First Magnus El Tour de Tucson - CycleCentury


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Tucson, Arizona
United States
Sunny
 		Total Time = 00m
Overall Rank = 476/3914
Age Group = 30-39
Age Group Rank = 0/
Pre-race routine:

Packet pick-up Wednesday evening - brought my daughter with me and got all the registration materials/scouted out some vendor booths.
Event warmup:

Woke up at 4:30am, had some oatmeal and 32 ounce gatorade, pulled together my race gear and was out the door by 5:00am. Got to the start line at 5:20 and the gold section was already full...they began forcing riders to the silver section as many folks continued to squeeze into the gold. I thought at that point that I would be better off with more room at the front of the silver section. Other than a delayed (4-5 min start) I was pleased to be at the front of the silver as I got a great view of Floyd Landis on the starting podium! I also was able to see a lot of the VIP platinum riders warming up...wow and some great bikes!
Bike
  • 5h 09m 47s
  • 109 miles
  • 21.11 mile/hr
Comments:

I made a push for platinum (under 5 hours) put with my delayed start, two river crossings and aid stop was just short. Overall I was pleased with my ride, I gave it all that I had/was able to hang with many great riders/and finished within my "realistic" goal time. For my first El Tour I set a baseline for future rides.
What would you do differently?:

Wake up earlier! or Qualify platinum in one of PBAA's early season rides. Train harder!
Post race
Warm down:

Walked the hospitality tents, refilled water bottles and rehydrated. My wife was caught in raceday traffic, so was not able to meet me at the finish, so I filled her into the raced and we watched together as my brother in law finished. Hit Sauce on the way home and polished off a whole sausage and carmelized onion pizza. began to drank everything available in my house. (6 bottled water, 2 orangina's and 2 Honey Browns)

Event comments:

Great Race, tons of volunteers, lots of support on the road from spectators and locals. Overal a wonderful experience...one that I will most certainly do again!




Last updated: 2006-08-21 12:00 AM
Biking
05:09:47 | 109 miles | 21.11 mile/hr
Age Group: 0/
Overall: 0/3914
Performance: Good
Wind:
Course: The course was great...lots of wonderful volunteers and many aid stations available. Porta johns a plenty. The stop at Rancho Vistoso was unbelievable...the "pit team" there had me off and running in no time! The only issue was slight traffic after the Hughes access road that caused some delays for the large group I was riding in put othet than that the streets were cleared by many uniformed officers and the course was very well marked.
Road: Smooth  Cadence:
Turns: Good Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Hills:
Race pace: Hard Drinks: Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall:
Mental exertion [1-5]
Physical exertion [1-5]
Good race?
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 5