I rode El Tour de Tucson today- 104 miles. 1852 out of 2450 riders (yup, I'm slow!) with moving speed of about 14.6, but only 13.8 mph with rest stops included. The national weather service had predicted a very breezy day- with headwinds for most of the first 31 miles, and very stiff headwinds on the last 24. I was trying to save energy to deal with the wind .... but the weather forecast turned out to be wrong and the winds were never as bad- and switched to a tailwind for the last 24 or so. So instead of a difficult two hours at 12 mph, my tired self truly appreciated being able to finish up most of that section going 15-20 mph! Cool at the start (mid-40's) but quickly warmed up and I think it may have topped 80 degrees.

As expected, my husband pulled ahead right away to ride at his own faster pace. My friend started with me but after about 10 miles she wanted to go faster. I made friends with a guy from Colorado who told me he really hadn't trained at all and was carrying some extra pounds. That's probably why he didn't pass me right away.... He rode with me for 25 miles until he was able to take advantage of momentum on the downhill stretch. However we met up again around mile 50 and rode together for about 15 or 20 more miles. It was nice to have company. One drawback to being slow-ish: when the riders on the 40 mile route joined in, it was mayhem. Lots of riders with not much experience - so their riding habits were sometimes a little scary. They were all over the road and didn't stay right if they were a little slower, so the faster riders had trouble getting past them. I had a close call on a corner when a teen rider who had been pretty oblivious cut so close I almost had an accident.

But it was a pretty good day- we finished with a late lunch/early dinner at a Mexican restaurant. Imagining I could probably eat anything I wanted today I ordered a big burrito, enchilada style but then only felt like eating 1/3 of it.