Big Ring in Tucson

Big Ring Racing's annual winter training camp in Tucson, Arizona is in full swing. Only two members, Anthony and I, were able to post bad enough off-season numbers to qualify for this remedial camp, along with some other Ottawa locals in need of some fitness training. We've rented a beautiful spot up in the foothills of the Catalina Mountains that surround Tucson and are using it as home base.

After a leisurely 2 hour ride on Saturday, our day of arrival, we set out on our first adventure, a Century (100 miles) organised by the local bicycle club. We numbered a full 10% of the particpants.

Below is Ottawa boy Blair Batchelor leading our group at mid day.

Anthony put in the 100miles almost without breaking a sweat, a feat that augers well for the BC Bike Race

Unfortunately, Anthony came down with a nasty cold the day after this and has missed all subsequent rides. Total bummer.

On Tuesday we (sans Ant) did the famous Mt. Lemmon climb. I'll post something separate on that. It is essentially 40km of Pink Lake. All 8 of us made it to the top, but the grade splintered the group in a hurry so that we all spent a few hours, alone, with nothing to think about except the hill. My Polar captured the ride nicely. The brown line represents altitude, the red line is equivalent to pain.

The ride down was amazing. No brakes required, pedalling hard, it still took almost 40 minutes to get back to mile zero.

Yesterday we did a leisurely ride through the Saguaro National Park, which features a narrow, one-way, 14 km loop of rolling hills on newly paved road. An unbelievably fun loop to ride where even if you do encounter a car, you can pass it with ease.