I completed the 104 mile Tucson Medical Center 33rd El Tour de Tucson, which was held on Saturday, November 21, 2015. Our group of eight (7 men and me) met at the starting line at 4:30am, and tried to keep warm while waiting for the 7am start. We were only able to ride together the first ten miles — after we crossed the first wash at the Santa Cruz the group starting splitting up. With so many people riding (almost 9,000 total, and roughly a third of those riding the century), it was impossible to stay together. We periodically found each other along the way or at SAG stops, but I ended up riding the last 25 miles with just one of our group. Andy and I finished together, time was 6 hours and 17 minutes. We would have achieved Gold if we had finished under 6 hours, but there’s always next year! Nevertheless, I am pleased with my time — I finished 8th out of 37 women in my age group.
A PDF map of the route can be viewed on the Perimeter Bicycling website.
Kathleen at the 33rd El Tour de Tucson 104 mile start line