Top: Rode the 109 mile El Tour de Tucson. Wasn't really prepared for the ride as I didn't know I was riding it until 2 weeks before. Here I got a picture of the very start of the ride. My little camera doesn't do low light very well. However these are the guys who finish in 4 1/2 hours and I wanted to see them. The guy in the middle in the yellow arm warmers is John Howard for whom this edition of the El Tour was dedicated. He is 63 and he finished 22nd in 4:36 just four minutes behind the winner, an amateur Phoenix racer who beat a Mexican pro in a sprint for the finish. The three guys on the right in red and white are Mexican pros who always finish in the top 4 and one of them is usually the winner. After I took this pic, I had to ride down the sidewalk toward the back of the pack as the road was fenced off. After 2 or 3 blocks I could join in with the ride at the back of the group. It was a fun ride, not too difficult,windy, about 8500 riders total, half of those in the 109 mile ride, other doing the 60 or 77 mile ride. Finished in 6 hours 15 minutes or about half hour slower than last year. Bottom: the first of two dry wash crossings. I rode with the Stanford cycling team until this crossing at about 10 miles, then didn't see them again until 15 miles from the end when I rode with them to the finish into a strong headwind.
1 of 3