience pays off!
At age 75 and my 24th El Tour I don't count on adrenalin rush and powdered drink stuff to ride.
I get a full night's sleep, all my gear is ready to go the night before and eat solid breakfast. Yes, I only drink water and pack a couple things for emergencies like a gel pack/dextrose tablets or an apple cut in quarters (natural sugar). I do stop at some of the rest stops, pee, get some food, and agree the grapes were great!
When I was competitive (read 15 years younger) on double centuries the kids would ask, 'hey, how you gonna do old man?' I'd answer 'I hope to finish'. The kidz would hammer away for the first 100 miles and I'd ride a good steady pace, sitting in with a group here or there and doing my share on the front. Usually about the 150 mile mark I'd pass the kids and wave. My goal was to do the double century in 12 hours even; once I achieved, that I quit doing doubles.
Leading a pack is a 'high' but my taking lead in a group has always been to do 100 pedal strokes, then fall back toward the rear and repeat as necessary.
I raced the first two El Tours and placed 26th (or was it 29th?) out of 190-some entrants on the first event. I was one of the 'old guys' riding then, at age 50. Since El Tour III my wife and I rode Bike Patrol on our tandem for 15 years, then she no longer cared to ride it as it was getting 'a bit crazy at the start', as he put it so rode BP on my single, except for the one year in the early 90s when my boss would not let me off work (although I had switched days off with a co-worker) and said he'd fire me if I called in sick. Nice guy, huh?
Glad you had a good time and you learned a couple valuable lessons.
Hope you come back next year, I'll be there!
Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

zonatandem, it's great to see you doing the el tour. I hope to see you out there in 10 years.

my experience: This is the 4th el tour I've done. Having raced for the last 2 years as a Cat 5,4,3 I approach the el tour as an off-season pain in the ass. I've never trained for the el tour, and it always kills me. I actually was able to get a really good starting spot this year, in Platinum about 30 feet from the start line. Nothing is more frustrating than getting a bad start when you're trying to beat a time. I only live 2 blocks from the start, but since I've never gotten a particularly good start I got there early, around 5:40. I was unable to go to the bathroom before I left my house, but didn't want to loose my spot. This was a huge mistake, as I had to go poo. Having not done this was detrimental. I had a very painful cramp the entire race, which greatly inhibited my performance. The pace was difficult in the beginning, but manageable. There was a split in the first wash crossing, but though a paceline the group I was in was able to bridge up to the lead group within 10 minutes post-wash. I'm always frustrated with how little people try to actually ride through it. I guess they're not mountain bikers, as it's not really difficult if you just spin through and stay relaxed. The pace was in the high 20's low 30's for the first 50. There were some near crashes from sudden braking. Eventually there was a real crash at 40mph right behind me after a sudden mass braking. I didn't look back, but heard it. Things eventually fell apart for me at the 2nd wash crossing. I rode through almost the whole thing while, despite 98% of people trying to run through it/running in to me. I noticed my heart rate was really high coming out of the wash, and I knew I needed to rest up. I tried to take it easy up the 'climb', and wasn't completely exhausted. This is where I lost site of the front, and I gave in to trying to sit in with a group. I got in a group of 10 or so, but the pace was more than I could handle. The cramp was nagging, and i could barely eat or drink. Those TMC water bottles were crap! The opening was defective or something and I could only get a trickle of fluid out. I got dropped, from the group, got in with another group. I sat in as long as possible, but eventually had to sit up before the climb up to tangerine. I rode alone for 15 minutes completely cracked. I gave up hope of cracking 4:40 at that point. I even text messaged my girlfriend as a joke. I was rolling 12 mph at 130bpm feeling TERRIBLE. that's usually a hr I recover at. Eventually a 60 person group came rolling down tangerine and I saw two of my friends so I decided to jump in. What a relief it was to be able to sit in again. I sat in to the finish, almost crashed from being stupid, riding one handed in some sand looking behind me. People started attacking at 5 miles to go, for what, 150th place? The last mile was a sprint, I finished thank god. 4:38 amazingly two minutes under my goal. I have never been so tired after a race or ride. I attribute it to the 4000 calories burned, and the 400 intake, the lack of hydration, and the lack of training this last 3 weeks.

viva la tour

Hope you all had a great El Tour #25! Rode as bike Patrol and it was my 24th El Tour.
Perfect weather/day for a bike ride with lots of company!
Momod: Have known Craig Calfee's for years, and have ridden one of his bamboo singles; bamboo is mother nature's carbon fiber. Every bit as good/smooth as the man made stuff. He is also producing a bamboo tandem this year (he did not have one at El Tour Expo but showed one at Interbike trade show in Las Vegas) same price as the carbon one: $3,995 for the frame only . . . you pick/pay for components.
One of his bamboo singles was ridden in Paris/Brest/Paris event this year and the rider said it's the most comfortable ride he had on PBP, even with 3 days of hard rain.
One guy in Tucson owns/rides a Calfee 'boo single.
Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

very nice..


hope you guys had fun, what tremendous support and what a great day..


my experience..

I was pretty excited about riding and got zero sleep the night before.. arrived around 6:15 or so and got in the massive line.. http://youtube.com/watch?v=YQ742-2drcw

I started pretty good thinking I could get a decent time and feeling competitive which on retrospect was pretty silly. Next year Ill go into it with more of an idea of just enjoying the people and the event. I was thinking if I could go 22mph Id have a shot at platinum. I rode el tour phx at 20.5 so although I didn't like my chances too much I set that as my goal. Well after the first wash I realized all the other factors involved would eat up time and I would more likely have to average 24+ or so.. At that point I decided to ride hard but not worry about it. I was amazed at how many people were out supporting the event on the sides of the street and at just about every juncture of the ride. It was pretty cool, I saw a brass band, Mariachis or something of that nature and just people out enjoying the weather, some with their dogs. I saw a poor lady early in the ride with a neck brace on and some bad road rash being loaded into a ambulance..after the sabino crossing on Synder I stopped at my first support station and watch some poor guy hit the pavement at about 24 mph.. not sure what happened, he just lost control.. We alerted bikers and he appeared to just have road rash. After that I made rancho vistosa feeling fairly strong and finally got with a group of riders that were similar to me in skill.. I rode way too much of this ride solo... at tangerine I started getting cramps in my calf muscles.. ouch.. but they weren't horrible.. yet.. Next, we hit the train at the freeway which made me curse but I was secretly excited to get the rest I think. After that the next 20 miles or whatever were filled with a fair amount of anguish. Every time I got on the crank the teardrop portion of my quads would cramp up along with my calf muscles....Like I told my wife, "I rode with the heart of a champ, I just suck".... :D

it was fun event and although I spent the day in bed and actually had a fever I feel proud for completing it. Next year ill definitely increase my base miles to prepare for it and Ill also take a more relaxed approach and treat it like the social ride it was meant to be..

6:10.. avg HR 157bpm, 6588 calories burned.. so I treated myself to some serious grub..Probably the first time ive had french fries in a year.. :D

Daaaaaamn, 6588 calories burned?

Daaaaaamn, 6588 calories burned?


yea, according to my ironman.. im also 207 so im kind of big..

nice ride btw, I dont understand how you can go that fast that long, its real impressive to me..

As Bike Patrol again, I had a good time.
Helped several folks with bike issues (flats, shifting, broken spokes). This is the first year I've seen so many riders with cramps . . . most of them were really not drinking enough, pushing too hard or just plain not ready. Offered ibuprofen and none wanted it; one guy said 'hell I've taken a handfull already!' So told them to walk a bit and then spin a bit more on the bike. Had rider from Houston complain about 'all those big hills', so pointed to Mt. Lemmon and told him 'that's a hill!'
Offered encouragement to some of the folks who were really trying hard, especially some of the young 'uns. A bit of light conversation tends to make things a bit more bearable, like 'wow what a great bike you've got!' Or 'looking good there tiger!' Got to keep it fun . . . only one person will finish first, and it won't be you! Set reasonable goals if you want, and then go for it!
Overall, it was a great day for a bike ride!
Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

As Bike Patrol again, I had a good time.
Helped several folks with bike issues (flats, shifting, broken spokes). This is the first year I've seen so many riders with cramps . . . most of them were really not drinking enough, pushing too hard or just plain not ready. Offered ibuprofen and none wanted it; one guy said 'hell I've taken a handfull already!' So told them to walk a bit and then spin a bit more on the bike. Had rider from Houston complain about 'all those big hills', so pointed to Mt. Lemmon and told him 'that's a hill!'
Offered encouragement to some of the folks who were really trying hard, especially some of the young 'uns. A bit of light conversation tends to make things a bit more bearable, like 'wow what a great bike you've got!' Or 'looking good there tiger!' Got to keep it fun . . . only one person will finish first, and it won't be you! Set reasonable goals if you want, and then go for it!
Overall, it was a great day for a bike ride!
Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem



hats off to you guys and all the support volunteers..

not sure why I cramped so bad.. I drank around 100oz I would estimate and took electrolytes.. after about 60 miles it became hard to eat my gel packs as I was feeling somewhat nauseous. I just rode real hard and was probably under conditioned for maintaining that kind of heart rate for that long. Next year ill carry less water and food and stop more often to enjoy the items provided..

I hate how inactive the SouthWest forum is. Here's a link to a Tour de Tucson thread in the SoCal forum.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=363008

Some nice writeups and pics. I kinda like the 'unattached' jersey and shorts.

Anyone know when and where the professional pics taken during the tour will be posted?

I hate how inactive the SouthWest forum is. Here's a link to a Tour de Tucson thread in the SoCal forum.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=363008

Some nice writeups and pics. I kinda like the 'unattached' jersey and shorts.

Anyone know when and where the professional pics taken during the tour will be posted?


Hey thanks for setting up the link. If you're interested the website is www.unattachedrider.com and the dude Carlos is awesome that designed the jerseys :)

Ride on...................

With the holidays coming I don't think I can plop $150 down on a kit. Thanks for the link though.

Anyways, race pics are up. I'll get the proofs up later. Not sure which one I want to order. I wa surprised how much a high res jpeg version of each photo is. $50. Whats the deal?

Photography is an expensive hobby/business. Anyway, who else has a shot of you on El Tour?
Photographer used to send out thumbnail prints by mail but with today's technology the internet is a good tool.
Mine is in this year's PBAA Journal, from 23 years ago . . . yipes, must be gettin' old!
Hey, it's a pleasure to be Bike Patrol again and being able to help out where we can. Besides, we get to ride!
Ride it again next year!
Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

Photography is an expensive hobby/business. Anyway, who else has a shot of you on El Tour?
Photographer used to send out thumbnail prints by mail but with today's technology the internet is a good tool.
Mine is in this year's PBAA Journal, from 23 years ago . . . yipes, must be gettin' old!
Hey, it's a pleasure to be Bike Patrol again and being able to help out where we can. Besides, we get to ride!
Ride it again next year!
Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

do you have an URL for that site with the photos?


thanks..

do you have an URL for that site with the photos?


thanks..

yep.......

http://www.racephotonetwork.com/

I dont think thats the official photo page for the tour. My shots are on www.racephotonetwork.com. You can search by bib number on there. They say they'll have all photos up by 5 pm wednesday.

Here's some of the ones of me. Which one do you guys like?

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/3955/crowdbu3.jpg

http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/3871/94767402tb6.jpg

http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/5715/49235663wf7.jpg

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/7740/62755640qd5.jpg

http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/1889/59135700ip4.jpg

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/7070/96014433uq4.jpg

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/7461/57053448oy7.jpg