During that time, the line grew around the back of the school, wrapping around the parking lot almost back to the starting line. We ended up being about a third of the way back from the starting line. We stood around in the shade of a small tree while the kids watched the trike. When we heard the announcer start to talk, we got over to the bike and trike and right after they sang the national anthem, we got ready to ride.
And then we were off! Very slow at first (most of the cyclist were walking their bikes) until we got to the start line, then we were off and cycling.
It seemed very hot at first and the road went up and down for the first little while. It seemed like I was worn out almost immediately. But after about a mile or two, we were getting into our routine and were feeling fine.We headed north up to Moore road, then west to Thornydale, then south to Tangerine road. Tangerine would take us all the way to the I-10 interstate, which would put us at about half our total route. The roads up to Tangerine were pretty rough and at Moore road, we merged with all the cyclists coming in from the longer rides. It was quite a different experience for us riding in a group (or at least among so many other cyclists all at once). We really had to concentrate on who was around us and where. Not everyone warned us when passing (so there were some close "flybys" as they went racing around us slower types).
As we turned the corner onto Tangerine road, we saw a lady sitting on a fence having a paramedic putting a neck brace on her. She must have taken a spill. There appeared to be a companion cyclist standing there with her.
As we sailed on down Tangerine (which is slightly downhill), we picked up quite a bit of speed. Unfortunately, I got ahead of Karen until I lost sight of her in my rear view mirrors. I was going almost 28 miles-per-hour. I was finally able to maneuver myself to the right of the road and slow down until she caught up. We then stuck together for almost the rest of the race.
As we approached the I-10, we saw that the cyclists were all slowing down and that there were several emergency vehicles, lights flashing, up ahead. When we got to the spot, the Tour Bike Patrol was there and telling everyone to form up single file and to walk their bikes past the paramedics. They said that there had been two cyclists down. As we went by the accident site, we saw one cyclist on the north side of the road on a stretcher with a neck brace on, a fellow cyclist by his or her head and a paramedic working on what looked like a nasty cut on their leg. On the south side, on the road, there was a banged up bike, a helmet, what may have been a helmet mirror, and literally, a small pool of blood. I am presuming that that individual was already taken to the hospital. There appeared to be no cars involved in the accident. The first aid station we planned on stopping at was just after this accident site. As soon as we stopped, I phoned my daughter and warned them to forget about seeing us up there, with all the traffic backed up and the road closed. We told them to meet us on the other side of the mountain we were soon to go over. After a short stop, we were back on the road with Karen ahead of me.
After crossing the freeway, I pulled up with her and we more or less road side-by-side until we got to the small mountain we had to go over. At that point, I motioned to her to pull ahead and just wait for me at the aid station on the other side of the mountain. So off she went. I soon lost sight of her. I chugged along at about 4 to 5 miles an hour. We all passed one of the tour photographers and got our pictures taken. There were several cyclists stopped on the way up resting, but I just kept plugging along. On the other side, coming down the hill, I picked up speed and met up with my wife at the aid station. My daughter and her hubby were there as well. We stopped for water and a banana.
From there we went down Silverbell (the last major street before Congress and into downtown Tucson). There were two more aid stations. We blew by the first one but stopped at the second (and last) station. Again we munched briefly on a banana and some pumpkin bread, filled up on water, and were off for the last leg of the ride.For a brief moment after turning east onto Congress (or what would become Congress), we were alone. Karen actually stopped momentarily (as I slowed down) to look back. We thought at first that maybe we had taken the wrong path or something (since we saw no cyclists behind or in front of us). But as soon as we stopped, a few cyclist appeared behind us. We started up and in a short time were again surrounded by bikes.
We came sailing under the I-10 and into downtown Tucson. Our daughter was on the main road videoing our arrival. As we crossed the finish line, they (the tour people) announced over loud speakers our names (and people along the route were all cheering -- of course they were cheering for everyone). We crossed the finish line, went down a small path set up for incoming bikes, and gave back our timing bracelets (which we were given the day before at orientation and which we wore on our ankles).
Shortly thereafter, our daughter and her husband showed up and watched our bike and trike while we went and got our 35-mile ribbons. We then were off through traffic to find the van and go back to our daughter's home for a rest and some food.
All in all, it was a great experience. We learned a lot about riding in a group (what to do and what not to do). We also learned that even though almost all the riders were very accepting of my trike, there were some who (verbally) disapproved of such a vehicle in a "bike" race. Thankfully those were very few.Now, for next year, my good wife is already eyeing the 67-mile portion of the Tour. She felt real good on this 35-mile portion and thinks we can do the longer one next time. (Of course, she wasn't peddling the heavier, three-wheeler up that mountain either... ;-) We'll see (I kind of agree with her). It all seemed to take so long to come (the day of the Tour) and yet go by so fast. Funny, "life" seems to be doing the same thing!