In a matter of hours I went from this:

 to this:

 With this in between:

 Tell me again… why exactly do I live in Ohio?

“Three and a half hours…” That’s all we would need to ride from the house, rendezvous at the coffee shop, then go up and down Mt. Lemon in Tucson, AZ. According to CZ, founder and head lackey at missingsaddle.com.

92 miles, five and a half hours, and 6000 plus feet of climbing later we found out he was wrong. Granted, the Desert Dog and I did get a bit lost navigating our way back through Tucson on the way in.

Anyway, the climb is 30 miles, 21 real climbing miles, at maybe 5% average grade. The views are spectacular. In keeping with my 6 degrees of separation rule we rolled up on some guy slogging along who was wearing a jersey from the shop that sponsors our team in Cincinnati. He moved out here recently. At about 1 hour and 15 minutes into our climb we were caught by Health Net Pro Cycling Team rider Matt Cooke who had just finished do a :55 interval at 316 watts. He and I are the same weight at just under 60 kilos. I was maintaining 200 watts. Granted, we were going at a not too hard talking pace, but I don’t think I could have done a mile of over 300 watts without blowing. That’s why he getting ready to race the Tour de Georgia and I am getting ready to work it. Speaking of the TdG, I asked Matt what he thought about the team time trial and if they had been practicing it. He said he had not yet ridded his TT bike, but was sure they would get in some drills before the race.

The top of the climb was basically shut down except for one place — The Lemon Cafe — which was serving up overpriced everything. We grabbed cokes and flipped it around. It only took :35 to get down. Nice!

CZ and The Dog talk about the upcoming climb.

Skiles

Overpriced corndogs, pie, etc…

The beginning of the descent. Notice the bear crossing sign.

Lost dog checking the phone map at mile 87.5.

The poor dog gets a cramp after the ride.

2 hours after we left Ohio for Arizona last Friday morning it started snowing and did not stop until sometime on Sunday.  We made it out just before they temporarily closed the airport.  I heard that the total accumulation exceeded anything seen there for 40 years.  Yes, I was well pleased to land in Phoenix where we were met by Mrs. Desert Dog, then get shuttled to Scottsdale in time for an evening spin with the Desert dog himself.

The next day we did the Saturday morning shootout, which consisted of about 50 riders, 100k, two pretty substantial climbs, and a final 45 minutes that covered about 25 miles.  I did ok for a midwesterner in early March and made it over the climbs with the front group.  It never ceases to amaze me, though, at the  ”six degrees of separation” I experience when riding with a new group of guys.  Actually, in the cycling world it is more like 2 or 3 degrees of separation.  For example, I saw 3 riders from the ISCorp Cycling Team out of Wisconsin who we race against from time to time. One of the was Jim Ochowitz’s brother. He and I have many friends in common. Another guy went to Miami of Ohio with a former teammate of mine. Then on the way back I ran into 3 guys from the Kodak/Zipp team out of Indianapolis, Indiana. The bike racing world is very small.

On Sunday the Dessert Dog and I rode over to his shop and met the rest of his team then rode to the Hungry Dog Criterium somewhere near Phoenix. It was a D shaped, 1k per lap at best, and very well attended. The boys out here take their March races very seriously. Being the odd man out without any teammates, I tried to get it anything in which the bigger teams (Bike Haus & Ride Clean) had a presence. It paid off as I found myself in the move of the day with 2 Bike Haus and 1 Ride clean. We flogged ourselves pretty well before being caught by 6 more mostly Bike Haus and Ride Clean. Some guy, rumored to be a former pro from Belgium, named Bruno Jaremko won the thing. I did not have much stomach for the last turn bash and ended up 8th.

The Dog and I are now down in Tucson and will ride Mt. Lemon with CZ and Skiles from Missing Saddle tomorrow.

And not a moment too soon. Kentucky/Indiana Series race cancelled. The white death is coming! Multiple inches of snow, the sky is falling…

A good time to head southwest to Scottsdale for some training with the Desert Dog and a visit to Missing Saddle HQ in Tucson to see what CZ and Skiles are up to. The DD says Saturday’s group ride will be a hammerfest as there are no races in the vicinity.

Lastly. Why the pictures of the Lamborghini? Why not, I say. It was parked in my building lot today. Anyone know the model?

To: questions@twojohnspodcast.com
Subject: shirt
Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2008 19:23:49 -0500

hey Guys,
ive ben a secret listener now for a while. and i love the pod-cast. I’ve heard you guys talk a lot about Team kits,
whats fashionable and whats not., so im hoping you can help me out with one of my own fashion dilemmas.

A little about my background which might help in your decision
white
late thirties
english speaking (do not speak a second language)
married
republican
college educated
gross income around 80-grand
favorite movie Godfather 1and2 ( third one sucked)
currently Live in the USA (midwest)

so my problem is do i wear these damn collars up or down.
thanks for your help
jb