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El Tour de Tucson Race Recap

We only have about 6 months left in Tucson, so I am really trying to "soak it up" before we say goodbye. With that, I decided to participate in one of the biggest events in Tucson this year: The "El Tour"

On November 22, I did the El Tour de Tucson with my friend Amanda. We were actually sponsored by her uncle's bike shipping coming - ShipBike . We got our full race entry paid for AND jerseys! And I will say -- it is a really cool company. For cyclists/triathletes who travel around the country, they have a specially engineered box that will ship the bike to your race destination.

Since we were "Team Shipbike", our motto during the race went along with the company. "Let's get our goods from start to finish undamaged and in 1 piece" ;).

This is one of the biggest cycling races in the country -- as Tucson has amazing climate, and it's one of the biggest cycling destinations in the US. The race was beautiful - mountain views the entire time. Weather was in the 50-70 degrees. Couldn't have asked for a better day!

We did the 75, and had a blast the entire time! Thousands of Tucsonans come out to support the riders, so it's just a blast! Great energy.

Here are a few pictures :) I don't have any photos mid-race, since they are all blacked out by "marathonphoto.com" ;)



Here we are pre-race!

And post-race. I'm impressed that I'm still hugging on and respecting my bike at this point. After 75 miles, I kind of wanted to kick it ;) 

The most challenging part of this race was the pain in my bottom! We finished in great time, though! So I am proud. There was a 1/2 mile spot where you had to pick up and carry your bike through a wash (dried up river, for those not familiar with the desert).

I'm kind of bummed I didn't do it the other 6 years we lived here. But maybe some day we can travel back to visit, and I can participate again! 

Comments

Lisa's Yarns said…
Way to go, Abs! That is a lot of miles on the bike so I can see why your behind was so sore!! The longest I have rode is 32 miles, I think. I definitely need a different bike if I want to bike longer than that but I can't stomach the thought of buying another one anytime soon so I guess I will stick with what I have for now! I am glad you got to experience this while you are in Tucson!!!

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