Week One Down!

So the first week in Tucson is done! A pretty rad one to say the least. If every week is half as fun as this one, I am going to have one great stay down in the Old Pueblo.

As I mentioned in the previous post I would be partaking in a training camp headed by my coach Justin Peschka this week. A couple of my friends including Shane Skelton, the top ranked Cat 1 15-16 in the country and all around shredder, Chuck Bruni, Ken Koch, and Shane's dad Scotty would be joining in on the camp. With all of the riders showing up Wednesday morning we decided to get right to work and do some fitness testing on Mount Lemon. The test consisted of one, all out effort on the first 3 miles of Mount Lemon road. I had an awesome performance, which I was really stoked about considering I hadn't done an effort that hard in a couple of months. It is awesome to have that test done so I can compare numbers as it gets closer to the season. After everyone finished their test, we cruised up the road for another 45 minutes at a tempo effort just to loosen up the legs a bit from the effort. After pace lining it down the mountain we headed for the showers before eating at El Taco Tote.

The plan for day two was just to get in a long ride at a consistent endurance effort. As we headed out of the Carmichael Training Systems parking lot we realized this might not be a possibility. Huge gusts of wind blew from every direction with a more steady gale right in our faces. The first ten miles we averaged about 9 mph on pavement, we were on mountain bikes but to go 9 mph was a near all out effort. I felt good though, so I took the horrific wind as an opportunity to push it a little bit. I sat at the front for the first 45 minutes or so before we got into a little more sheltered environment. As we hit the dirt on Redington Road we started climbing. This climb was an awesome, perfect climb, with no cars and great views. Shane, Ken and I took off and held a good pace to the top of the climb where we waited for the rest of the group. All back together now, we headed onto some more treacherous terrain. We headed down an unnamed canyon with plenty of rock drops, berms, and steep climbs. This lifted our spirits which had been broken down a bit by the unrelenting wind earlier in our ride. After climbing up another canyon road we made our way back to Redington Road to start our descent back into town. The once headwind, turned into an amazing tailwind. We made it back to town in a third of the time it took us to get out. Although we were riding our burly, knobby tires it felt like we were riding road bikes, cruising through town at 25 miles per hour with nearly no effort at all. After making it back to CTS we all headed our separate ways to shower and take some well deserved naps before heading to dinner. We met up at one of my favorite restaurants, Trattoria Pina. We had a great dinner, followed by some great conversation and dessert. I am really lucky to have such rad friends!

Day three was climbing day. We started out the day with a 45 minute car drive to the base of Mount Hopkins. I was told this was a must do for anyone in the Tucson area so I was pretty stoked. As the group headed out, Shane and I took off to cruise up the hill at a little faster pace than the rest. We soon found ourselves high in the mountains. I was astounded by the climb, living in Flagstaff I always thought we had some good climbs, we had nothing compared to this. After 10 kilometers we were already well above six thousand feet. As we continued to climb the weather got worse and worse. We went from riding in tacky, 50 degree conditions to snowy, 40 degree conditions until we neared the summit and ended our climb with a 100 meter long stretch of 35 degree incline into 30 degree temperatures and nearly a foot of snow. We hurried to put on our jackets an eat a bar, before heading down the hill. We descended quickly back to better conditions where we passed and encouraged the others as they continued to make it up the hill. Once we could finally feel our fingers well enough to shred we hopped off the main path and took a steep, rocky road that would also take us back down to the cars. I had a ton of fun watching Shane shred and drift up the trail ahead of me as I did the same. I was bummed as we hit the parking because the shred had ended but stoked to turn on the truck and blast the heat. While warming up we checked out the Garmin file of the climb, we climbed 4500 ft in just over 20 kilometers, taking us above 9000 ft. Quite the climb! We ended the day by indulging at In and Out and watching some movies at Justin's house.

Day four was promised to be an all single track day so I was pretty stoked. Even though the Skeltons and Ken had to start on their way home Chuck, Justin and I were ready to go bright and early. We drove south, out of Tucson to meet up with the AZ trail. With rain clouds threatening, we kept the pace brisk ensuring we would finish before getting dumped on. The trail was amazing. Narrow, tight, and twisty single track through the cacti with some fun climbs and descents thrown in. At about mile 12 we decided to start heading back, a bit tired from the days before. The way out was mostly climbing so we flew on the way back. Dipping and diving through the corners with amazingly tacky dirt, doesn't get any better! All of us, completely stoked, arrived back at the car satisfied with a good four days of training and a ton of fun. We headed to Subway to take advantage of their awesome December Deals before going home. Chuck headed back to Flagstaff and the camp was officially over.

Although I was bummed to see my buddies leave I was stoked at all of the riding possibilities that I had had explored over the last four days. I know there is much, much more and I look forward to exploring next week before I head back home for Christmas! Merry Christmas everyone!