Whew

Well, I'm back from Tucson, and am feeling pretty tired and like I've forgotten who I am and what's going on. Plus, I have meetings to attend! Aaugh!

Maybe I will write more later. I should. It was a cool trip, and we rode our bikes very quickly.

On top of everything, classes start tomorrow. Double aaugh!

Trying to say a little more

I think I'm still processing all of the events from the PHTTTTPH PT III ride. As I discussed it with DM, she pointed out that it had started sounding like 8 different bike rides, one after the other, and she's probably right.

I guess I could say the whole thing was interesting, and complex. There were several points during the ride when I made decisions that I have come to regret. One of those points was a stage where some of us first really started to go fast, when we traveled past Sacaton and into the hills before the turn towards Casa Grande. That hilly bit is one of the first places where the large cluster of faster riders started to disintegrate. I think I am discovering that I am foolishly strong - strong enough to keep up with the leading edge of faster riders, even when it's not in my best interest to do so.

The leading edge of faster riders consisted of a total of seven of us. A number of us have intriguing pseudonyms: the Triathlete, the Novice, the Wizard, Scrottie, Socks. The two others I don't know well, so I'd call them the Fast Boys. Anyway, the Triathlete has completed an Ironman triathlon, and was motivated to get down to Tucson in a hurry so he could watch the Arizona Cardinals football game. So he wanted to push the pace. As we headed out of town along I-87, he encouraged the blob of us to establish a double-wide paceline so we could draft and go faster. This is easier said than done, for the Extreme Picnickers all vary in our levels of skill and comfort when drafting. But things went reasonably smoothly as long as the gang maintained a very comfortable pace.

Things got a little more hairy when we left Casa Grande (mile 40) and headed towards Picacho Peak (mile 75). We first had to go through a section containing a lot of spread-out traffic lights - there was a light roughly every mile or so. The Leading Edge's general tactic was to surge forward once the light turned green, and then there were some vague efforts to establish some sort of paceline before we would inevitably hit the next traffic light and slow down again. There was no pace to the paceline, and I gradually lost interest in trying to stick with it, so I hollered out to S to hang out with me and let the leading edge pull away from us.

From there to Picacho, S and I enjoyed a relatively pleasant ride, aside from a stretch with a nasty headwind and the fact that we were torn between the options of slowing down to take more time to picnic and trying to speed up and keep up with the leading edge. It was so tempting to try and chase after them because they were tantalizingly within reach, and yet it wasn't exactly fun to ride with them because they hadn't fully grasped the concept of the picnic and were going a hair too fast. By the time S and I reached the final stop, 20 miles from Tucson, the leading edge was far enough ahead that we didn't have to worry about them, and I think we were able to relax a little more and enjoy ourselves. We even engaged in the traditional silly photography at the Welcome to Tucson sign. I regret, though, that we didn't have the patience to wait for the next bunch behind us, because we would have had even more fun riding with them.

Sunday went a bit differently. When S and I reached the edge of Tucson, we discovered that the frontage road we planned on taking was under construction. There was a detour sign for bicycles that pointed us under the freeway to the other side, so we took it. On the far side, S and I attempted to take an immediate right, but that road pointed us straight back towards Tucson. Before we turned, we watched the Wizard continue to head straight, despite the fact that I called to try and get his attention. The rest of the group caught up to us right about then, and we eventually found a river path that got us closer to our original route. Sometime thereafter, we reached our first stop at Avra Valley Road.

After a quick drink, a bite to eat (donuts!), and some sunscreen, I was feeling pretty good. So I tried to marshal the troops, and sprung forward. After a moment or two, S caught up to me, and when we finally glanced back, we discovered that we were by ourselves. The northbound frontage road is extremely flat and straight, and there was a slight tailwind, so conditions were perfect for just zooming along. I immensely enjoyed it - breathing hard, pedals churning, flying with the breeze at our backs. We went so fast that we reached our next stop (Picacho) before our support car did. But at Picacho, we waited until all of the rest of the riders (except the Wizard) arrived and enjoyed the picnic. Then, refreshed, S and I set out again, flying along until the Multi-Mart at Toltec Road. We didn't picnic quite as much at Toltec, but checked in with everyone else before setting out for Casa Grande. At some point along the road to Casa Grande, S and I discovered that we had acquired a tail; the original leading edge (minus the Wizard, who had checked in at Picacho but was on his own adventures) was behind us, and I ended up pulling them all the way to the stop.

Things got weird between Casa Grande and the edge of town. We tried to form a paceline, rotating through riders at the front of the pack, but it just didn't work for no small number of reasons. Eventually, S dropped out, out of a desperate need for some coffee (and some sanity), and sometime thereafter I gradually fell behind the leading edge. At that point, I resolved to wait at the edge of town for the remainder of the gang, so we could ride together as a group to the finish line.

And I'm glad I did, because the final 20 miles was exceedingly pleasant. Folks zoomed at times (wherever we encountered those speed limit signs that tell you how fast you're going), but they also patiently waited for me when I had to pee and then got a flat tire a mere 10 miles from the end. And once we finally got home again, we celebrated another successful Extreme Picnicking ride with a phenomenal vegan feast.

I've left a lot of stories and details out, and I suspect I'll never recapture all of them. Maybe that's okay, this time. I think this ride is making me aware that I still need to be careful about keeping my competitive edge in check when riding a bicycle. I let it leak out a few too many times on this ride, and I definitely enjoy the rides more when I make the effort to stop and smell the picnic.