Tucson Trip Day 6

Tucson Trip Day 6

Today is the big test, can I make it up to the top of Mt. Lemmon? It is a 25 mile climb from 2400 feet up to 8315 feet. Almost 6000 feet of climbing, oh my. I couldn't ask for a better day, the high in Tucson is 73 degrees and of course nothing but sun. The high at the top is 51 degrees. That makes dressing an on and off and back on again kind of affair.

After yesterdays ride, which I'm still feeling in my legs, I decided to get a van ride to the base of the climb instead of using the 20 mile ride to the base as a warm up. Up and down and back to the house should be be well over 70 miles as it is. Good enough for my last day, I must say. Joy dropped me off at Tanque Verde Rd. and Catalina Hwy., that is where to guide book says to start from. I started out at a very comfortable pace just feeling my legs and spinning them out a little. There is about a 2 mile run in to the base of the climb,which worked out very nice as a warm up. Just as the climb was starting another rider came up. I was asking him about the climb when I realized he had an Arizona Hill Climb Champion jersey on. He said he won it with his uncle on a tandem last year. Nice! He told me about the climb mile for mile like he was reciting a script for some show he had been studying. He was just going up for a little workout to mile marker 9 before going to work. Not a bad place to go before work. I said thanks for the info, than he was gone. Out of site in a flash.

I just kept telling myself one mile at a time so I would not freak myself out. I had two full water bottles with me and I knew there would be no where to get water until the top. So I would just take little sips or that might be my turn around spot if I ran out of water. I set into a nice easy pace for the first two miles. Then I realized that I could actually push a little bigger gear. It is steady but not really that steep. I started in 34x24 and dropped to the 21 and even down to the 19. I never had to use the 27 at all.

There were a couple road side parking lots to stop to see the view on the way up but I decided to keep on riding for as long as I could before taking a break. I could stop on the way back down for pictures. I lasted until mile marker 7, I had to stop to use the restroom and put some clothes on. From there on it was really just putting one foot in front of the other watching the mile markers ever so slowly tick away. I stopped again at mile marker 10 for a little break and to take some pictures. I kept telling myself just one more mile and I'm turning around. Then at around mile marker 13, I had a little down hill section which really give me an extra spark to continue. A sign said 7 miles to Pinnacle Ranger Station, 12 miles to Summerhaven and 14 miles to Ski Resort. AAAHHH!!!

I have already been riding for 2.5 hours and still 14 miles from the top. I started at noon so time was not going to be on my side. It is time to recalculate my goals. Ok, if I make it to the ranger station that would be great. I should be heading back down by at least 4:00pm so I can have a nice safe fast descent.
I'd been doing all kinds of math in my head all day long to keep me going like at mile 2, 1/12 of the way there and mile 10, 2/5 of the way there. Very simple math, that is all I was capable of. Remember all of my oxygen was going somewhere else and not to my brain.

I started with my arm warmer and leg warmers on for the first two miles. And they quickly came off as I really began to work up a sweat until I reached mile marker 7, when I began going in and out of the shade. I didn't want to get too cold or too hot so I was pulling them up and down quite often. At mile marker 14 they stayed up for good and the vest came out, soon followed by the jacket and gloves.

Pinnacle Ranger Station is now my new top. I've been wanting to turn around with every pedal stroke for the past few miles. Mile marker 20 is the goal, can I make it. Where the hell is it. Dam it, did I pass it? No way, is it hiding? Ah, there it is, behind that snow bank. I pulled in really hoping for some water and a place to sit and rest for a few minutes. At first I didn't see an entrance because the front door was impassable because of snow. I had to use the wheelchair ramp to the back of the building. Inside I met the ranger who told me that we were just shay of 8000 feet and yes, the ski resort was still 5 miles away. I was done. Finished. Ready to go back down. I bought two bottles of water and a big dark chocolate bar, as a reward. I earned it. Darn it.

It was 4:00pm when I started back down. Hey, that makes 4 hours of climbing. And 20 miles. A couple stops along the way. Not bad for a 200+ pound flat lander. Or like I like to say fat lander.

On the descent I couldn't figure out why my bike was shimmying going around the corners. Then I realized it was because my teeth were chattering. It was probably 45 degrees at 8000 feet and I was doing about 35 miles per hour. I was cold! The miles were ticking away much faster than I saw them going by on the way up.

At mile marker 13, I saw two guys going up at a fast pace just talking. Bastards. I did stop a few more times to talk pictures and enjoy the view. The views were quite spectacular to say the very least. I met a couple out on their BMW 1150gs. I so wanted to trade them on the way up.

When I was pulling out of my last photo stop, I saw those two guys descending behind me. They came on me very quickly and passed me. They looked like real deal racer types. Of course, I couldn't let them go, so I give a couple quick pedal strokes and caught back up to them. One guy had a USA National team kit on and the other had a team kit that I didn't recognize. The USA guy looked very comfortable on the bike and the other guy looked to be fight for some extra speed. I sat back a bike length or so watching them. I did have to feather my brakes at times, so I decided to pass the other guy and catch the USA guy. I caught him in seconds, 200+ pounds does have some advantages. We sat and talked while descending the rest on the way down.

They were in Tucson for the rest of the winter training. I didn't catch the USA guys name but he is a neo-pro racing for Time and the National Team. And has spent the last few years racing in Belgium. He is 19 years old. The other guys name is Jerome, he is 25 years old and from Philadelphia. Jerome is trying to get on a team.

If you would have asked me at the top or even at the last photo stop, if I was going to ride all the way back to the house. I would have said NO. Get me a ride. But when I started riding with these two young guys, my legs came right back and I felt fine. Youth does rub off. We rode thru town chatting about racing and training. The kid had lots of international experience and lots of big dreams for the future. Oh to be 19 again. As it turns out, I had met him this summer during Superweek in Chicago. He was racing for my roommates friends there. It was really good to talk about bike racing and to see the future of cycling out on the road.

This really topped off a great week in Tucson.