We had a tough bike race!
Ok, Jenni, stop tapping the foot..here's the scoop!
Well we were very excited to have some time to head down to Tucson without the kids. Andy survived (and so did the kids) so that is not a part of the story but...
The morning of the race with a 6:30am start time, we arrived at the parking lot around 5:25 am. Lots of time, right. Not when you have a mechanical issue that you don't know how to fix! We found a nice parking spot up front and started putting the bike together (we don't have a bike rack for the 4 Runner yet and the tandem is too long to fit in the back so we have to take it apart). When Mark put on the rear wheel, one of the brake pads fell of. Unfortunately, this was the first time anything has happened with the brakes so we had no idea how to fix it. After about 20 minutes of Mark growing more and more frustrated and anxious, he finally was able to get it back in enough so the rear wheel was able to move. He rode it around, made some more adjustments, rode some more...***meanwhile, time is ticking by and people are lining up at the start line***...finally he gave it the ok and we hopped on, a little leary. We lined up almost at the end of the 1000 cyclists and Mark went off (while I stayed with the bike) to see if we could line up with the Platinum riders, which Mark has a pass for. We had been told that both tandem riders had to have a Platinum pass but he decided to try his luck at the gate and ask again if they did. The gal at the gate would have let us by, but honest Mark asked before trying and she went and clarified that indeed both had to have one. Urgh!
So we started aat the back where we were following the rules and we literally shot off like a shotgun! We were flying by everyone trying to get up to the front of the pack. The first half was full of hills, hills and more hills. We had a blast and were rockin'!!! When we turned off the hilly part, we went uphill on Ajo Highway into the flat part, we got stuck on the markers in the pavement that keep you from going off the road and lost a water bottle! Not good when you are on a time crunch with a goal of not stopping!!! When this flattened out, my thighs were on FIRE from so much climbing!!! I seriously thought that I was going to have to call someone to come out and get us! I pushed through it and we trucked on. As we got to about 10 miles from the finish, Mark cracked (in cycling terms, he "bonked"). It was the first time that I actually felt like I was carrying him! He coupld not push his feet over the pedals and was dehydrated from the loss of water bottle. This is so uncharacteristic of him!
Anyways, we made it to the end, 21 minutes longer than our goal time, but we are taking it as one more trainig event to prepare us for our next 3 rides....
- Aug- Ride down in southern AZ again...this is our last chance for me to get Platinum qualification, 92 miles or so.
- Sept- The Most Beautiful Bike Ride around Lake Tahoe...I can not wait for this one!!!! This is more of a fun one rather than a competition....72 miles or so!
- November- El Tour de Tucson, the 109 mile one that we did last year....this was tough but we'll be prepared!!!
Well, that's the scoop :) I'll work on a picture from it...Mark found some on the website but we have to order it :)
2 comments:
Weeellll?? (Foot tapping here.) I'm waiting! :)
That does sound tough! Sounds like you pushed through it though. Steve's done many of these types of rides, and fixed many of these problems. Hey! He could have been your pit crew! LOL
When in September for Tahoe? If it's a Friday or Saturday, maybe we'll come for the start of the race and cheer you on. Depends on which week-end it is!
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