hello hello. Everything worked out wonderfully. I managed to track down D. Robinson on Wednesday afternoon, and he gave me close-enough directions to Erik's house. Turns out that Erik lives right by the university... ironically I was three blocks from his house whilst typing my last entry! Big D is residing there for a few days until some friends return from Christmas vacation, but honestly there seems to be enough space for all of us. Erik started a new relationship three weeks ago, so right now he's in that "hey why sleep at home when I can spend every hour of every day with my new girl?" mode.
We all started out for a ride yesterday morning; Erik, David, two of Erik's teammies and yours truly. I had different plans, however, and opted to stay in the valley instead of climbing Mt. Lemmon with the group. Mt. Lemmon sits just northeast of Tucson, and the newly-paved road climbs 24 miles before topping out around 8500 feet! I dig the climb, but wanted to give my legs another few days of flat riding before straining fibers and tendons in an uphill slug. My day turned out epic enough anyway, since I ended up being 'pimped' by the wind for five hours. I sometimes like to convince myself that God is trying to make me stronger by turning the wind against me... it takes just as much faith as believing the devil is trying to kill me, but is much less pessimistic. The official ride time was 4 hours 58 minutes; a bit longer than I wanted to be out, but my body handled it OK.
More than OK, my body wanted more. I got up at 6:00 this morning (waking pulse 40 bpm) and was pedaling by seven. I cut it 'short' at three hours ride time. If I get a good nap in I might head back out this afternoon, but if the nap isn't superb I'll take it as a sign to rest more. Two years ago, the last time I was here, I remember writing about the crazy Tucson-Time-Dilation. If you don't ride at least four hours, you feel like a sissy. 75-degree weather, a handful of new routes, and a day completely centered around riding.... what excuse is there to ride less than 240 minutes? It's hard to keep the training load in perspective.
Lack of wi-fi at the house gives me an excuse to hit the Fourth Avenue hippie district, again within walking distance of Erik's pad. I'm sitting on a rickety bar stool de'coupaged with Marvel comics, staring out a huge window at the passer-bys in the winter sunshine. I swear Bob Marley just walked by, followed by Anthony Kedis of the Red-Hot-Chili-Peppers and... Dennis Hopper. It's a fun area with about five coffee shops and a Co-Op natural grocer. I'll probably be back down here tomorrow night, too, since PLUSH is hosting some sweet bands in celebration of New Year's Eve. He doesn't think I know, but David's birthday is tomorrow, and Erik and I are scheming something crazy in celebration.
Battery's beeping, good time to cut it off. More to come.
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