Tour de Tucson

The much anticipated (and sometimes dreaded) weekend has come and gone. This past Saturday was the Tour de Tucson, my first one to be a participant in. I had a great time, it was fun and the weather was perfect for the race. (mid 70*s)

For those unfamiliar with it all, this year the Tour was a 108 mile ride. There was also an 80, 66 and 35 mile rides. Spencer's family has been riding in it off and on for years now. Mostly his dad (12 or more times) his mom, brother Taylor and Spencer. This year the 108 had 3,633 riders finish and for all distances combined, there was a total of 6,483 finishers.

So this year Spencer's dad wanted to go for the "family award", and as I said before, 10 of us signed up to ride. We don't know yet if we got it, I guess that will take a few weeks.
Here's a look at the overall finishing time and place of our family.....

Dad Hansen -4:52:01 platinum ~ 343rd place

Taylor - 5:02:30 gold ~ 424th pl

Spencer-5:23:59 gold ~ 727th pl

Talmage- 5:48:14 gold ~ 1001th pl

Kimball-5:49:07 gold ~ 1024th pl

Lisa-6:04:29 gold ~ 1319th pl (average speed 17.7 mph)

Lindsay-7:08:49 silver ~ 2281st pl

Mom Hansen-7:15:17 silver ~ 2386th pl

Rachel-7:56:02 silver ~ 2767th pl

Mckay- 8:19:02 silver ~ 2970th pl

A few points of interest from the day were:

1) Dad Hansen~ his first platinum finish for the Tour de Tucson

2) Taylor~ got two flats and wrecked 2miles from the finish requiring layers of stitches because the cut was to the bone by his right eye. Face hit the pavement and sunglasses broke, cutting into just right of his eye. Despite this he fixed the flat the wreck caused and finished, missing platinum by only 2 1/2 min., then went to urgent care.

3)Kimball~ also crashed. Was looking down to stretch his neck, looked back up only to see a 'keep left' sign right in front of him and "BONG!", nailed it head on. Rode away with some scrapes on his arm and a bruised ego.

Not knowing if platinum was even obtainable for me, I really wanted to try for it. I was very happy with my end time, but at the same time thinking where I could have pushed harder or what I could have done a little different to close in on those few minutes. I guess I may just have to attempt it again.

I did however fail miserably this weekend at taking pictures, so this is all I have until my Bro-in-law sends me some.


Spencer and I, layered in clothes ready to head to the starting line at 5am in order to get a good place before the 7am start time.

In the 40*s as we waited. Most of us here from L to R. (Kimball, Lindsay, Mom H., Dad H., Me, (Ben a family friend), Spencer, McKay, Talmage. Not seen in pic. ~ Rachel & Taylor.)

Again at the starting line Spencer & I (Kimball in the back, Talmage in the front)

Now, to get to the point of those of you who made a guess at my finishing time. I felt I had to at least come in close to the guessed times. Spencer told me when he posted his that once I finished the race I would realize that I could have pushed it harder. So with that in mind I was determined to come in under his guess. Amazingly the person who won guessed within 31 seconds of my time. My friend Marinda called out a time of 6hrs 5 min, so to her a gift will go!

And here we sit, the day after on the couch. Asking the kids to do everything for us as we recover. I knew they were good for something, sweet little things!!

Ready or Not

Well, the time is nigh. The Tour de Tucson (109 miles)is this Saturday. A few days ago Spencer printed off the map and went over the route with me. I've been fine up until then and now, when I think of it, my stomach turns over.

Earlier this year Spencer's dad talked about if there were enough family members riding this year, maybe we could get the family award. So 10 of us signed up and it's been train, train, train ever since. (well, for most of us anyway.)

So wish me luck, and no flats. I'm looking to come away from it all without wrecking (because I seem to be good at that)! For a little fun, let me know how long you think it will take me to finish. I'll join in with all the other blogger contests out there and give a prize to whoever guesses the closest time to my actual finish time. ( So Mom Hansen, you'll have to leave another, more exact guess if you want in on this.)

Because this is my first year riding, I have nothing for you to use to figure this. But Spencer has rode it 3times and here are his finishing times....
with only 2 training rides under his belt, (not recommended) 7hrs 55min
the 2nd time , 5hrs 39min
last year, 5hrs 25min

And you all can give a guess for Spencer's finishing time too.

like new again

One of my recent projects that I've finally completed. And it only took me 4 months to get to it. (And Spencer thought it would be the usual 6 months.) I guess I showed him.

Anyway, the first part of July I found these little chest of drawers at the local 'hand me up' shop. I've always prefered the chest rather than the dresser, so I've been looking for a while. Here are the little gems. There are two, exactly the same. All colorful and bright.
BEFORE

And here they are after I finally got down to it and spent a few hours with them. They are going in the girls room along with a new(for us) but really an old mirror that I got at an ebay sale.

AFTER