Saturday, Feb 6th, 2010 - Shootout!

Todays Shootout was actually quite enjoyable! Rode in the front of the procession with Tim Carolan and when we hit Valencia, the speed increased in a very gradual way without too many leg trashing surges. Allan, Dan, Peter and I all went over the bridge and the sprint hill in the main group and went with the Madera Canyon group to the gas station in Green Valley. Dan and I quickly got on our bikes again and rode easy out White Canyon Road to find a discreet spot to relieve ourselves. When the group caught up, Peter was missing... He decided to take a pee break, thinking that he could easily catch back up to the slow paced group, only to see a considerable increase in speed just as he started sprinkling... He time trialed for 10-15 minutes to catch back on and unfortunately spend a lot of d power; much needed for the grueling 5 km climb of Madera Canyon. He still managed to get third at the "finish line", but he was well done at the end. Peter, Dan, Frank Barnes (Nor) and I got a head start down the tricky descent and met Gord Frasers United Health Team on the way down White Canyon Road. We departed from the main group at Sahuarita  and went over Helmet Peak and back trailed down the miserably paved Mission.
182 km and 6 hours, with a lot of sunshine and intensity; I've had worse Saturdays...

Got straight in to Brett's car and drove to the nutrition to stuck up on some organic energy bars and 5 pounds of protein powder! Went for a 5 km jog at six p.m. and finished the day with some sandwiches and lots of blueberry/banana/ginger/protein powder/colostrum shake. Skyped Katrine, who was at a party in down town Kolding at 4 a.m. in Denmark!?! Tomorrow's the Superbowl and I can't wait to see what Jon Roberts has in store for us!