Category: El Tour de Tucson 2008

With no milk for my ritual cereal, I ate yet another apple in the morning.  Left the room by 5AM for the drive downtown.  Approaching from the east on Broadway, I spied the first signs of cyclists parking on side roads and figured I’d better grab a freebie spot (Convention Center parking was $7). A few ride decisions to make.  Fortunately the temperature was already 55 and headed for high 70s, so shorts and jersey was all that was needed.   I decided to wear arm warmers for the wait at the Start, because they’re so light and stowable. I was

I jumped in the SUV about noon Friday and headed down to Tucson, eating a couple apples on the way.  Linda booked me a room at the La Quinta Inn on Priceline.com, designed to save me a couple hours of sleep Saturday morning. I went straight to the expo at the Tucson Convention Center, downtown at Congress and Granada.   It took a while but I finally found free parking on a side street.  Jules had come down earlier in the week, so I called her once inside the building, and we quickly met up.  I also ran into Court Phillips,

This past spring, I was talking with Leon Smith, a.k.a. Captain America, following a Sunday Kokopedalli ride at Einstein’s Bagels.   Since he was such an accomplished cyclist, I asked him to tell me his favorite ride, the one everyone must do.  Without hesitation, he stated that the El Tour de Tucson ride was it. I signed up for the ETT in early summer.  My thinking was to register early, pay the money, and ink it onto my calendar.  Otherwise, I might find a hundred excuses why not to do it. In early September, I met with my buddy Jules Moore