Tuscon Camp- DAY DUCE

Well the second day of camp is done and I think for me, day 2 is always the hardest. Sleep last night was pretty sketch as my legs were a bit crampy still from the poor hydration tactics I had on day one. Of course they were not done on purpose and it all kinda snuck up on me. Needless to say I was still feeling the effects when I got up this AM.

Luckily my mind was viewing the ride as an out and back ride of 40-45 miles total. Granted 21 of them would be straight up! Hills never scare me because after you get enough experience with riding you understand that you can get up anything and if it is long you just find the zone and keep grinding. If it gets hard, just slow down. Eventually you will get there....."eventually" was the key word today.

The climb was Mt. Lemmon. A long, windy, occasionally step climb that takes you from about 2,000 feet to 8,000 feet. Coming from sea level, each 1,000 got a bit more noticeable. I did have one moment where I had some flash backs from the Winter Park ride last summer but it passed nicely.

My group went out last and it was Jonas, JD, Matt, Dr. J, Nick, and Jody. It should be noted that Jody had a serious case of Montezuma the day before and I was a bit curious as to what the hell he was doing climbing to 8,000 feet with us. It should also be noted that he felt the same way when he finally got up there!

Anyway, we all rolled out and Nick had some bike issues so he turned back and JD being the Good Guy that he is turned back and went with him. The rest of us rolled on and in about 15 min we were met with MT. Lemmon. And so up we went at a comfortable pace. It picked up a bit with Jonas and I on the front but I knew it would not be long before Jonas threw out a "No. No. I must fall back and rest". He was bragging about how he was going to be the slowest up. When he got to the top he admitted that he took 2 walk breaks and then proceeded to put on some Abercrombie and Fitch cologne LOL....Gordo has the pick to prove it!

None the less little Matty Stein was rollin on the front with me spinning a cadence of about 105. I wasn't lucky enough to have that gearing. We started to roll and actually got moving pretty good. He was feisty and up for a challenge and around mile 9-10 broke away from me. I was worried about cramping and feared that if I tried to go after him I would make them fire up. But honestly he was riding really well and he had it on me today for sure.

I didn't mind getting dropped as the views were spectacular. Who knew Arizona was so nice looking? So I just kept it rolling and actually hooked up with this guy that was training for IM AZ. It was a bit annoying though because he was one of those guys that if you go to pass him he surges and makes you stay back. I just wanted to ride my steady but his pace was all over the place so occasionally I would creep up. It was clearly a race to him.....little did he know there was a 2 time Ultra Man Champion and 8:24 Ironman guy behind him taking walk breaks LOL. That fact also made getting dropped by Matt a bit easier on the ol' ego!

So when we got to the top we realized that there was nobody there. The other riders had started before us and we had all assumed that they were hauling ass up the hill and that is why we were not catching them. It never crossed our minds that they got lost and were behind us. Why would it? That would be logical- At 8,000 feet you are not logical.

We stood there for a minute and Matt rolled down as he was a bit further up and just as we figured out what had happened Gordo pulls another GREAT example of the "Hey Buddy". He was in the first group that left and then rounds the corner from below as we are standing there, we figure out they got lost, he gives a "Hey Buddy" and proceeds to go on up. * This Classic Gordo Moment was brought to you by Infinint.

Once we got to the top we all had a nice refuel, I was happy that my legs made it and Jonas smelled good. We put on some warm clothes and made the decent. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was gonna be and didn't feel like 21 miles of down hill. But I still rode like a wuss...

Jonas and I were carted off to the house as we were going to be late for a massage. KP and a few others hopped in so we got to have a bit of social time in the van while we sat in Tuscon traffic. Damn it was alot of traffic.

The massage was great, dinner was AWESOME! And then we had a few good chats about training and how Jonas hates to get up early for training and thinks it is stupid. He and I then went on a 30 min run to prove later hours of the day are just as good as early ones!

Still not swimming but the injection is on it's way and I hope to be in the water a day or two after I get it.

Cheers,
bdc