Someone already wrote what I meant to.

Date: 12.8.11
Location: Tucson, AZ
Ride Day

Good start Tucson. A welcome basket for me and oh, hey, there's the sun up there. Haven't seen a breakfast like you since Marfa.

So I head out to tackle a couple of Tucson love mounds. She has a few. Some double DD's to the north, and some palm sized ones to the west. I go west.

It’s a bit below the 60 mark and less than 60 is much much different than less than 50. This is a very critical part of riding; getting to know just the right combo of layers of wool and spandex. So it the ¾ bibs and the arm warmers and the merino wool undervest and a jersey and full fall gloves and a skull cap.

My digs in Tucson.

And when I get out on the road and I grab a GU from my pocket, because I am pretty sure that I did not eat enough, as is usually the case, I get a pretty accurate temperature gauge from the consistency of the chocolate.

I have been eating chocolate GU exclusively on my rides for about two years now, which means about 8,000 miles which means about 500 of these little fuckers. If I have to chew it: below 50. If I can half suck and half chew it: around 55. Thick like yogurt: 60-65. Runny: 65 or above. Simple.

The scenery and downhills both get A's. The drivers fail (inconsiderate and lots of baby-boomers). The road surface, D+. The bike lanes, they are getting there. Overall, it was a great ride and there are a million things that would suck more than riding my bike so I give it a thumbs up.

I stop and take some videos and I mash this up into a little ditty that I try and upload to youtube five times. Five times because wi-fi is proving to be a sturdy opponent on the Exodus. The wi-fi at the guest house succeeds in uploading the pictures almost instantaneously, but falls asleep on me just minutes before the video is finished. Typical passive aggressive lover behavior.

But now I am at Dirtbags Bar which is about a block away from where I am staying. And now DirtBags wireless is teasing me as well, appearing to upload the video then disappearing moments before completion.

The last time this happened, this was in Marfa, and if I could remember what video it was perhaps I could make some sort of cosmic analogy. Oh yeah, it was the Exodus Redux, which was either a fun look back at some cool moments on this trip, or a blatant self-promotion. Hmmmm.

Maybe the sylph in the sky is telling me my breeches have stretched as far as they will go. Perhaps that, or it's just that there is no internet connection that wants to snuggle tonight. I'm going with the latter.

You gotta check this out...beautiful stuff. (If you don't like burping, dont watch: its kind of an inside joke with my buddies). I didn't get the descent down the west side of Gates Pass, but a good vid of it is HERE.