24 hours in the Old Pueblo

February 9 was a beautiful day. Look at that sky. That was before winter came back.


Thursday, 2/12, we parked out at Mo Udall Park and then rode out to Saguaro East. It's just beautiful out there. See the snow on the mountains.

There's a big hill at the beginning of the ride. It was a terrific day. We were on a social pace so we were able to look around and enjoy the view. It's one of the best places to ride in Tucson.


It's a 8 mile loop through a national park with very little traffic and good paved roads, and swoopy up and down turns. Just lovely.


Jim bought a swimming noodle to pad the bedroom slide out. The edges are sharp and his head is tender.

Friday the 13th, about 16 of us went to dinner at La Fuente. They make guacamole at the table and it is really really good. I think I ate my weight in chips, salsa and guacamole. They have mariachis. They're very good, but it's a small space for such large instruments.


After dinner out come the hats. That's Imo next to Jim. She's from Kansas City and is out here to escape winter.


Saturday was 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo. It's a mountain bike race. We volunteered to work the race from 11:30 to 6:00. It's north of here and is about 1200 feet higher than Tucson. We were idiots when we got dressed to go up there. We should have been wearing jeans and long sleeved fleece jackets. But no, we under-dressed the weather. It was cold up there! After an hour on paved roads, there was a 9 mile dirt road to get to the race venue. It's state trust land, there are cows there.


The desert is different there, we don't have these plants where we are now. I don't know what they are, but there are a lot of them.


So, finally we arrived. Many people were camping there. They are much tougher than me. First, they're going to race for 24 hours straight, and they are going to sleep in tents when they're resting.



There were a number of vendors selling stuff. I personally bought two extra-large chemical foot warmers to put in my pockets.


This guy was the most popular. Smoked tri-tip sammies. Gooooooooood.


Fairwheel Bike Shop of Tucson is one of the sponsoring businesses.

This is the start arch. Riders would be coming in off the course and funneled in to the tent where Jim and I were working.

When the racers came to register their teams, they were given a "baton". It's a 4 inch piece of dowel. The instructions are for the racer to come through the funnel above, walk to the appropriate table (based on their team's number), meet up with the racer who will do the next lap, give the volunteer the baton, and the volunteer gives it to the next racer, who then leaves. Simple, eh? Many racers had great difficulty following these instructions. Lost batons cost 5 minutes of time penalty. Putting the baton where you couldn't quickly retrieve it cost time. Not passing the baton in the tent cost time and sometimes laps. Sometimes, just getting them to use the great wide open space of the exit, rather than pushing through the waiting riders was difficult. It was fun. We had the books for the corporate riders, who were not that competitive of a group, so the pressure was not intense at our table. Some of them got a little jumpy when they had to wait in line, but overall they were not too bad. This is our side of the tent. We chose it because there was less wind on this side.

These are riders waiting for their team mates to come in, so they can get the baton and be on their way. Other volunteers marshalled this group.


After all of our people had registered for the start, we went out to watch it. But first we talked to this cutie. He likes to stick his tongue out. It's very pink.


The start is a Le Mans start. Riders run 200 yards to their bikes and then ride on to the course. They do this so that there is a metering effect and you don't get a mass, bunched start. The course is a single track trail, so bunching would be bad.


It got a little frantic with the mix of people running and people who were already on their bicycles.


Look closely, there are two people on a mountain bike tandem. It is beyond me how you do that.


These guys are walking. They're not serious contenders, and they're just out to have fun. Although you have to wonder how riding for 24 hours can be considered fun. Most people do the race as part of a 5 person team. Although some people are part of a 2 person team, and some people do it by themselves.

This is Tinker Juarez. He's riding through the tent which is prohibited, but since he's a famous mtn bike pro he gets to do it. He seems to be specializing in 24 hour mtb races. He has won this race before, but not this year. He came in 3rd. Apparently he travels with an entourage, and some of his people can be demanding. It's nice to have people.

Some people ride in costumes. I could not get good pictures because they were moving and were back lit, but you get the idea.





So, after our shift was over, we were freezing and decided to not walk the course. It was in the high 30's and we wanted to go home and get warm. We were glad to not be racing. It snowed on them last year. Some people dragged their RVs down to provide better accomodations.


The night shift pulling in to start riding.


It's lonely out there.

So that was Saturday.

Sunday we did the breakfast ride to the Rincon Market and up A mountain on the way back. We decided it was too cold to ride and bailed on the idea of Gates Pass. Laundry and grocery shopping seemed to be sensible ways to spend a cold overcast day in the desert.