Gettin’ Down (Up) to Business. – AZ Winter part 2
After a few days in the Grand Canyon (incl. an amazing helicopter tour!) and a great dinner in Sedona with my fabulous co-pilot, it was time to get down to Tucson for some hardcore training. Many
of the country’s top cyclists make Tucson their home during the winter months, so it’s easy to find strong training partners. Like, really strong: in my first week here, I rode w/ a former world champion, 3 former nat’l champions and a bunch of bad-ass pros. And some serious mileage too:
Day 1: 81 miles – Big Square – rode w/ EmJ, flat & fast… 21mph. avg. whew!
Day 2: 101 miles – Shootout + Madera Canyon climb – sheriff pulls us over, wtf?
Day 3: 112 miles – Kitt Peak – 6,ooo’+ peak makes boring ride out/back so worth it!
3 days in Tucson: 294 miles - that’s more than i rode all winter last year!
Two weeks into Camp Tucson, I’ve put in some huge miles on the bike. It’s been a long, long time since I trained this hard and I’ve never done so this early in the season. Since I’m also (supposed to be) training for the Boston Marathon, I run once per week. Last week it was 14 miles, this week 12 miles. The runs hurt but I gotta’ do ‘em to run sub-3 on Patriots Day.
Rode out to Mt. Lemmon last week… and it’s no joke. The climb itself is 27 miles long, climbing 5,400′ up past the 8,000′ mark. The top is kinda’ rolling and you’ve actually gotta’ climb for about a mile before starting the long descent. Running late and out of 
water, I cheated and got a ride to the top and some H2O from Megan & Colton – they’re life savers!
Unfortunately, I’ve since developed a nagging cough and feel kinda’ flat, so have backed off a bit this week. Could be too much training, or lack of sleep (pursuing a new business idea) or a chest cold. Who knows? But the 3 day Tucson Bicycle Classic starts tomorrow so easing up isn’t too frustrating right now.