I lost about 10 minutes, but Robert Klein and Kyle McWilliams saw me and stopped. We rode most of the rest of the ride together. It was not a real climb by Kentucky standards. The sun is now warm and we lose the extra clothing. Northern California, New York, Michigan, the states printed on Team jerseys.
Traffic mixes in with the never-ending pace lines.
We re making good time now. The city of Tucson is sprawling with new subdivisions dotted here and there. Most of the houses were light-colored brick with tile roofs. After a furious descent and hard right turn we make it to one of the main sags right after the first of two wash crossings in the middle of a residential area. We finally make it to the second long climb, steeper with rollers.