The first official day of the Tucson Camp started with a 4-hour ride to a point southeast of town called “Pistol Hill”, it is close to Saguaro National Monument and Colossal Cave. Our ride out involved steady false flat terrain that allowed us to keep a steady power output for an hour of tempo intervals. After the meat of the ride was completed, we rode a loop around the Cactus Forest. It’s a beautiful place and it’s purely Arizona. 
When we arrived home, lunch was waiting for us. After that settled, we took the Hammer bus to the community pool and just took over. It’s important to establish “lane dominance“. The locals were wondering who we were. I managed to get in a set of 5 x 400’s as my main set.
Following the swim, there was an optional run which Toby and Dee took advantage of while the rest of us took part in a killer core workout that was lead by Jen. My abs are still sore from that one.
We were then treated to an awesome meal by the cycling house staff. I can’t rave more about the food here. It is fantastic. The best thing is that we don’t have to prepare anything. It’s all taken care of.
When we arrived home, lunch was waiting for us. After that settled, we took the Hammer bus to the community pool and just took over. It’s important to establish “lane dominance“. The locals were wondering who we were. I managed to get in a set of 5 x 400’s as my main set.
Following the swim, there was an optional run which Toby and Dee took advantage of while the rest of us took part in a killer core workout that was lead by Jen. My abs are still sore from that one.
We were then treated to an awesome meal by the cycling house staff. I can’t rave more about the food here. It is fantastic. The best thing is that we don’t have to prepare anything. It’s all taken care of.
Day 2 started with a 1:30 run up to the Sabino Canyon recreational area. Toby, Sean, Doug and I ran up on the trails deep into the canyons until our progress was halted by a couple of washes that had actually turned into rivers. They were impassable. We backtracked a bit and ran a few hardish efforts, and then we headed back.
I am familiar with the area and thought I could show the group a short cut back to the house. To make a long story short, I lead the group on a run through some heinous brush, burs, cactus, and a few washes that, again, were actually rivers. Despite some wet running shoes, we made it back to the house with only a few scratches from the cactus we ran into.
The girls avoided this, and went on a shorter run and longer ride.
After the run was a nice 2-hour active recovery spin that involved carrying our bikes through sand then riding across a wash. Some folks got a little wet on that one. The Tour of Tucson runs through that wash, and the thought of thousands of cyclists hauling ass through there at the same time seems pretty crazy.
To complete the workout for the day we loaded up the van and headed back to the community pool. This time the community had established “lane dominance” . We eventually got in a good workout with some top end 100’s. I found the swim refreshing.
When we returned we were treated to another great meal then kicked back and visited.
Andy and Sam returned from the 24-hour race, which they won. They had some good stories.
Tomorrow we are going on a 5-hour ride and summit Mt. Lemmon.
2 comments:
Looks like an awesome time. I'd be curious how the bike rides work given I'm assuming varying skill levels. Do folks regroup at various points, or? Meaning, from a workout perspective if you had to regroup/wait/etc, how does that work?
Hey Ray,
We regroup at times and the cycling house staff rides with us and makes sure that no one gets left behind or gets lost. They also have a sag van that allows us to dump clothes and get water and take care of our nutrition needs. Everyone gets in a challenging workout. You get the pro treatment here.
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