Tour de Scottsdale

Well I was riding with some friends from Bicycle Showcase on Friday. For once I was trying road riding. They were kind enough to alow me to borrow a road bike.

During the ride some of the guys talked about the Tour de Scottsdale that Sunday. It was a 70 mile road race taking place around the Scottsdale area.

Since the ride I was currently on was my 4th time ever on a road bike I figured the 5th time might as well be a race!!

The only slight problem was that I didn't own a road bike. Tim from Bicycle Showcase offered up the bike I was borrowing for the race at no charge.

I was pumped up! Lets do it!

Sunday morning came and I showed up at the race with my pedals, helmet, and camelback ready to go. (I'm sure there were not to many riders who showed up without a bike, but it was exhilerating)

I walked over to their tent and put my pedals on their bike. I paid my fee and put a number on my bike and stood in line with the other 1200 or so riders.

At about 7:30 AM off we went! I was warned that if you are even trying in the first 15 or so miles you need to slow down so I found a group of slow riders and just sat behind them drafting as we climbed the hill to Cave Creek.

Since I was a little heavy and my bike was a little heavy I FLEW down the hills. wew hew!

I started to systematically pass folks as I went. We headed out to Rio Verde. There were "aid stations" along the route. I'd never experienced them, but basically they were bathrooms/food stations along the route. Being a newbie rider I passed the first couple, but jumped at the oppurtunity to stop at the third and get a snack and hit the restroom.

After about 2 minutes I hit the road again and headed to Fountain Hills and then back towards Scottsdale. There were plenty of little hills, but until we started to head back to Scottsdale I had not had any hills that made me hate life.

As I looked up... There it was! What a pain of a hill. As I SLOWLY road up the hill with old ladies and small children passing me I was hating life. Luis from Bicycle Showcase pulled over to, at first I thought TAUNT me, help a biker in need fix her flat tire.

Once I had concurred the hill I knew that most of the rest of the ride was mild. I just had to hold in there!

As I got within the final 12 miles my mind was really messing with me. The pain was intense!!

I was going painfully slow and I knew it. Instead of passing I was just trying to avoid letting anyone pass me. I would look up and see another rider with a beer sponsor and all I could think is how badly I wanted a nice COLD beer!!!

Next thing I knew I was within a mile. As silly as it was I knew I had to use up the small amount of muscle and energy I had left. I just didn't feel right to finish with any extra energy! I stood up and peddled as fast as I could to the finish passing a few more folks. I may have been in 600th place, but I was in first place in my warped mind! haha!

Overall it was a ton of fun.

Here are a couple of pics that Danica took during the race. Seeing a friendly face while going through agonizing pain can be a big uplift!

This medal seems so valuable because of what it took to earn it!

In conclusion, road riding is a lot of fun. How anyone could think its safer or more fun than mountain biking I don't believe I will ever know!