So the Tour de Tucson has been on my bucket list of rides for some time. My stepbrother, Reed, lives in Tucson, and last year we took a stab at riding it. It did not go well. So we were at it again this year, and while my training still wasn’t super consistent, I managed to get enough in during the last eight weeks of lead-up to the event, where I was feeling pretty strong and was ready to get down to business.
Tuesday, November 19th, 2024
The day before departure. First order of the business: the flight. I went online and made sure my Known Traveler Number was in there so I didn’t have to fuck with it at the airport. Then I discovered I could upgrade to first class on the outbound flight using miles I already had. Done.
I made a quick trip to the Apple Store for another AirTag to put inside the bike case, and Target for a few other things. Then, I got to packing, which took me far longer than it normally does.
I probably should’ve done a dry run with getting the bike into the case long ahead of time, but I didn’t, and was a little anxious. Fortunately, my worry was for nothing — everything jived perfectly.
Wednesday, November 20th, 2024
Got to the airport in short order, the TSA folks were lovely and let me hang around to ensure that the bike was re-packed properly.
Having AirTags on your checked bags are a great source of anxiety relief. I watched as they hovered around the same area of the airport as I was before boarding. Watched from my first class seat as they loaded the bike and they were really awesome about being careful.
Flying over the Rockies and New Mexico, I can see how the invention of the airplane really changed how we think about geology.
About that time, I noted to myself that before the return leg, I would need to download some videos to my iPad. Deadpool & Wolverine for the umpteenth time, natch. Maybe some Udemy videos. I also acknowledged that I was probably going to forget to do this.1
Got to Phoenix Sky Harbor (I hate that name), got my bike, made my way to the rental car area, and then got on the road. Stopped at Whataburger for a breakfast combo because I was starving. It was not nearly as satisfying as it was when I was in Vegas earlier this year.
Cursed the Nissan Rogue and its bullshit CarPlay setup. Fuck that shit. I never managed to get it working.
At Reed’s place, I opened up the bike case and was pleasantly surprised to find absolutely no damage.
Thursday, November 21st, 2024
Scheduled training ride, 90 minutes. Riding the Loop like we did last year. I did go a little harder than the training program intended, but not so bad that TrainerRoad freaked out on me and rescheduled stuff. Whew. That’s always a good sign.
I’d been getting warnings about a low battery in the power meter. I checked all my batteries and everything was fully charged. Whatever. I decide not to worry about it.
Friday, November 22nd, 2024
Scheduled training ride, 45 minutes. Skipped. Ran errands, instead. Picked up ride packet. Prepped FedEx box of stuff I didn’t need/want to carry on the plane again.
Cleaned the bike and gave it a once-over to make sure everything was dialed in.
Didn’t sleep very well due to anxiety about the ride, time differences, and inappropriate amounts of caffeine at inappropriate times of day.
Saturday, November 23rd, 2024
Up hella early. Two bananas and a 16-ounce Red Bull for breakfast.
0 miles. Power meter died before we even started. No watts, no cadence. I was gonna have to do this old-school and shit — relying on straight-up feels. I preemptively popped a CBD/CBG gummy to ensure that my back stayed nice and un-painful. Also, it was 47ºF, so I had to rely on arm/knee warmers and I put my rain jacket on to trap heat.
Pistol Hill. 28 miles in. Reed opened a gap on me about mid-way up the climb. Within 500 feet of the rest area, though, I shut it down and brought us back together. This gave me a lot of confidence for the rest of the day. I bombed down the descent afterwards, and then rode into a headwind of epic proportions. This is where I stripped off the jacket and switched to normal gloves.
Mile 44 rest stop. This is where I was falling apart in 2023. This rest stop comes after about 10-12 miles of grinding across really rough pavement, and last year my lower back was excruciating at this point. I took another CBD gummy, just to be safe. This is where I removed the arm and knee warmers.
Mile 55. This is the moment of choice — finish or bail out. Last year, we bailed out and turned right and skipped the mine road loop because my back was killing me. This year, though, we turned left, and got on with the business of getting to the top of the Duval Mine Road.
Mile 62-ish. Another rest stop, and I was stuffing my face. Coke, Cheez-its, beef stick, V8, Gu. I was feeling a little cooked at this point, my left hamstring where it meets the glute felt like a softball-sized rock, and my shoulders were aching a bit.
Mile 65. Bonk! Pushing too hard into the steep parts of the climb, I pop. Dizzy, can barely turn my legs. I sit down on the road for a few minutes and gather my shit. I find a wad of cash on the road. So there’s a win here, too. From here to Mile 70 is the hardest part of the whole ride. I didn’t manage my food/fluids as well as I could have.
Mile 72 rest stop. More fueling, feeling better. Not long after this, there’s some big downhills, and it’s a blast. For at least 5 miles, I was up near 30 miles per hour.
Mile 82 rest stop. The back goes out. Bigly. The Boy Scouts are running this stop and when I take my third CBD/CBG gummy of the ride and slam some Advil down, I tell them, “Don’t do drugs, kids.” I sit for a few minutes, pound down about a liter of Gatorade, and then we’re back at it.
Mile 86. I’m feeling great again as we push along, and then fwip fwip fwip — I’ve got a flat! Not a full-on one, thankfully. The sealant stops the leak pretty quickly and I don’t lose enough tire pressure to warrant topping it off. We get back at it ASAP.
Mile 92. Final rest stop — we blast past it, as it looks like it’s just moral support anyway.
Mile 102. As we roll into the final turn, I’m still thinking about last year and how salty I was that Reed beat me in the sprint (he boxed me in behind a bunch of casuals). I came in hot, and when I looked back, I had opened a tiny gap, so I slammed it into the 10-tooth and jumped away to beat him across the line. DONE.
At the parking lot, we hung out for a bit on the tailgate, drank some water, BS’ed, and then got our shit together. We stopped by FedEx Office so I could ship a bunch of clothing and extra Gu, etc., back to Minnesota and not have to carry it on the flight.
We stopped off at Reed’s house and cleaned-up and changed clothes and then hit up the Divine Bovine for burgers and beers. I had the A-10 Pale Ale, the poutine burger (same as last year), and the homemade tots (which are more like fried mashed potato balls).
Even after all of this, I was probably still in a calorie deficit, given that I burned over 5500 calories on the ride.
Sunday, November 24th, 2024
Sleep? Nay! I didn’t get much because my legs were cramping like crazy all night. I went to bed the night before at 8 p.m. Cramps started at 8:30 p.m. when I got up to go to the bathroom. After that, they kept me awake from midnight until about 4:00 a.m. Gross!
Woke up, had a donut, Reed and I discussed gravel bikes, and then we figured out some stuff to do to fill up the day.
The Pima County Air & Space Museum was our first stop of the day — my second air and space museum of the year and my second SR-71 of the year, strangely enough. Unfortunately I hadn’t been very mindful of my phone battery and it died before I could get more pictures, but this place was a gold mine of both modern fighter aircraft and old World War II stuff.
We also did a brief drive up part of Mount Lemmon to the first overlook — I had chickened out on it earlier in the day because my legs were still kind of toasty.
After all that, I packed up the bike in the case and got my shit together for the remainder of the day.
Packed up my stuff, and thanked myself for the foresight of sending a larger box of stuff home ahead of me. Racked out after packing, and slept well until midnight. Then I was awake until about 0400.
Monday, November 25th, 2024
The alarm went off at 0430. I loaded my shit into the rental car, thinking Reed was still asleep. He tapped on the window, scared the shit out of me while I was trying unsuccessfully to make CarPlay work, and we skipped the lengthy Minnesota goodbye. Hugged it out, discussed next year briefly, and I got on the road to Phoenix.
The Drive to Sky Harbor sucked. I was exhausted and had multiple stops for Red Bull. Sky Harbor, though, was a delight. I did not have to wait in line at check in, they let me escort the bike bag to the oversized baggage place with the TSA. The TSA team was polite (though not as lovely as the Minneapolis-area team was). And then I went down to the TSA Pre-Check line and was pleased that there was literally no line whatsoever. I checked in, got a little more caffeine, and then got to my gate, where I hopped on Slack and communicated with both of my freelance clients, and wrote some code.
The flight back was not as posh as the flight out. When I made the upgrade to first-class for the outbound leg, there were first class seats available. From Phoenix to Minneapolis, though, that wasn’t an option, so I was in Comfort+ the whole way back. Fortunately, I had an aisle seat so I had some room to stretch the legs. The dude in the window seat was barking laughter at Curb Your Enthusiasm so loudly that I could hear him even with noise-canceling headphones. His wife, at one point when I was trying to write some code, started talking to me about Jesus. I figured that this was a great time to put my headphones back in and fire up the Deadpool & Wolverine movie again, which made her mutter stuff under her breath. I find myself hoping she saw the scene where Deadpool stabs the TVA agent in the crotch with the femur and there’s a whiff of handjob in the visuals.
Got home, was relieved that the nearby overhead bin that was stuck shut was not the one carrying my bag, and got my ass down to baggage claim, where Di met me. We smooched, we waited for my bike, and then we got the hell out of there.
In the parking lot, I laid eyes on the most horrific looking Cybertruck I’ve ever seen (Instagram link) and had to snap a bunch of pictures before we drove home.
At home, the dogs swarmed me, and I hung out with Di for a bit before I had to go get Sam from after-school care. The rest of the day was a blur.
Advice to Self for Future Tour de Tucson Rides
- Carry one-shots of energy drink powder. Most rest stops are just pure water.
- Eat more, fuck around less. The find-out part of the not eating was a suboptimal experience.
- Hydrate harder leading up to the event; the desert dries me out significantly.