Pac Tour Desert Camp Ride Report

[znfdl]

Greetings from Arizona.

Well, I made it through the first 3 days.

On Saturday, I did my own ride around Tucson. Great cycling city, as it has numerous bike lanes. Had an interesting ride, as part of thr ride I ran into a a cycling team training ride for 2 hours, climbed up 10 miles of Mt. Lemmon and rode through Suguaro National Park for a total of 110 miles.

On Sunday, the group rode from Tucson to Sierra Vista into a steady headwind with lots of climbing for a total of 86 miles. I pulled a group for the first 22 miles and then bade them farewell, when we hit the climb up Old Sonoita Road.

Monday was a climbing day for me, as the group did the Sierra Vista - Bisbee Loop. We had a optional an climb up to Coronado Monument, which was a nice steady climb. The next 20 miles was into a stiff headwind, as I was doing 14mph while holding between 225-280 watts. Not my idea of fun. The town of Bisbee is great, as it has an old copper mine, which is a huge hole in the ground and is a fabulous artist community. It also has a nice 5 mile climb up Mule Pass, which I did three time for a good hill repeat climbing workout.

Tomorrow, I will take it easy, as I have a hilly 200K on Wednesday.

Hopefully pictures to follow.

[DarrenCT]

good luck bro

post some pix

[cadence231]

Yes.
Please get on your photomo mojomo.

[Too Tall]

Go Stu Goooooooooo :)

[Sandy]

You do a 110 mile solo ride on Saturday, including 10 miles up some mountain, 86 on Sunday with headwinds and lots of climbing, and then Monday a ride including 20 miles into a stiff headwind and then do a 5 mile climb 3 times for agood hill repeat workout, knowing you have a 200k on Wednesday? You are one tough dude!

Have safe and enjoyable days for the rest of your rides on the trip. You are the man!

Sandy

[fiamme red]

The town of Bisbee is great, as it has an old copper mine, which is a huge hole in the ground and is a fabulous artist community.You should have visited the Bike Brothel.

http://www.roadbikerider.com/currentissue.htm#DISPATCH

Bisbee's Bicycle Brothel

Last week Coach Fred Matheny was spotted in a brothel in Bisbee, Arizona.

No, he wasn't sampling the low life in this old mining town turned artists' colony. Instead, the ladies of ill repute were beautiful classic bicycles collected by Ken Wallace, a vintage bike enthusiast and former USA Cycling commissaire.

Two years ago Wallace opened the Bisbee Bicycle Brothel to showcase his collection. It includes a pink Alex Singer randonnee bike, frames by fabled British builders such as Hetchins, Gillot and Grubb, a rare 1950s Cinelli, and more recent models by Waterford and LeMond.

The shop also contains a treasure trove of components and accessories -- TA cranksets, vintage Campagnolo Super Record parts, Berthoud handlebar bags, and wool jerseys. Wallace has a collection of posters, photos and rare cycling books too, including Coach Fred's 1986 time trialing book, Solo Cycling. "I didn't realize I'd become a part of history," Fred marveled.

Is any of this bicycliana for sale? "There are some bikes I would sell and some I could be persuaded to sell with the right offer," says Wallace. It's evident that he loves his faded ladies. Among the bikes with a price tag are a Recherche (Dave Moulton), a Ron Cooper, an all-Mavic Colian (Colin Laing), and a Bridgestone MB1.

Don't make a trip to Bisbee just to see Wallace's shop. Take your bike because it's a great cycling destination too.

"The ride over Mule Pass to Tombstone is spectacular, and you can witness the historic shootout at the OK Corral re-staged every afternoon," says Fred, who is just back from the area after coaching at a PAC Tour camp and riding tandem with his wife Deb. "Other great rides include the climb into Coronado National Monument and the rolling hills through Fort Huachuca to Sonoita and Patagonia."

Bisbee has a fabled cycling history as home of the Vuelta de Bisbee, a race that attracted America's top riders, such as Bob Cook, Tom Sain and Tom Doughty, in the early 1980s. RBR's Uncle Al Ardizone had his first bicycle shop in Bisbee as well.

The Bisbee Bicycle Brothel is open weekends and other times by appointment. Wallace is moving his shop/museum to the oldest hotel in Arizona, Bisbee's Silver King, in April. http://www.bisbeebicyclebrothel.com

[znfdl]

Picture 1 & 2 Saguaro National Park

Picture 3: All of the stick figures in the Mt. Lemmom picture are Suguaro Cactii

Picture 4 lunch crew

Pictures 5 & 6: Mountain Vista

Picture 7: Mule Pass

[sc53]

Fred's Bike Brothel = dbrk's basement, Bisbee campus?

[Sandy]

You and I going to do znfdl's ride together next year?? I will bring the car and you can bring money for the gas. :)


Sandy

[znfdl]

Some Bike Brothel Pictures and a Picture of Graham Obree's world's jersey

Chrome bike with copper fenders and a mesquite saddle with turquoise inlay.

Ken Wallace, Bike Brothel owner is holding the original rattle snakeskin saddle.

Each bike had a unique story.

[znfdl]

Well I took Tuesday off for some recovery.

Wednesday did the double metric and buried myself. The ride through the fort was quite beautiful. As usual, I had my head down on a particular nice stretch of road and missed a turn. For missing the turn, I had particular nice 14 mile down hill, which in turn was a 14 mile uphill. Well atleast it was sunny, windy and 75F. Going through Fort Huchacua, a special forces guy on a Harley let me draft him for 4-5 miles at 35mph. I just love a man in a uniform that lets me draft him. Ended up doing a 7:25 double metric, which had lots of climbing and substantial amount of headwinds and tailwinds.

Thursday the group did the Bisbee - Tombstone loop which was 80 miles long. The loop did the Mule Pass the steep side. Well, I can defnitely say that Too Tall's power program has helped my climbing, as I climbed the steep side on average 4mph faster than last year. Thanks big guy. I did 3 more hill repeats and imploded on the last ascent. It took me almost 20 miles to recover. I guess 50 miles of climbing in two days can do that to a person. ;)



Here are some pictures.

Picture 1 & 2 going through the fort.

3rd Picture: Eli after changing his 5th flat of the day.

4th picture: Yours truly

5th Picture: Lon Haldeman after I blew up on Mule Pass holding a little sign "Who's you daday?"

6th Picture: The fort.

[cadence231]

Well I took Tuesday off for some recovery.

Wednesday did the double metric and buried myself. The ride through the fort was quite beautiful. As usual, I had my head down on a particular nice stretch of road and missed a turn. For missing the turn, I had particular nice 14 mile down hill, which in turn was a 14 mile uphill. Well atleast it was sunny, windy and 75F. Going through Fort Huchacua, a special forces guy on a Harley let me draft him for 4-5 miles at 35mph. I just love a man in a uniform that lets me draft him. Ended up doing a 7:25 double metric, which had lots of climbing and substantial amount of headwinds and tailwinds.

Thursday the group did the Bisbee - Tombstone loop which was 80 miles long. The loop did the Mule Pass the steep side. Well, I can defnitely say that Too Tall's power program has helped my climbing, as I climbed the steep side on average 4mph faster than last year. Thanks big guy. I did 3 more hill repeats and imploded on the last ascent. It took me almost 20 miles to recover. I guess 50 miles of climbing in two days can do that to a person. ;)



Here are some pictures.

Picture 1 & 2 going through the fort.

3rd Picture: Eli after changing his 5th flat of the day.

4th picture: Yours truly

5th Picture: Lon Haldeman after I blew up on Mule Pass holding a little sign "Who's you daday?"

6th Picture: The fort.

Lon's rad!

Shaversport.

[39cross]

Thanks for the posts & pics - glad to do a little vicarious cycling with you.

[fiamme red]

Nice pictures and report.

Since your cause is skin cancer prevention, I'm curious how you keep yourself from getting fried while riding under the Arizona sun all day. Frequent reapplication of sunscreen?

[znfdl]

Fiamme, SPF 50 is my friend. Have been in the Arizona sun for a week and have very little color.

39, we will be riding Boston in the Fall.

Sandy, you are a mensch.

Last Day of we descended from Sierra Vista to Tuscon loosing about 3K of feet. It was a glorious day with plenty of ridingtail winds.

Ended up riding about 550 miles for the week. Have another recovery day and then on Sunday, I start the mountain tour for another 7 days of riding from Tuscon to South West New Mexico and back.

Take care all. New Blog next week.

[Too Tall]

How is my secret Jelly doughnut recovery protocol working out for you? ;)

Dewd, you are FREAKIN flying. Great report.