Tucson Bicycle Classic

This weekend was the Tucson Bicycle Classic race. It's a 3 day race with a time trial, a road race and a Chris Carmichael circuit race. The circuit is a 5.6 mile loop. Unfortunately, there's no criterium.
The time trial was Friday, and I'm pleased to announce that our riding buddy Pat Bunch won his age group. Way to go Pat.
Today was the circuit race. We rode out to watch it at various points along the course. We saw the Cat 1, 2 and 3 riders. This is just after a start, I can't remember in which category these guys were riding.

Coming through the feed zone.

Another lap through the feed zone, the guy in the green/black shorts was just hauling through here. He's chasing the elbow you see in the right side of the frame.

Big group going through what will be the finish area.

I think this is the winner of the Cat 2 group. It was hard to tell who was who because the categories intermingled and no one could hear the announcer. Towards the end it got hot, the wind came up and they had a terrible head wind to the finish.

There is an organization in Tucson called El Grupo. They do community outreach to get kids on bikes. They provide bicycle education, organize multi-day bike rides, and have a racing team coached by Ignacio Rivera de Rosales. They are just a superb organization. They were out this weekend for the races. Check out their Facebook page here. It makes my heart happy to see kids on bikes.

Don and Jamie have returned from the ends of the earth. They report that the trip was spectacular and they're glad they went to Antarctica. The ranks continue to thin out at RCW. Just when a person's eye gets used to seeing RVs everywhere, they up and leave and we're left with wide open spaces again. This afternoon is quite windy, I'd say it's gusting to 30. It's hazy with the dust hanging in the air.
So that is all from Tucson.