Not here.
I had the pleasure of riding in Tucson Arizona for the last two Saturdays, and while I can say that I missed Vancouver's coffee, I can't say I missed it's weather. How does 20-25 degrees and sunny-every single day-sound to you? Well it sounded good to me too.
My Saturday rides were Tucsons famous shootout, which might just be the coolest group ride in North America.
The ride starts off fairly slow, with 175+ riders heading out of the city towards the Arizona desert at a leisurely pace. As the road gets wider, the speed slowly creeps up, and the faster guys start making their way to the front. The majority of the pack is working stiff Arizonites, but sprinkled in the mix are some pro's, both men and women, and lots of very fit 1's and 2's.
Did I mention that the ride is followed by a wheel support motorcycle? Uh..yeah, some of these guys take this ride pretty seriously. I can see the need though, because right at the very spot where the pack starts turning the screws, the road gets incredibly rough. Bottles fly and pinch flats are the rule.
For all but a few, the goal of the ride is to "get to the bridge". If you make it there, you're going well. After that, the road bucks, rolls, and turns its way to the final 400m uphill drag race. Since I didn't know where that was, I made the mistake of attacking and riding solo until the bottom of said uphill drag race. Big mistake. With flacid despair I looked back to see a strung out pack on the wheel of one very motivated looking Healthnet rider.
I think you can guess what happened next.
In anycase, here is a video of the Shootout:
