The elite Pac Tour rolled out of San Diego parade style, in a pack of 50 riders. Temperatures in the 50's and overcast conditions were greatly appreciated.
It did not take long for the speeds to pick up as some of the hammerheads took advantage of the early climbs to test their legs. (you know who you are) Please note in the picture above that it is the tandem team of Josh and Doreen setting the pace. They do climb well and get out of the way when the terrain flattens because they are coming.
I spent much of the day riding with Andrew Puddy. Andrew is an anesthesiologist from Hyde Park, Australia and six weeks ago got one of the last slots on this Elite Pac Tour. He was a great riding partner today and set up a steady paceline as we collected riders throughout the afternoon.
The early climbs today took a toll on me and I was a little surprised by the amount of fatigue I accumulated just 50 to 60 miles into today's ride. The "wind farm" marked the end of much of the climbing today. The mountain drops off sharply just on the other side of the windmills in the photo.
We enjoyed a long 10 mile descent on Interstate 8. This is where 99% of the vegetation ends and it all you can see are giant sized "gravel" piles. I wish I knew what I was looking at. As we descended from an elevation of 4000 feet to the flat desert below the blast furnace kicked into gear. The temps while hot are not as bad as they could be. So it really wasn't to bad today.
A couple of notes on other tour riders.
Fred Matheny and Ed Pavelka... Don't let the smiles fool you, these guys are tough. They are both over 60 and much stronger than I am at 39. I rode PA brevet series with Ed Pavelka and I use the term "with" loosely. What I actually did was watch him ride away from me while I gasped for oxygen. Ed and Fred took it easy today.
Tom and Terri Schwartz are crew members who had their "day off work" today. Some day off. 128 miles of bike riding. Pac Tour has a pretty sweet deal that if you work as crew members you can ride about half the time and you get to do the ride for close to free. Tomorrow Tom and Terri will be hard at work taking care of us as we ride 191 miles to Gila Bend.
Today was a good ride for me. I rode the entire day at a conversation pace in preparation for tomorrows long ride. My guess is that the "elite" part of the tour begins for real on Monday Day 2
Thanks for checking in and remember to check out the blogs at www.pactour.com
4 comments:
Hi George,
Great Blog! I am Tonya. My husband, Jon Wolf, is on the tour with you. He went computer free. I enjoyed your write up and look forward to following it daily. I am very envious of you all at this time. I am sure by day 4 or 5 I will be happy I stayed behind.
Safe, strong and wise riding to you!
Hi George,
Just checked out your blog and I'm so impressed! I will look forward to your updates. We will all be thinking and talking about you at the committee meeting this week. Hope you're having a great time! Safe travels, and I wish you lots of tailwinds!
Rana
George -
Great to hear all is starting well. Enjoy your "vacation"! You're in our thoughts and prayers. We'll be keeping up with you on the blog, so thanks for the posts.
The Esh gang
Hey George,
Good pictures! It's apparent that you still have your mental facilities as you are remembering names,(or are you just creating them?)
Hope that today went well, & that the heat was bearable till you got a good cold shower in Gila Bend. One State down, 8 to go! look forward to the next post, keep your head up!
Eric....
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