At the starting line.
Bush Highway
View of Saguaro Lake
Finish line
Kristi worked booth at the Expo on Friday, the day before the El Tour de Phoenix ride. Someone had an extra registration and she thought I'd want it. So, at less than 12 hours before the event, I find that I'm in it. I spent an hour or two getting my gear ready and got about four hours of sleep before getting up at o'dark-thirty to drive to Mesa for a 6:30 start. The course is a 72 mile route which ironically never sets wheel in the city limits of Phoenix.
The folks at Perimeter Bicycling Association of America, Inc. sure put on a nice ride. The traffic control alone must be a massive logistical effort. I don't think I stopped at any intersection. I was waved on by the person controlling the intersection. The aid stops were roughly every 10 miles. I think I skipped four of them and fueled up at the other three.
I recorded my performance on GPS and it is available here:
My finish time of 4 hours and 19 minutes puts me pretty solidly in the silver. I'd have to shave 34 minutes off my time to be in the gold but I could slack-off for almost an hour before I would be among the bronze finishers. The complete results are here:
http://www.perimeterbicycling.com/!ETP/ETP09Res/ETP09-FS.html
I might have done better if I'd actually trained for the ride, but I felt pretty good about being able to just go out and do it.
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