2008 el Tour de Tucson Pregame Show

See update below...

Geez, is it November already? Where does the time go?

As devoted reader SiouxGeonz points out in comments to an earlier thread, I should be preparing for the upcoming el Tour de Tucson bicycle race instead of frittering away our time by entertaining you all at this here blog thing.

Yeah, maybe. But first I have to post this pregame show to my blog, do my morning calisthenics, and get an hour of sun so I don't look like the Great White Northerner that I am while soaking rays at the Tucson swimming holes this weekend.

And only then can I can start thinking about today's training ride.

Let me tell you about el Tour de Tucson.

It's a huge sprawling bicycle race -- a timed race with timing chips strapped around ankles of the 15,000 participants. There are four distances to choose from -- 109 miles, 80 miles, 67 miles, or 35 miles. The largest and most popular distance is the 109-mile loop around the entire Tucson perimeter. That's the one I'm interested in. That's the one I did last year and wrote about here.

Did I tell you they hand out medals at the finish line depending on ones finish time? OH YES, they do! But you have to go FAST!

If you can finish the fat century ride in under 7 hours, you earn a Silver Medal. If you finish under 6 hours, a Gold Medal. And for those riders who are exceptionally athletic and practically professional, if you can average over 22 mph for 5 hours or less, you get a Platinum Medal (and some other goodies, which I'll discuss here afterward... if I can do it.)

Platinum is what I want.

Last year, I had three (3) flat tires and finished in 5 hours 29 minutes. I got a Gold Medal for all my exertions and troubles. Not good enough. It currently hangs around one of the posts of our headboard and taps with a lovely metallic 'ting' every now and again to remind me of my failure.

eTdT begins at 7 a.m. this Saturday, November 22nd in downtown Tucson, and if I'm to earn a Platinum Medal, I'll need to finish before noon. I can do it. But only if my bike and tires and tubes (and legs) cooperate. I'll do what I can.

As Pansy Palmetto* says, "Yes, you can!"

*Her porn name.

Update: I was ready to go, but The Man wasn't convinced. Guys wearing black SECURITY T-shirts had to escort me from the start. And then it got ugly. In about 30 ways. After the race, I crashed. But that only resulted in swelling -- nothing that could keep me off the bike the next day as my friends and I climbed Mt. Lemmon. You think I'm kidding about any of this? I'm not. Someday I might write about it. But then I didn't write about my Triple Bypass experiences. Nor did I write about the 519-mile ultra-endurance race that Deadhead and I completed in 31 hours 57 minutes to win 1st Place, setting a course record which should stand for at least... another year. So don't get your hopes up.