RaphaTasmania bike trip/Van Diemen's land

Courtesy of my favorite bike blog, Cycling Tips, I found good reading and pictures of a Rapha trip last December to Tasmania.  The 20K climb up Jacob's Ladder in Ben Lomond national Park looks crazy - on gravel!

Switchbacks of Jacob's Ladder.  Picture from Cycling Tips blog

Rapha has a new video of the trip on their site which is pretty cool.  Watch it if only to enjoy listening to the traditional English folk song, Van Diemen's Land.


Rainy here this week, just got my Orca back today, so have been running in the Portland Arboretum.  The trillium's are out!

Spring Classics 2012

Ghent-Wevelgem was March 25.  Tom Boonen of Belgium won with a time of 5:32:44.  Watch the little mishap at about 1:06.  From what I read the opinion is the crash was caused by JJ Rojas of Movistar:

The Tour of Flanders is next Sunday, April 1, followed by Paris-Roubaix on the 8th.  A complete schedule can be found at Cycling Weekly.

Portland's own crazy Ronde PDX will be held on Sunday April 22 to "celebrate the conclusion of the Belgian classics month", the day of the 2012 Liège - Bastogne - Liège. 10:00 am start. 

Start is on Industrial at NW 31st.  A ride map is on the Ronde PDX site.

Home from AZ

Lon and Susan

Home Saturday night so I'm doing some editing and adding pictures.  By the way, a lot of the pictures I put on my postings are downloaded from the PAC Tour 2012 album.

I'm still processing the Arizona trip.  I made new friends, got to know some PV members better, and I'm now looking forward to more trips with PAC Tours.

Lon fixing shoes; support on this tour was phenomenal!

Susan, Lon and all the staff of PAC Tours do an incredible job of organizing a 6 day bike tour for a large group of more than 60 people.  I'm always amazed when we come back without any injuries or serious mishaps. Considering the weather we started out in, we were pretty lucky!  I highly recommend PAC Tours!

Susan loading bikes up the last day

Day 6, Sierra Vista back to Tucson

Saddleback Mountain without the clouds

Done.  Pretty easy ride compared to the previous days.  81 miles, time 4:19, average 18 mph.  A fast pace as we had a tailwind from the top of the pass to the city limits of Tucson.  Art1 had a flat 1/2 way down the pass; not just any old flat, but the side wall was split.  We tried to fix it with a dollar bill, but when we inflated the tire, the bill AND the tube started to pop through.  Joe thought he could descend the 6 miles to the next stop if he went slowly.  (Art doesn't know slow on a descent).  It became obvious he couldn't ride when the tire split open even more.  We had to tell some riders coming by to find a sag car to pick him up.  I ended up descending down Old Sonoita road by myself, an option to get off the main highway. 

We sure had a lot of flats in our group.  The roads of AZ need some help.  Art had three flats, Joe took out a dry wall screw that went clear through his tube/tire and wheel on day one.  He patched the wheel with a piece of plastic from our route map cards and rode the rest of the week on it.  We sure had a lot of laughs about that!

Another thing they do in AZ is transport big, heavy, wide loads which are led out by police cars.  Cars AND bikes have to pull over to avoid being hit!

I've never seen so many border patrol cars in a state either.  And I WAS in Southern California and Tecate, Mexico 8 weeks ago; one border stop, very few patrol cars.  Ahhh....good ol' AZ - carry a couple of guns and make sure your pickup is in alignment; off you go!  Oh yeah, and make sure you don't pay any extra taxes for anything OR god forbid, get health insurance.

In addition there are SO many heat cracks in the roads, our buttache problems were made worse.  I digress....

Our Team

Art1

Art2, honorary PV member

Gary, PV member

David and Cindy, PV members

Susie, PV member

Jay, Bike Tires Direct and PV member

Joe, from Wisconsin, honorary PV member

Plus DK and KRhea who left early due to illness.

me at the last lunch stop.  

Back to Portland tomorrow.

Dinner  in Tucson
Joe, Art, me, Art2, David, Cindy, Susie, Jay, Jim and Gary

Day 5, Bisbee-McNeal-Tombstone

Bisbee copper mine

Great ride again today with Art, Art2, Joe, Cindy and David (Velo members).  We started with a ride up Mule Pass, down the washed out road to Bisbee, stopping again for a coffee.

Coming into Bisbee

Riding out to McNeal via Davis Road is pretty cool; we had a fast descent going about 30-33 mph in a tight paceline.  The weather sure has warmed up.  By the time we climbed back up to Tombstone, it was about 79 degrees.

Art and Art2 make me laugh so much. Today going down the old, washed out road to Bisbee, Art 'cyclecrossed' through some of the gravel sections.  I followed with only one small mishap on the second section and rode with some gravel in my glove for a while, thinking I must be getting a blister.  Art2 bunny hopped the dirt, but....oops, wrong side - he rode over on the left side which is the side where the road is washed out.  There is a steep drop off over a cutout in the road over there!  He didn't realize it until we all commented about what he just rode over.

Stats:  94.2 miles, 16.4 average pace, time 5:43, my max speed erroneously said 74.7 miles.

Lunch again was very good; tacos, lots of guacamole, cherry pie and chocolate cake.  Again, lots of supplements, ice cold coke, sunscreen, and chamois cream....we all needed it today!  Buttache problems.

Tomorrow we ride back about 80 miles to Tucson.

Day 4, Through the Fort to Patagonia

Our group before descending down to Patagonia

What a change in weather!  40 degree start at 7:30 am, by 1 pm in the 60's.  Today's ride took us through Fort Huachuca to Sonoita, then over to Patagonia and back.  This was the best ride so far.  The scenery was incredible, the road to Sonoita rolling hills.   Fort Huachuca reminds me of a really nice college campus, but my thought was, the semester abroad is terrible.

Art1, Art2, Joe and I pretty much stuck together.  These guys are so nice.  Art1 always makes sure I'm behind them, and, if not, he slows for me to catch up.  Art2 is a 39 year old from Pennsylvania.  Pretty agile on the bike, he bunny hopped the cattle grates with about 4 inches to spare.  I could predict what Art1's brain was thinking the first time he saw Art2 bunny hop over the grate.  Sure enough, he was doing it, almost clearing them.

'Art' parking

Me, Art2, Bob Stapleton (HTC Highroad team owner) and Art

The road to Patagonia and is an out and back, starting with a fun 12 mile descent.  We had coffee at a charming little cafe, complete with some guys who had just ridden in on their motorcycles.  For some reason I started talking to them about the fact that it's legal in AZ to carry a gun.  Sure enough, all of them said they had a gun, one guy even had two, one strapped to his leg!  This guy took one gun out to show me.  Actually they were pretty nice guys, of course Republicans, and we discussed just a little politics.  Romney is their favorite.  When they started talking about Obama and how we will have to "pay for everyone and everything" I decided I better shut up.  We said goodbye and agreed that "Republicans can be nice" and "all is not lost" according to one wearing a USS Reagan cap.

Gun buds

Art, Patagonia local & Art2

Going back up the hill from Patagonia with a 6% grade was kind of hard.  Luckily some riders came by us and we hooked on.  They pulled us up the hill at about 16 mph.  Lunch again was amazing; hot off the grill, grilled cheese sandwiches, and these are not your usual grilled cheese - they are made with pumpernickel bread or round whole wheat bread slices with tomato.  Potato salad and apple pie.  As usual, ice cold drinks, Gatorade, water, and supplements. Cool seating with planks on overturned buckets.  Oh yeah, they always have racks for your bikes.  The staff of PAC Tours work very hard!   A class act for sure.

Lunch stop.  Staff; Gladys (75 y/o from Argentina) and Barb (who gave great massages after rides!)

Jim, Art2, me and Art 1, last rest stop  

Stats:  100.2 miles, 16.0 average speed, 4855 feet of gain, max speed 39.7, time 6:15.

Tomorrow we go back to Bisbee via the climb up Mule Pass.  About 95 miles.

Day 3, Bisbee/Mule Pass

Day, 3, view from my room

Art. me and KRhea

A much better day today starting with a 6 mile hill climb up in Coronado National Memorial, complete with some left over snow from yesterday, back down and then over to Bisbee.

Art, top of Coronado

The weather started out cold, but somehow didn't seem too bad, even though the temp was said to be about 27 degrees.  We had some wind again today, but only about 14 mph with a few gusts.

Entering Bisbee is like coming into a small European village.  In Bisbee, we had our first 'real' PAC Tours lunch - spaghetti with meatballs, spinach salad, and really good apple pie, all in a big parking lot.  (I am quite particular about the latter as my Mom used to make the best apple pies).  Susan said someone, a non-rider, came up to her and asked if they were having a bake sale.  After lunch, Art, Art2 (who we met on this trip) and I went to a coffee shop to load up on some caffeine.

Warming up after coffee in Bisbee

Anyway, I do think this is the best lunch I have ever had on an organized bike ride.  Here's a nice touch - hot water to wash hands with "before you touch anything", Lon says.  Even at the rest stops!  They also have ample Hammer products; gu, Endurolytes, drink mixes and lots of made up COLD Gatorade.  And....dates, my favorite ride snack.  Oh yeah, and Payday candy bars. 

Marcy from Sante Fe, me, Art and Art2

The climb out of Bisbee to Mule Pass is pretty neat.  One almost doesn't feel the climb as you wind your way up, through Bisbee, to a washed out road (bikes can make it) that bypasses the highway.  This is followed by a blasted fun descent to Tombstone.  Our group opted out of the extra miles to get in a century.  Our legs are tired and I for one am feeling the altitude (4500' in SV, 6000' out of Bisbee at the pass).  We took a 15.5 mile cutoff road over to SV and our group had a pretty good paceline going.

Stats:  73 miles, time 4:31, average speed 15.2, max speed 38 mph. 

I have to add this;  last night 12 of us went to a Mexican restaurant.  PV folks, Lon, plus two women I met that are here on scholarship to train.  Of course KRhea told everyone it was my birthday (my 59th).  And, at the post ride meeting, DK got up and made a little speech about someone who is a first time PAC Tour rider, someone he knows, "this person is likable or wants to be likable" (huh?) etc, etc, and it became clear what he was doing.  KRhea came out with a birthday cake with 5 candles on one side, 9 on the other.  Pretty darn nice, although somewhat embarrassing.

Day 2, abbreviated Tombstone loop

Lon changed the route due to a storm coming in to SV at about 1 pm.  We started out at 7:30 am, temp 37 degrees, 14-20 mph winds from the SSW.  Art flatted (again) a couple miles out, fixed that, then came upon a lone rider who was trying to fix a flat herself and couldn't get the CO2 cartridge to work.  Stopped to help her, got back on our bikes and literally flew at an average of 35 mph due to a strong tailwind, all the while thinking, "I'm gonna pay for this fun".  At Tombstone we headed back via Rt. 82, yes, going SSW and yes, I got payback.  Art and Jay led me in, 'echeloning' like the geese the whole way.

bike wash

Stats; 53.8 miles, 16.2 mph average pace, 35.7 max speed (and I am sure that was with the tailwind on a flat because we had relatively no descents!).  Time, 3:18 minutes.  I'm looking out the window now and it's very much a winter scene - a blizzard with whiteout conditions.  Can it really be warm by Friday!?

Post-ride DQ Blizzard during a blizzard

lunch, inside due to the weather

Watched a video last night of Lon and Susan's work with PAC Tours down in Peru.  They lead combo bike/volunteer trips procuring and delivering supplies to students and orphans.  One scene is of a 4 mile hike into the jungle to get to a school.  A woman who volunteers is wearing wedge sandals!  There is a link to their work on the PAC Tour site with more information about their S. American volunteer work/bike trips. Trips up the Amazon on a boat with supplies and bikes?!  Sounds intriguing.  Not a lux trip for sure.

Oh yeah, my room is next to two (of what used to be) HTC Highroad staff; young guys who didn't race, but are pretty good.   And they know Cav....I'll claim fame by association.

Day 1, Blown Away

Wow!  The first day of Century Week was dismal, plus a bit frightening.  The wind blew all night last night in Tucson.  At 2 am it woke me up.  I looked out and thought, "this will be unrideable."  Palm trees were bent stiffly leeward, my windows pummeled all night by wind.  At 7:30 am we rode out in a slight drizzle.  The wind continued strong, we're guessing about 25 mph with stronger gusts.  The temp dropped 10 degrees after riding only about a mile, accompanied by pouring rain!  Our feet were soaking wet.  Rain/wind like this in the desert is amazing.  We had to ride canted towards the wind, over pools of standing water, hoping there were no hidden holes to take out a tire.  (The roads going out of Tucson need a lot of repair).  To top it off, some type of mineral residue was blowing from the sand across the road, making the water look as if covered by soap suds.  Our hands got really cold in lightweight gloves, our Showers Pass raincoats were not totally water proof and by mile 15 we knew the 80+ miles to Sierra Vista might be impossible to complete.  Art had a flat at about mile 20 and we got pretty cold standing there, changing a tire in the cold, wet, howling wind.  The temp by then was about 40 degrees, with a wind chill factor I can only guess put us in the 30's.  Now in addition to pouring rain and gusty winds we had snow flurries.  We all agreed these were the worst conditions we had ever ridden in and at mile 22, at the first supported rest stop, we (Gary, Art and I) happily accepted a ride in the sag wagon to SV.  Good thing; at the pass, about 6000 feet, the temp was only 37 and that doesn't include the wind chill factor.  Susie, Cindy and David rode farther in this stuff, about 55+miles, before quitting!  No small feat.  DK, Jay and KRhea drove their cars back and forth for hours on the route, picking up riders and bikes, taking them to the hotel SV, then going back out to rescue more.  Nice guys!

Parking lot, getting ready to go.  Little did we know the storm was coming in!

Clouds on Saddleback Mountain

Snow on the pass

We arrived at the hotel, too early to check in to our rooms, our bags with dry clothes in one of the trailers, so we all sat in a conference room, some of us with our bottom halves wrapped up only in towels.  Pretty funny indeed (had a towel accidentally come off).  It's reported that 7 out of 60 completed the ride.  I saw one tandem come in at 1:55 pm, which is pretty darn fast considering the conditions. Kudos to them!

Nicole (Anne Marie McSweeny scholarship winner) and me wrapped up in towels

Tomorrow's forecast looks a bit worse; high winds with record lows in the 30's, and to add to the mix, a little snow.  That said, the forecast improves Tuesday and by Friday, should be in the 80's again.  AZ at it's best I guess.

Countdown to Sierra Vista & AZ bike camp

We leave Saturday and fly to Tucson for the start of Century Week.  Today the temp in Sierra Vista is in the high 70's; the forecast for Saturday is for increasing winds, then temps lowering into the high 40's for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Geez.  I'll  be biking in Portland weather for the first few days.  More clothes for me to pack.

Here's our itinerary:

Day 1	Sat Mar 17	Arrive in Tucson	33-50 - On Your Own Ride
Day 2	Sun Mar 18	Tucson to Sierra Vista	84 miles
Day 3	Mon Mar 19	Coronado Loop	60-100 miles
Day 4	Tue Mar 20	Mule Pass - Tombstone	62-100 miles
Day 5	Wed Mar 21	Elgin or Sonoita Loop	75-100 miles
Day 6	Thur Mar 22	South Bisbee Loop	60-100 miles
Day 7	Fri Mar 23	Sierra Vista to Tucson	90 miles
Day 8	Sat Mar 24	Fly home from Tucson	Ride on own

Seems like winter

The good thing about Portland, when it does rain, or rarely snow, we have Forest Park close by, with over 70 miles of trails to run, walk or hike in.  Yesterday was a perfect day to ditch the bike and run the Wildwood Trail, my favorite, accessed from the Hoyt Arboretum.  It must be spring though with the forecast for the weekend being sunny with Sunday temps in the 57 degree range!

Paisley

Tree frog dog

Wildwood trail above the Japanese Garden and Rose Garden