Tour of the Tucson Mountains

Another great day under the sun!! This is the fifth year in a row that El Grupo has participated in this event and our largest showing ever. We had 17 total riders representing the team out on the course and all rode the 70 mile ride!!! A great time was had by all and I need to thank all the parents that made it happen. We as a team are super lucky to have incredibly dedicated and excited parents that help out a ton, so kids remember to say THANK YOU to them all!! I mean we had breakfast burritos to start the day, our team photographer, extra parents that drove to the event, I mean fantastic support, so THANK YOU!!!

Ok so how did it go?

Well this is a team event for us. There are races in which kids go out and ride for themselves in a sense and try to win, this is not one of those times. The PBAA events for us is test of the team and group work. We go out and go as fast as we can as a unit. Sort of the three musketeers moto. So this year we had two teams that rode the 70 mile ride. One team was compromised of 9 youth riders and 3 coaches, the other was compromised of 3 youth riders and one coach.

I rode with the bigger team that for the first time had a youth female rider, riding the longer distance with the team. Congradulation Julia!!! We finished the ride in just over 4 hours, just missing the gold time. But really I do not care. Because we rode perfectly. So often during practice I ask myself, "Does anybody listen to me?". I really wonder sometimes, but amazingly every time the event starts and I start calling out instructions the kids are right on. I was thrilled with how the team functioned.

The ride started a bit hectic for us because really we showed up just in time. By the time we were all together and at the start line ready to go the national anthem was just finishing, I mean at the home of the brave close. We arrived with about 2 minutes to spare. That is most of the team we in fact were not going to wait for Julia who woke up late and was unable to meet us at the club house. She had prom the night before and woke up late but some how got her self to the start with literally 5 seconds to spare the team was shoving off to start and she rolled up. I mean another 30 seconds and she would have been to late. So pretty adventurous way to start the ride

The day was perfect it was that great blend of not too cold not too hot, you know the 3 days of the year that, that works. However about 10 miles into the ride, as I am up front getting the team into a good position I hear that Milo is not feeling well. So I drop back and the poor kid is in tears. He ate eggs in the morning and that does not work for the biking Viking, he had a stomach ach that was proving not to be fun. But the little guy is tough as nails and fought through it. Stayed with the team the whole way and never gave in. Granted we have to thank coach Stickland here because he was invaluable in taking care of the kid. Pulling him when needed, giving him a push here and there, and letting the kid have most of his water. Thanks coach.

After about 25 miles we took our first at the PCC west campus. There were treated by my wife Daniela and her mom, Christians wife Lori and great friend Asha. We took a break, got some water, got a kiss, and back on the rode we went. By the time we got back on the road Milo was talking again so the eggs had passed and Julia had pulled up the hills, holding a great pace, while getting herself through the hardest part of the ride. Well the hardest part as far as staying together goes.

From there we made our turn onto Ajo and we made the slog all the way to Sandario. I think every kid mentioned how not fun that road is but, a necessary evil I suppose. Once Sandario arrived we stopped again for the last time and then the fun really started. The road finally opened up enough that we were able to double pace line the rest of the ride. Every rider pulled through, took there turns and worked for the team. We were sharp at it to. We had just practiced it and man we were good. I was exciting for me to watch the team function as a unit so well.

There are a lot of different riding levels on our team and it would have been easy for some of the kids to just pull away and ride with faster people, it would have been easy for Milo or others to just quite, it would have been easy for the fast kids to complain about not going faster, it would have been easy to not stick together, but none of that happened. It was understood that this was a team event, we all work together, and that is what I most proud of. These kids put the team before there own personnal whatever, a pretty mature thing to do. Thanks team!!!!

We pulled into the finish arms raised as always, anxouis to know how the other team did.

Well they did great, and I will have one of them post about there ride. But pictures are below.

THANKS TEAM, PARENTS, RIDERS, PBAA