Tour of the Tucson Mountains

This report is way overdue.  My bad.

Back on April 16th, I rode in the 73-mile Tour of the Tucson Mountains.  I had heard many good things about this ride, especially because rather than going through the mountains, it goes around the mountains (here is the map), and is supposed to be a pretty fast course compared to other tours in the area.  After El Tour de Mesa, I was ready for some feel-good fast riding and was really looking forward to this race.

Josh ended up doing a different race (a triathlon) in Phoenix on this same day, so I didn't have the pleasure of racing against him again.  Liz was also doing the bike race, so we decided to carpool up to Marana together in the morning.  Misery always loves company at 5:00 in the morning.  And, it was pretty chilly.  I chose to wear a sleeveless jersey, which was great later in the morning once the sun got warm, but proved to be quite uncomfortable while we stood around in the breezy dawn waiting to start the race.  Brrr.

Everything started off great.  I lost Liz after a mile or two, and was really pleased with my speed and cadence.    I started chatting with an old guy around the first hilly section, which was only about 4 miles in, and we ended up staying together for the next 40 miles.  This guy, who was probably old enough to be my grandfather, was very sweet and talkative and really made the ride quite enjoyable with his conversation and jokes.  I found out that his name was Jerry, and we took turns pulling the front as we rode through some wind and hills.  To be honest, this was the first time I've ever fully realized the benefits of drafting off of somebody while riding.  I've tried drafting before, but have just had a mental block around being that close to somebody's back wheel... but for some reason it clicked during this race.  WOW- what a difference it makes!  That was probably the highlight of my race, figuring out how awesome it really is to draft.

Jerry and I stuck together and waited for each other at the pit stops.  Between miles 30 and 45, while riding through some headwinds on Ajo highway, my left glute started to cramp up pretty bad.  I'd never had that happen before and I had no idea what was causing it, so I tried to ride through the pain.  I managed to make it to mile 46 and took some time to stretch out at the aid station and drink lots of water, but still felt really stiff on my left side.  Jerry and I left the aid station and continued on, knowing that the last 30 miles were all relatively flat and/or downhill and both of us excited to pick up the pace a little bit.  Of course, two miles later, I got a flat tire.  I tried to yell to Jerry (who was in front of me) that I was stopping, but he didn't hear me and kept going.

I had no issue with changing my flat-- in fact, I was quite proud of my quick flat repair skills.  But, my glute was killing me and I had already lost enough time that I knew it was unlikely I'd catch back up with my riding buddy, so at this point I just decided to take the rest of the ride easy and try to keep close tabs on my muscles cramps.  I pushed as hard as I was comfortable pushing, but I ended up stopping and stretching at just about every aid station for the rest of the ride.  I spent most of the second half of the route riding alone, as everybody was pretty spaced out and there weren't really any packs of riders to latch onto anymore.  Oh well.

About five miles from the end of the route, I caught up to a guy who had been in front of me for a while and we started chatting.  We were riding side-by-side, on a two lane road with practically no traffic at all.  All of a sudden, this car comes up behind us, pulls up beside us within inches of the guy next to me, and both people in the car begin to scream and yell and curse at us for being on the road and taking up space.  Mind you, there were signs ALL over the road informing drivers that there was a race going on.  There were also hundreds of cyclists all over the roads.  And there were cops at every single intersection along the course to direct traffic.  How these people somehow missed all of that, I don't know.  Anyway, the guy I was riding with started to yell back at them, and I slowed down to try to stay out of it.  Then all of a sudden the car speeds forward, swerves in front of us, and slams on their brakes.  The other rider next to me came within inches of slamming full-force into the car's trunk and I had to swerve slightly into the gravel shoulder.  Then they sped away.  We got their license plate number and the other rider stopped to tell one of the cops at the next intersection.  I rode on to the finish line and later called the police to report the incident.

So, despite a flat tire, nasty muscle cramps, and some scary road-rage, I still managed to finish the race.  Strangely, I think I even still managed to enjoy the race too.  I realized that I wouldn't be breaking any records, and it was nice to just try to take things easy.  My overall time was 4:40, and my average riding speed (not counting stops) was 17mph.  I'm a bit bummed that I spent about 45 minutes between all of my rest stops... but that's life, I guess.  I'm glad I didn't try to ride the whole course by pushing through the pain.  I met up with Liz after the finish and we both waited around to get massages.  My butt muscles were very thankful for that  massage.

I would (and will) definitely do this race again.  I can definitely see why people call it a fast course, and under different circumstances I think I could really rock it.  I'll be back next year.

No turning back now.

I was hoping that we could hold out until May 1st this year, but yesterday we broke the seal.  Our air conditioning has officially been turned on.  Once your house reaches an interior temperature of 85 degrees, it's kind of hard to ignore the situation.

Also, I feel really sorry for the poor chump who has to stand outside the Geico office every day in a big stuffed lizard costume.  It doesn't even seem like that should be legal in Arizona.  I hope they're paying him well.

My backyard is cooler than your backyard.

Most people who have been to my house know that I've got a pretty sweet deal.  Most people who have been to my house during the daytime hours also know that my backyard is one of the best parts of my very sweet deal of a living situation.  My landlord's father (who built this house in 1947 and passed away a couple of years ago) put a great deal of time into the yard over the many decades he spent in this house, and it's obvious that things have been well-cared for over the years.  Part of my rental agreement is that I take good care of the yard and the plants in the yard, and though I've always seen to this task with care, I've recently begun to find it actually quite enjoyable to spend time pruning, planting, watering, and maintaining the yard and it's growth.

As for inventory, the permanent plants of our backyard include:
Citrus-- One huge lemon tree, one huge grapefruit tree, one tangelo tree, one small orange tree, and three unidentified decorative citrus trees (they're probably oranges, but the fruit doesn't ripen and is mostly just for show).
Roses-- About 30 linear feet of heirloom roses, some of which are taller than me, and all of which have amazingly beautiful flowers.  Two shades of pink, red, peach, whitish-pink, and yellow.
Desert Plants-- We have a few prickly pear cacti, a few funky ground-cover cacti, and a bunch of agave.
Flowers-- Bougainvillea and Birds of Paradise.

And as for landscaping and design, our yard also includes:
A tiled counter-top with a built-in charcoal grill and storage space underneath.
A slatted, arbor-style patio roof that provides partial shade (and somewhere to hang our hammock).
Numerous handmade tables and chairs, including a full-sized picnic table with benches.
A functional underground irrigation system with both sprinklers and drip-lines installed in almost every planting location possible.

So, yeah.  It's a pretty sweet deal.

Josh and I have been saying for quite some time now that we wanted to get a lime tree for the backyard.  A couple of weeks ago, we took a trip to one of the nurseries here in town in order to get a lime tree, and we ended up spending a couple of hours wandering around the place.  We bought the intended lime tree as well as a few other small plants and a hummingbird feeder.

Mesquite Valley Grower's Nursery

When we got home we planted the little tree in a pot and began to go about cleaning up things in the yard and trimming up some of the plants that had been hit hard by the freezes we had earlier in the year.  Josh decided to take a look at the irrigation system, which up to this point we had never used because my landlord had matter-of-factly stated that it did not work.  Not surprisingly, Mr. Engineer decided that he could and would repair the system.  It took a few trips to the hardware store, some digging, and some searching for leaky hoses, but we now have a fully-functional drip system which not only provides water to 95% of the plants in our entire backyard, but also is on a timer!  I never thought that watering everything by hand was very much of a big deal, but I must admit that I'm quite excited about the prospect of not having to worry about keeping things hydrated during our intensely hot summer.

Engineering.

The lime tree!  It's a Mexican Dwarf lime tree, and is already showing the first signs of new fruit.

My avacado tree is growing!  Started this from a discarded pit a couple of months ago.

So, in addition to trimming back everything, repairing the irrigation, planting a lime tree, and potting a bunch of other small plants that I've picked up over the last couple of months, I also planted sunflowers along the entire length of the back wall.  I'm hopeful for these because if they actually get as big as they're supposed to (5-8ft), it will look awesome!  We also painted the picnic table red.  It pops.

In this picture- taken from the back door of the house- you can see the roses (along the wall on the right), the brick and tile counter with grill and big silly dinner bell (the charcoal grill is built in, and we also have the stand-alone gas grill), the patio arbor roof, the picnic table which is now bright red, one of many agave plants with stalks, and numerous citrus trees in the background.

This bike has been hidden in the back of the yard behind the citrus trees, but I moved it when we had some workers come to trim the trees.  When I moved it, I found a small license plate bolted to the back which says, "1956 TUCSON".  I'm thinking about planting something pretty in the front basket.

I don't really think that any of these photographs do it justice, but I imagine that the general idea will come across.  The general idea is that my backyard is cooler than your's.  If you don't believe me, just come visit and see for yourself.

Snowy Survey

One of the great things about being an archaeologist is that you always know people who work in cool places and are looking for help with fieldwork.  Especially grad students... grad students always need help with their fieldwork.  Being the fieldwork-fiend that I am, I rarely turn down the opportunity to help people out with their non-office work.  Plus, there's something about volunteering to work with your friends that makes everything better-- I mean, when else can you drink red wine while surveying through the snow?

This past weekend, I went up to Winslow to help Liz with some of the survey work that will be a part of her dissertation research.  Liz, Megan, Kelly, and I drove up Friday afternoon, planned to survey Saturday and Sunday, and then return Sunday evening.  When we arrived in Winslow we were greeted by weather reports of snow and rain and below-freezing temperatures.  Yay.

It was, in fact, snowing Saturday morning when we got up and headed out for the day.  We made a stop by the grocery store for lunch, at which point we also made the cooperative decision to buy a large box of wine... which was delegated to numerous water bottles once we reached our starting point for the survey.  Honestly, I wonder how cold and miserable we would have been if not for that red wine throughout 5 hours of trudging through the horizontally-blowing snow and frigid winds.  Did I mention how much fun it is to do fieldwork with friends?  We found very little on survey, although Megan's outrageous enthusiasm for every single lithic and piece of petrified wood was quite entertaining.  This area consisted mostly of sand dunes, with the occasional rocky outcrop or cliff.  In other words, not the easiest walking surfaces- even in dry conditions.  By the time we returned to the truck in the afternoon, all we had energy to do was get ourselves back to the hotel and fall into the hot tub.

Saturday night, Liz took us all to the La Posada Hotel, which is a famous landmark in Winslow and quite a neat place to explore.  It was built by Mary Colter, who was an awesome female architect in the early 1900's, and the hotel has recently been in the process of renovation after years of neglect.  We had a fabulous dinner with fancy margaritas and wandered around the hotel premises a bit.  We also made a quick stop by the corner to take a couple of photos... because, you know, we had to.

Sunday proved to be much more amenable in terms of precipitation, but it was still pretty windy and chilly.  We found one small structure outside of our survey area, and again found very little on our transects.  But, we did have a pretty fantastic view of the snow-covered San Francisco peaks all day.  After another 4-5 hours of survey, we headed back home in the afternoon, pretty exhausted and ready to be back in the Tucson heat.  I'm not sure how helpful the work we completed was for Liz's research progress, but at least we all had a good time and enjoyed ourselves.  Is it a coincidence that boxed wine comes packaged in a vacuum-sealed bag which bares a striking resemblance to a Camelbak?  No, I think not.

El Tour de Mesa

I signed up for this race a couple of months ago, knowing that I wanted to do a few bike tours this spring and having read good reviews about this one.  I'd never ridden in the area, and had only the course map to go off of, so I really had no idea what to expect for the course.  I knew it looked mostly flat, with hills coming at the end of the route, and I'd heard that Usery Pass was a killer.  So I was hoping to do well and decently up my average speed from El Tour de Tucson last fall, but I also wasn't setting any hard goals for myself- I mostly just wanted to enjoy the ride.

Josh and I drove up to Phoenix Friday night and stayed at Mom's house so that we would be able to get a few extra hours of sleep.  We woke up at 4:30 and tried to get up and get going as fast as possible.  I ate a bagel thin with nutella in the car, which seems to be my pre-ride breakfast of choice lately.  The race was to start at 6:15, and we pulled into the parking lot a few minutes before 6.  After pumping up tires, putting on sunscreen, double-checking all of our gear, etc., we ended up pulling into the startup line with only about 3 minutes left, which actually worked out pretty well.  I chugged a 5-Hour Energy and was ready to go.

We started with the pack at the start, and it took me about 2 minutes to get over the timing mat after the gun went off.  Josh immediately took off ahead of me (his one and only goal for the day was to beat me), and while I of course wanted the bragging rights to beating him again, I also didn't feel like pushing too hard and burning out before the hard parts of the course, so I let him go.  I hopped back and forth between a couple of big groups of riders and kept up a solid pace for the first 30-40 miles.  This was the fun part.

Around mile 15, I hit a really big bump in the pavement on an overpass, and my front water bottle cage completely broke off of my bike, taking my almost-full bottle with it.  I was sad to lose my bottle, especially since that meant I'd have to stop more often to refill, but I was very glad that I was able to see it happening and yell out to the people behind me so nobody would run over it and crash.


I stopped at an aid station around mile 44 to refill, and saw Josh standing there.  He was obviously surprised to see me so close behind him, and immediately took off once he saw me pull in.  Silly boys.  If I had known I was that close behind him, I would have probably pushed a little harder during those first flat sections.  ;)  I ate a gel somewhere around this section, and had a piece of banana at one of the aid stations.

(Notice the lack of a front water bottle cage...)

There was a long, sustained uphill after the mile 44 aid station.  It wasn't too bad of a climb, but for some reason I just could not find anybody to ride near.  I felt like I was riding completely alone for this entire middle section of the race, and that was kind of frustrating.  People were either moving like snails in front of me and I'd pass them, or people would fly by me like I was hardly moving.  Odd.

There were a lot of rolling hills on the Bush Hwy leading up to Usery, and it was really beautiful.  Lots of healthy saguaro and very pretty cliffs on both sides.  I stopped at the aid station just before the pass, and joked with other riders about how the fun was just about to start.  At this point we were also mixed in with riders from the 26-mile ride, so it was a very mixed bunch.  Usery Pass is about 3.5 miles long, all uphill, gaining about 600ft in elevation.  I think if this had been at the beginning of the race, I would have been fine... but to put it at mile 58 of a 72-mile course?  That's kind of evil.  Quite a few of the 26-mile participants were walking up the hill with their bikes, which looked miserable.  I leap-frogged back and forth with a couple of older guys the whole way up, all of us trying to joke about our abysmal speeds and the wind that decided to pick up just as we started the hill.  It took a long time, but I finally made it up to the top, and had also lost about 3mph on my average speed for the whole ride in the last 4 miles.  ARGH.

I tried to push as hard as I could for the last ten miles of the course, but my back wasn't very happy with me and it was a bit painful.  I stayed with one of the guys I'd been riding the pass with, and we chatted a bit which helped.  With 3 miles left I was ready for it to be over, so I left my riding buddy behind and pushed through the final headwind to the finish line.  Of course Josh was there, waiting with a smug grin on his face to tell me by exactly how much he had beat me.