El Tour De Tucson

This Saturday was the Tour De Tucson, the largest cycling event in Arizona, and I had registered to do the 109-mile ride. Cyclist had the opportunity to do 33, 67,80 or the 109-miles. I had not done any outdoor rides up until 4-5 weeks ago, when I bought my road bike. My legs are just strong from teaching spinning, squats, and all the running that I do.

So you are probably thinking, "why the hell would you register to do 109-miles"? The truth is, the registration fee was the same for all distances, so the best deal was 109-miles. You get more miles for the buck. There were about 8,200 registered cyclists, with my nephew being the youngest at 21 months and doing the 1/4 kids ride.

The tour was dedicated to the 17th Surgeon General of the United States, Dr. Richard Carmona, who was in attendance and gave a short speech before the ride began. Also in attendance before the race began was the Tour De France winner, the one and only, Mr. Floyd Landis.

The race started at 7:00 am and the weather was perfect. There is so much that you see, In the begining there was a man with a prosthetic leg who rode in front of me. Then cyclist usually ride in line to eliminate some of the wind resistance, so when I got my chance to be in the front, I would swerve from side to side. I now wonder if they followed my lead or let me make an ass out of myself?

It wasnt as bad, as I thought it would be, I was eating cliff bars throughout the ride. It helped me finish strong, for it being my first century ride, I finished in 6 hrs, 36 min, and 53 sec. That means I rode at an average of 16.5 mph. not bad for a rookie, there will be more rides with improvements in time.

As for how I felt afterwards, my lower, and upper back was stiff, lucky for me I scheduled a massage 2 months ago, for today, and it worked wonders, I can now say I am almost fully recovered. (pictures will soon be posted)