TJ Woodruff ONLINE

So my lack of blogging has left things in a pathetic state lately, sorry. I don’t really have any excuses so I’ll spare you while letting you know what’s been the latest here in Tucson. Riding and working, mostly.

Today I did “an epic of small proportions� with Dejay, Mark and Monique: 42 miles - lots of it singletrack, 5+ hours of pedaling time, 4600 ft of climbing. It was a ride that encompassed the most sweetness for the given length. Dejay has been riding these trails for the past six or seven years, so he knows his playground quite well and I was fortunate enough to tag along for the adventure. Some of the terrain was over my head, and it was awesome to find some stuff to challenge myself with out there. I’ll surely be back to ride these again!

This past week I also got my first couple of days in at Arizona Cyclist. Of course I felt somewhat out of place as there is much to learn whenever starting something new. My first bike sale was a $4000 Orbea Orca, so I must be doing something right though… It’s a really cool place and everyone is excited to be working there so it’s a good shop atmosphere. Not a bad gig for a couple days a week.

Last weekend Chloe and I did the final Dust Devil race at Estralla on Saturday before racing the Tucson cyclocross event on Sunday. We barely got out of Phoenix Saturday as the Taurus had some serious issues going on. The belt broke which left us without power steering, overheated, and with a drained battery on some rural road just out of the county park. A whole long series of events occurred and in the end we received help from no less than eight strangers who went out of their ways. We also visited three car part stores and I rode 10+ miles on bike in search of parts to get back on the road. In the end we were able to find a shorter belt to bypass the AC pulley which had seized up. We made it back to Tucson late and exhausted from a long day spend in the desert. All of this after a two-hour mtb race… I placed 2^nd while Chloe was 1^st. On Sunday, I was able to ride away from all the rest once again in the cyclocross race. Chloe also raced the Men’s A and placed an impressive 4^th. She was happy not to be lapped my no one else besides me… At least Sunday’s winnings covered some of Saturday’s car expenses. All cheap adventures in the end, and I wouldn’t trade any of them.

Tomorrow it’s back to the shop and the start of a short week. The beach is calling my name already!

-TJ