To the Desert (or dessert?)

Well...

My bag(s) are packed.

The bike is ready (bottle cages, tools, chamois cream and all).

My lunch (for on the road) is prepared.

And tomorrow I hit to road for sunny Tuscon, Arizona. I've never been there, but I hear its nice. I'm a fan of the high desert, so I'll fit right in. Something about endless cacti and rocks, high plains, deep blue skies, and a Martian landscape that really gets me going.

And for the dessert part of the title? Rumor has it that atop Mt. Lemmon (all 9000+ feet of her), there are baked goods galore. Actually, last year Sherpa Thomas mentioned (once in passing) that there was a woman who sold homemade apple piess at the top. Little did he know that I would store that nugget of information like squirrel stashes his nuts.

(Bad example, I know. Mind out of the gutters, please!)

Hey, if it takes 26 miles of grinding up a hill to reach the mecca of baked goods, well then, count me in. Sometimes that's all we need to do something spectacular. I should know: last climb of Palomar, I focused on a Classic Coke at the top. And boy, it tasted good!

(small pause to remember how good that tasted....aaahhhhhh)

And while I'm not a huge fan of pie (something to do with the fact that every Thanksgiving while growing up, my grandmother made a pumpkin pie that tasted oddly metallic. So whenever I eat pie, I think of Babi Val. They were GOOD memories, though!), I realize that beggars can't be choosers. On the other hand, if it were sheet cake awaiting me at the top, well - some sort of record would surely be set.

But I'll tackle that mountain when I come to it. Literally. And that should be sometime Thursday morning. Excellent!

If you can't already tell, I'm super excited about the Tuscon Camp that Jen, along with her hubby Jerome, and coach extraordinaire Spencer Smith are putting on. The training promises to be challenging, the company fantastic, the times good, and the weather beautiful (knock on wood).

I'm ready and raring to go! Looking forward to the excitement of fantastic training, seeing old friends, making new ones, and remembering all the while how LUCKY I am to have the opportunity to do this incredible sport.

Tomorrow: Tuscon awaits. And it only gets better from there! Cheers!