Tucson 200km Brevet

I will predicate this post by saying yesterday we did NOT do an easy 50km day. Instead we we did a 100km day with 1200m of elevation gain over rough and rocky roads. I didn't fear the road so much as I did the guys with excessively large guns doing target practice. I was concerned that they thought Lockie was a pretty boy and would take us out so they could have their way with him.


Today was the Casa Grande 200km brevet. About 60 riders showed up for what ended up being a very fast ride. Trev, Stephen, Lockie, Paul and our friend Whim were the Canadian contingent. We left a few minutes late and had to haul ass to catch the leaders. Lockie did some serious damage to the group on one of the very few hills in this flat course. Lockie got caught with his pants down on the first check point and had to time trial for 30km to catch us at the next check point. Trev also was by himself for that distance but being Trev, it didn't seem to phase him. Lockie on the other hand was very beat up.

The last 100 was a straight line for 50km, then we turned around and came back. The Canadians were pulling on a regular basis (although my pulls were significantly shorter than Stephen and Trev's). About 30km in Trev pushed up the pace and the group splintered. Stephen, Trev, Whim and some other guy (Josh, sporting a Furnace Creek 508 from last year) were making a gap. I bridged the gap but Paul and Lockie didn't make the jump. We were down to 5 guys at the turn around. Lockie pulled in shortly after us looking like he was longhorn salt-lick.
We left with him sitting on a cooler eating a ham sandwich.

The pace on the way back was insane. My legs were cooked like a Thanksgiving Turkey. I think we were averaging 35-40kph with a slight downhill grade. Admittedly my pulls became very short as Stephen and Trev did big big pulls.

The five of us finished the ride in six hours and 23 minutes. Paul and Lockie arrived a few minutes later towing the tandem guy.