Tucson Cyclemania II Day 8

Our last ride for the trip was doing the official El Tour de Tucson course. The weather was nice - starting in the high 40s and quickly getting to the low 60s with abundant sunshine. The actual ride starts from downtown Tucson, but since it eventually goes through the area we were staying we started the ride from home. This helped with saving time and not going with the hassle of driving to the start point, but instead of finishing with the easiest portion of the course, we ended with the hardest. The ride goes literally all the way around Tucson. We did not have the privilege of having the roads closed for traffic and having course marshals at the big intersections. Some of the roads were in somewhat poor shape even for our Chicago standards. We also managed to skip one of the washes that are part of the course, but did the other. Riding a road bike through sand, a small creek and then more sand is not what I would personally recommend. Luckily on the other side we were able to spot a faucet with a hose and were able to rinse down the sand from the wheels and the drive-trains. It took us over 6 hours to do the 110 miles and the 4000 feet of elevation gain. We were all happy when we made it home. After a quick shower we went to Dave and Corina's house for dinner. They had a delicious meal and good company. Unfortunately we were all very tired and went home early.