Tour De Tucson - Nov. 22, 2008

This is the big kahuna of all bicycle races in Arizona. This is the race where you train all year for.
109 miles of hills, bad roads, backed up traffic, bike accidents, lots of people cheering you on, crazy bikers with funny helmets, lots of police telling you where to go in more ways than one, riders from all over the world, some professional riders to the weekend warriors. 8,500 riders they said this year signed up. All you could see was a sea of colors streaming past you. Rick and Jon signed up to ride this year. It was Jon's first time and Rick couldn't remember how many times, maybe 7. We got down to Tucson Friday afternoon and signed in at the Convention Center. The whole center was filled with bicycle displays wanting you to buy or see the newest gadgets for bikes or taste the newest energy bar or drink to make you go faster. Rick had a meeting a 6:30 p.m. that all the Platinum Riders were to attend. These are the faster riders who get to go ahead of all the slower riders. They talked about the course and a policeman told them they would be out in force watching for anyone who was riding over the yellow line, and would give out warnings and citations if not obeying. This race is very competitive. All the riders get computer chips to put on their ankles to see who they are and what time they got when they crossed the finish line. The race started Saturday morning at 7 a.m. at the Convention Center. Some people started lining up at the start at 4:30 a.m. We got there about 6:30 and got into a pretty good position in the middle of the platinum riders. The excitement and energy was incredible. There was a group of about 5 people from Japan riding in it. I tried to speak to them but they couldn't understand English. Ivette and I walked back to the hotel after the race started and cleaned up the room and then we got a call from Jon that said he was sick and throwing up and to come get him. About an hour later we found him and he said he must have drank too much energy drink at the start. He usually reserves that drink during the middle of a long bike ride. It didn't agree with him and he just felt bad. So we picked him up and then went out to find Rick and see if he needed any more water. We caught up with Rick at about mile 75 and he was looking strong and in a good position. We passed off some needed water bottles and then helped another fellow bike rider who ran out of steam and drove him back to his hotel which was our hotel too. Rick's time could have been better if his legs hadn't cramped up again. That has happened to him before and he has learned not to push it and just back off. He still got a good time and we were all proud of him that he did so well and finished without too much trouble.