Winter Training Camp Day 1

Technically this is day 2, since I arrived in Tucson yesterday evening but it was the first day on the bike. I decided this winter that I needed a legit week of training camp out west to jump start my season so I'm out here with an old college friend at a camp her coach is running.  The region I'm racing in and level I'll be racing at are much faster than in the past, and the miles out here should give me the fitness I'll need to be competitive in the races, and not just pack-fodder.

My original plan was to get a short 30-60minute spin in yesterday afternoon to open up the legs.  Due to the requisite delays that are now complimentary with purchase of your airline ticket I arrived late and didn't have time for a spin....oh, and the 180MPH HEADWIND the entire flight over didn't help speed things up either.  So today was my first ride out here.  ....we just did a super light 2hour spin to get the blood flowing and legs prepped for tomorrow.  Oh, and saw a DOUBLE RAINBOW.

Tomorrow we ascend Mt.Lemmon.  It's 26 miles long, with an average gradient of 5%.  It's pretty damn constant...as in the profile is a perfectly straight diagonal line.  My plan right now is to ride the climb at the lower end of my tempo range, since it goes from 3500-9000ft in altitude, and I'm in no way used to the length of height of the climb.  If all goes well, I'll try and hit the second ascent on Friday at a higher tempo with some race-speed efforts.

So that's whats on the menu for the next 24.  The weather has not been very Tucson like, with 50's and some light rain today, but the rest of the week is predicted to be 60's and sunny. Perfect training weather.  Hopefully the 180mph headwinds don't show up on the mountain since I left my parachute at home.  Time to sleep and rest up for tomorrow's uphill marathon.