Home, sweet Home!
3 days in Tucson, sandwiched by 2 half-days.
Perfect weather.
Especially, as it appears, we missed the wind here (dust obscured the last stretch through Las Lunas, "Is that fog?" I naively asked.
And, dry, downed branches littering the street in front of our house...).
I think I came back with a tan.
But mostly, I came back with a case of "Oouf, are my legs tired."
We made it up Mt. Lemmon.
All 25 miles.
Mostly because, even though my legs were already so-o-o tired, I did not want to have to come back for a third attempt....and because, once I get into the grind, I tend to just keep going.... and, funny enough, I like hills (I think)....stubborn, I guess you could call it.
Although, I did yell out, "I'm dying," when T passed me 5 miles from the top.
This was after miles of relentless uphill, warm Tucson weather that turned into a frigid, cold wind, and me in my bailout gear most of the time.
T passed me because 25 minutes after I started up, he called from the bottom of the hill to tell me his seat collar broke and he was going to a bike shop to fix it. I have no idea what time he started, but it was quite a bit of time after me. Being passed just made me feel slower, colder, and more tired. I'm sure it made the wind blow harder...
But then, at the top, we had a HUGE slice of cranberry-apple pie and a mushroom, bacon cheeseburger--and I was OK again....
We swam in a wonderful, sun-warmed, 50 meter outdoor pool, and an older "I think the cement is disintegrating into the water" outdoor pool (at least the water smelled like cement...).
And, we ran in the desert, playing 'garden gnome' to a group of hard driving mountain cyclists.
Plus, we had camping adventures (we ended up at the Tucson Trap and Skeet club for an overnight...).
Read some great books (The $64 Tomato--William Alexander, and Three Cups of Tea--Greg Mortenson).
And replenished with some really good microbrewery food (that was one night--the rest was camp grinds).
We could have easily spent a few more days.
In fact, T wanted to "live like a pro, and write a book about it" until we realized the pro might not be able to afford the microbrew....
Now, it's time for some really hard training.
You know. The kind you have to fit in around your work/school schedule.
Now, that's hard.
But, it really does feel good to be back home again.
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2 comments:
Congrats on getting to the top of Mt. Lemmon! We thought about doing so briefly a few weeks back when we were there but chickened out being on new bikes that had not been fully tested and adjusted. But I must admit that I sort of like grinding up long hills too. The short, steep rollers seem to take more out of me.
Welcome home and it sounds to me as if you're training is already off to a good start!
Dang, I'm jealous. My "spring break" is a week at home watching the dogs and cats so that my wife and daughter can spend a week together in New York. The pool is closed here too. I've had lots of time to bike in the wind, run in the wind, and mow the lawn in the wind. See you at Atomic Man.
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