Hello Tucson

I made it safely to Tucson and have survived the first day. Despite the lingering effects of my sinus infection things went very well today.



We got things going today with a three hour ride. I got a flat after about 10 miles, so I drafted behind the SAG van (at about 28 miles an hour) for a couple miles before I called it and got in the van and we spent the next 15 minutes trying to find the group. The tough part of the ride was a climb 5 miles up Mt. Lemon (the entire ride is about 26 miles). I ended up being the fastest in the group up which surprised me but it was a good ride up and I kept a steady cadence and didn't bonk on the climb which was great.

The descent down is amazing. There are no turns you need to slow down for so you can literally pedal hard the entire descent. I went off the front and was having a blast until I needed to slow for a car ahead of me. I debated making the pass several times but decided it probably wasn't the best idea. In the end Peter Reid caught me right before the bottom of the climb where we were going to regroup. This was the quote of the day for me from Peter, "I had to go like hell to catch you". Anytime a rider like Peter says something like that it makes you feel pretty good.

Now my luck with tubes just continued as I got a second flat. Ian the rep from Specialized and Jay Prasuhn an editor with Triathlete Magazine were kind enough to stop and help me. We took a slight different route home than the rest of the group since none of us were sure of the route. This included some cyclocross action on the road and triathlon bikes including a creek crossing. We must have looked pretty funny but we managed finally to find our way back to the hotel.

After a quick shower and a re-fuel we had a quick seminar with Paul Cross on Nutrition which was interesting. Then we were off for our afternoon run. We ended up doing a 50 minute trail run in what I believe was the Saguaro National Park. It was really great to get to run in a different environment. Bottom line is running uphill is running uphill.... :)

We ended the day with a chat with Cliff English who is the US National Triathlon coach about day in and day out training.

I'm off to bed as tomorrow is another long day of biking and running.

Maybe some pictures tomorrow.