[Archaea]

My friend was platinum and didn't plan to arrive until almost at start.

I thought Tucson would be warm, boy was I in for a shock. Our hotel was eight miles away, so we rode in the dark, freezing every appendage off in the process. It was 43 degrees and no cold gear on.

So we arrive at the start line, where my friend gets escorted to the start line with Floyd Landis and others.

I try to jump in right behind, when officers politely inform, "No, these persons were here at 2:30 am." So I go past gold to the back of the silver. Yes I saw all 7700 riders.

When the start came, our group sat there for minutes. Once started, I could barely pedal it was so thick, up until the seven mile creek bed, where on dismounts to run through a creek bed. My friend meanwhile averaged with his group 23 mph up to that point. I dodged funny dressed persons and tandems left and right averaging 17 because of thick traffic.

Once out of the bed I finally found some guys who graciously let me pull the next hour for them. Finally a Cat 2 racer pulling his girlfriend showed up and I hopped on for a rest.

We got to the next creek bed at about 9:20 or so. I found my feedbag at the bottom of a hill. I had only drank less than one bottle, but graciously ate my turkey sandwich as I progressed.

Somewhere another group allowed me to pull for a long time until some racers doing the shorter segment came by. I pulled a few times then just sat on their tails having pulled more than half the day's ride.

Now prior to this ride I had only had one 100 miler exactly a month earlier, so I knew I was fated to blow up. And at mile 90, out of a turn they exploded and I died, literally. I went from 23 mph to 13. It took 90 minutes to go the last 18 miles. Old fat guys started passing me.

Lesson to cyclists: never get old and fat and try to ride a century hard on less than twenty miles of riding per week. It isn't pretty.

So yes I broke 5 hours, but in the wrong direction. One of my slowest centuries every.

After the sun rose, weather was nice. I cannot speak about rest stops as I did not use them. I used two and one half bottles, one turkey sandwich and six Gus. Hopefully I can learn from this, and stay in shape, but staying in shape with a real job is a chore.

During the ride, I met a gal who started riding because she had just completed 50 marathons. Another gal I passed had just completed Furnace Creek 508, SOLO, in 41 hours. She had completed over 24 double centuries. She was riding with her hubbie, and noted he was suffering, graciously reminding him to sit up and he didn't need to blow up.

Any way. Tucson is fun and I would recommend going in shape because the riders there take it seriously.

Floyd Landis didn't win, as I imagine he allowed the local rider to win. Robbie Ventura also didn't win.

Gratefully, there's not any real climbing to speak of.