Since Susan and I had never before ridden with a group of cyclists really in any capacity let alone a major event, we thought it wise to go out with a group before taking on the Bike MS event. There were many training rides scheduled by the MS Society in the Phoenix area, but not so much down here in Tucson… fortunately there was one at least, and we decided to do it.

The only information we had was 7:00am and the address of a grocery store. We arrived a little beforehand and were puzzled by the complete lack of any evidence to suggest there was a group of bicyclists leaving there soon… no people, no bikes, few parked cars and none of them had bike racks or anything!

After a little bit of freaking out, a huge herd of bikes darted away out from behind the store… DOH! There was a parking lot on the other side that we weren’t aware of, and the 7:00am time was the leave time! Soon after another group of bikes started to go by and Susan ran out to them. They waited for us to grab our bikes and we were off! Unfortunately this glitched forced us to miss breakfast… so it was a hectic and late start with no food in our first ever ride with a group over an unknown course at unknown speeds. OK!

Fortunately the group turned out to be an amazingly friendly bunch. They were called the Cactus Cycling Club and the motto “We leave no behind behind!” was most welcome to Susan and I. The ride was very enjoyable as was the company. Also, not only did I not die from skipping breakfast – I actually felt really good for the whole ride. Interesting…

We both agreed that coming on another CCC ride would be a blast and something we must do.

Distance: 26.7 miles
Time: 2:15:59
Avg. Speed: 11.7 mph