Tucson, AZ — Even though Bogus was supposed to be the last race of the season, Heather and I had the opportunity to go to Tucson on same weekend as the Tucson Bicycle Classic. The main reason we were going was to scout out active-adult communities with Heather’s mom. One of the communities had a “Play and Stay” package where, for a low price, you could stay in one of the model homes and checkout the amenities and figure out if the community would work for you. Since the bike race was going on, we decided to race as well. I knew I wouldn’t be in very good shape since I barely held my peak for Bogus, but I figured I would race and at least see the courses for next year.
We flew out this morning and should have had plenty of time before Heather’s early start time. Wouldn’t you know it, us being cheapskates we went with Budget rent-a-car and had major issues upon arrival. It seems that somehow they didn’t have a minivan available, despite the fact we made the reservation a week ago!?! What’s the purpose of a reservation then! We waited almost an hour and actually got one that was returned by another customer. Now making Heather’s start would be cutting real close!
We left, saying that we would have to call Budget and complain and get some sort of concession for this screw-up. Heather drove while I tried to change in the back of the minivan. The road out to the TT course was really undulated so I was getting bounced around everywhere. It was actually kind of comical. We got to the sand parking lot and Heather went to pickup her numbers while I started building her bike. I didn’t have time to put the clip-on TT bars I brought, nor did she have time to pin all numbers. For some reason they wanted two bib numbers for a time trial?!?
She raced over to the start with only a couple minutes to spare. So much for a warm-up! She had a poor race and ended up second from last…and that is against a bunch of lesser-known cyclists. Meanwhile, I had time to build my bike and get ready for my start. Since this was just a reconnaissance mission, I didn’t bother putting on TT bars. My ride was OK, but I was hurting and could feel that I had lost a lot of power over the last couple weeks. We drove home over the climb we’d ride tomorrow in the road race. It has brand new smooth pavement (see picture) and gets steep at the top, but it’s not that long. Riding with the Cat 2’s I should have no problem hanging on…I hope!