I am heading off to San Diego for a bit of change. Training in Tucson has been great and I hope to come back here each winter.  There are allot of great rides and good people to ride with.  Tucson has been a nice change from slogging out miles in the snow to hitting long rides in the sunshine.

More later, just giving a quick update.

It has been a bit long without a post. I have been waiting for the right pictures I guess, but the training photos just never seem that interesting.  the training in Tucson is going really good.  It is nice to be in a warm climate where the consistency of riding is perfect and the quality is pretty good as well.  I am here until this coming Monday and then it is off to San Diego for some training.

One thing I have noticed out here in Tucson is that there are allot of Cat 5 Clingers on the rides.  Two days in a row this has happened where I am out training and I look back, there is some guy sitting on my wheel that I passed 10 miles ago! Yesterday I was out on a ride with Skiles Keith from Missing Saddle and some dude left his buddy to jump on our wheel.  He sat there for so long that I started to point out potholes and debris in the road.  I am not sure if I didn’t want the guy to crash or if it was just by habit.  It got to the point where I was about to ask the dude to take a turn on the front because he had been sitting on so long.  Finally Skiles and I upped the pace a bit and dropped the dude on a climb.  I felt bad for the guys riding partner that he just bailed on.  Same thing happened on Gates Pass to me today.  It isn’t really a big deal when you are solo, but when you are training with a friend and want to chat, you don’t need someone you don’t know breathing over your shoulder.

I am starting to feel much stronger and it is only in my third week of training.  The power is going up, the heart rate low and I feel good at the end of 5 and 6 hour days in the saddle.  Good stuff!  I will have some photos soon!

Last Wednesday I had the opportunity to catch up with my now former teammate Austin King on a ride here in Tucson.  I wouldn’t be the only person to say that it was a bit of a shocker last season when he announced his retirment.  With an introduction as “the future of American cycling” from announcer Dave Towle,  how could you hang it up?  Well sadly enough he did.

I am here to report that Kinger’s is doing well.  I barely recognized him with some meat on his bones.  Let’s just say, he looks……Healthy.  The real estate business must be good and he can afford to eat more now. Austin is sporting some new colors this year with the Waste Management development team.  Good thing he has his new kits, don’t know if the he would be able to squeeze into the Garneau stuff from Jittery Joe’s anymore.  The whole ride I was wondering if he was going to make it up the next little rise.

All joking aside, Kinger is still the same bike rider he has always been and a stand up dude.  It was great to catch up with him and he even turned the screws on his new teammates up Mount Lemon at the end of the ride.  Congratulations again to Austin and Suzanne on their recent engagement.

Tucson has been great.  I went to some ghetto Mexican restaurant the other night over in the wrong hood.  I think the hooker on the corner was the same person I ordered my burrito from.  One minute she is turning tricks, next minute she want to know if you want the “hot or mild sauce”. Sketchy! It was a dang good burrito though and I don’t have a parasite……yet.   Now the Wells brothers are here, this place is going downhill.

I added some pics from Tucson on Flickr. Click on the man who ate Austin above and you can view the crib and some cacti!

I made it to Tucson almost a week ago now.  It was one of the most insane journeys I have ever had.  A drive that usually takes only 8 hours took 14.  Anything that could happen happened on that drive.  I wont go into to much detail because the story would be long, although it is a crazy story.  I will just sum it up with a blizzard from Durango to Pheonix, car trouble, a drunk driver careening out of control hitting two cars at the gas station before driving into the building, and then a rock slide closing the road to Globe.  I pretty much entered the Twilight Zone when I got into my car.

I have been logging some good miles here in the sunshine of Tucson.  The weather is great and there are lots of other great riders to train with.  I am only in my first week back on the bike and it has been tough not to do to much with the great weather.

I will throw some pics up when I get Internet on my computer.  That’s it for now. See  you out on the roads of Tucson.