st3venb

Friend and I are doing the 113 mile route; anyone else doing the ride tomorrow?

Mr. Beanz

Wish I was!... I did it back in 98 also the Casa Grande Metric in 05. I really like the AZ rides, they seem to have a different and better attitude about organized rides over there. I also did The Amtrak and Solvang back in 98 along with El Tour and El Tour blew them away!

I have to go back out there someday.

TJClay

i went last year and wish i could make it back this year. Maybe we need to plan a So Cal car pool, convoy there next year.....

st3venb

Talking with one of my LBS guys I guess they've recently reversed the way the course went... made it less climbing... which makes me sad.. but it is what it is.

st3venb

I totally wanna do the San Diego century in 2013!

Mr. Beanz

The year I did it was before they switched directions so I did the climbing direction (if that's what they call climbing). I hadn't done much climbing at all back then, didn't know a thing about timed events either. I did the ride in a tank top, I rode alone, took my time, stopped and chatted with Gina on the roadside along the way (she drove the course for fun) so I wasted alot of time and still did a 6:29 time.

If I had known about timed events, I probably would have tried for 6 hours (silver medal). Pretty easy course.

I did the Casa Grande metric 62 miles in 3:10 while riding 2/3 of it solo. Till some dude insisted I work with him after losing his partner to a broken spoke. Only the first 100 rides in received medals so I wanted one.


That is where this pic came from, Casa Grande 2005....I like AZ rides.

Mark Stone

I used to live in Tucson (late 1970s - when they still had dinosaurs) and I used to ride in "The Mt. Lemmon Hill Climb". When I rode it started at about Speedway and Tanque Verde and was quite a climb. Tucson's great to ride a bike in - although it's been years and years

Mr. Beanz

My parents moved to Tucson in 94'ish. They lived right off the 10 and Ina rd and off of Old Father Rd. There wasn't sqaut there and the drive out there was a lonely drive. By the time they moved back 10 years later, that area grew big time!

Looking on Google maps, it's grown a lot more.

Now my daughter now lives in Chandler. Making the drive is quite different from the drive back in 94. Lots of facilites off the 10 fwy. Well if I do go back for another El Tour, I'll have cheap lodging.

mkadam68

wish I was. Finances got in the way this year.

Done it 4-years in a row. 2 with my son. He'd like to crack the "platinum" section (I have no doubt he could). First year, knee pain got in the way. Last year, he double-flatted, and waited for me (I had lousy training coming into it). My platinum status runs out this year, so next year, I'll have to renew it (good for 3 years) with him.

Impressive ride.

Homeyba

I was going to do it this year on the tandem but things didn't work out. Hopefully next year. Platinum is the only way to go. If you go in the slower groups there's too many people to be able to ride through the washes. Plus the sand gets deeper and softer the more people go through it.

CraigB

I'd like to, but it's a bit of a haul from central Indiana. I have a cousin who moved to that area recently. She grew up in Prescott and then moved back to the midwest and couldn't wait to return. She keeps telling me I need to come out and do this ride. Maybe someday. In the meantime I told her she should train for it herself.

epiking

I did a recreational ride last October in the Catalina Highway/Tanque Verde area. It was really nice compared to the urban area riding I normally do in Phoenix. I can see why it is a popular event. It is on my goal list...

Mark Stone

I was thinking about when I used to ride around Tucson, and it occurs to me that we have it great riding here in the Southwest - Tucson and Pheonix are both great cycling cities, and my current city El Paso is a little less "bike conscious" but still a wonderful city to ride in. The weather is great too. Snow is rare, it doesn't get very cold in the winter. Negatives are the summer heat and the springtime winds, but overall it's a great area to ride.

st3venb

I finished! My Garmin time was 8:25, my overall time was 10:15... I had horrible and pretty debilitating cramps at about mile 90... I drank 6L of water, and 6L of electrolytes... along with a few bananas, etc.

I managed to finish in enough time to get a bronze... My next year goal is silver.

mkadam68

Congratulations! What was the weather like? We had a spot of rain here in SoCal so I was wondering if it made it to Tucson yet.

st3venb

We got precisely 12 drops of rain.

Thank you.