the 'shoot out'

last weekend, during the trifest group ride up mt. lemmon, i met a local pro who was keen to do some training with me (think she felt a little sorry for me)... she asked me to join her, her coach and a couple of other guys today for the shoot out ride and another little add- on up madera canyon.....'sure, sounds like fun'...
the shoot out is pretty much tucson's equivalent to the donut ride in T.O. (http://www.gstracing.com/shootout.php). the ride starts out nice and easy as the 150 or so, riders warm up. once we hit the city limit it's game on.... the pace picked up to over 40k/hr... the point is to hang on as long as possible - the whole ride is 100k.

we were a little late to the start, so we had to push the pace right off the bat to grab the back of the pack. during the 'warm up', we were still moving at a decent clip -- i was scared.
we had set up a meeting place before the ride, so i knew that if i got dropped (which was inevitable) i wouldn't be alone, in the middle of nowhere.

teri and i held on for about 25k, then got dropped on a never ending false flat. after that, a small group of us hooked up and continued to the meeting point.

by this point in the ride, my legs were toast. i had no idea how i was going to get through another 3+ hours of riding. i had blown up, recovered and blown up a few times over. i felt like a bonk was somewhere in my (near) future. i was in over my head!

the five of us continued to madera canyon (http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/coronado/forest/recreation/camping/sites/madera.shtml), which was a 15 mile climb to 5000 +ft. the climb was so gradual at the beginning it looked flat, but it was all we could do to go 10 k an hour! we were also under strict orders that teri was not to go over 300 watts til the top km... what!!!???
the last 5km took me 25 minutes, it was painful!

all in all i'm glad i went... i don't know if i'll be recovered enough for my run tomorrow, as i can hardly walk, but i'm sure i'm better off for going... can't wait to do it again next week!