TriFest! Day 1

Pictured here is atop Mt Lemmon, AZ! The TriFest started on Friday with the weekly ride up Mt Lemmon leaving from the TriSports.com store at 7:30 am. When I got there there was a pretty large group assembled with more to pick up along the way! Here is a nice video taken by Seton Claggett of the TriFest ride! We started with a no drop ride to the base where I was able to chat with a bunch of people. After a few mins the real ride started! We started rolling up the 25 mile Mt Lemmon highway to the top. It was a pretty quick pace from the get go all the way to Bear Canyon(~mile 11.5) where TriSports.com would have a water stop. It was hard to tell who was going all the way to the top and who was going to stop and turn around early. After reaching Bear Canyon a few of us continued on at a more honest pace. I was riding with teammate Mark Tripp (http://marktripp.blogspot.com/) and we both decided with a run in the afternoon that we should turn around at mile 20 so I took a picture. On the way down I see my buddy, Bill Catt whom I started the trip with from Las Vegas still pumping up the hill at ~mile 18. I yelled to Mark to stop but he just kept flying down the mountain. I later heard shortly after that he hit a rock and popped his rear tire. In seeing Bill I decided to keep riding to the top. I am glad I did as there were some beautiful views on such a beautiful day! As you can see there was some nice snow towards the top. It is amazing how it can be 90 with Saguaro cacti below but 50 with pinetrees and snow toward the top. After getting to the top Bill and I hurried as I still had a run to get to by 230. We started the ride down, and of course Bill beat me to the base as he always does when we are decending. It was a nice ride down and I ended up meeting Bill at LeBuzz the local coffee shop where many cyclist congregate. After downing a delicious black coffee(yes coffee on a nice 85 degree day!) we headed back to the store. When all was said and done it was a nice 85.5 mile ride.....oh how I have missed Tucson! After chowing down on some fruit and bagels I went back to the hotel to put the legs up for about 30 mins before meeting for the run. While walking to the store which was across the street from the Holiday Inn I met fellow teammates Allison Stewart

(http://www.atrihuntress.com/) from Kentucky and Michelle Mehnert from Illinois. We then ended up driving up to Starr Pass where we met the rest of our team and our sponsorship coordinator Jaclyn Applegate. Jaclyn did such an amazing job setting up this whole weekend for us! We then started a beautiful run though the desert as pictured to the right. After a nice run

where water would have been amazing as my mouth being dry was an understatement, we ran past stone house and finished up at the trail head. While chatting it up with the other guys on the team we waited for the girls- when the girls got back Allision led the way with bloodied hands and knees - the desert rocks had gotten the best of her. After that was coffee round 2, as we headed to StarBucks before getting back to the hotel and getting ready for dinner. It is amazing how much coffee has become such a regular in my daily routine! Finally getting back to the hotel it was nice to shower and relax till dinner. Dinner ended up being at the shop where we did formal introductions with the team, many of the workers and of course the Seton and Debbie Claggett the store owners. A special thanks to them and the rest of TriSports.com for their sponsorhips as none of this would have been possible without them. After a nice night at the store it was off to bed.....as we had another fun filled day planned for us on Saturday. With Day 1 in the books ....I will post again shortly about the rest of the weekend.....