Barry Guimont

EL TOUR DE TUCSON SUCCESS Part 1

Barry — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 22:11:12 +0000

For me as far as the 109 mile EL TOUR DE TUCSON bicycle race is concerned, success can be interpreted in many different ways. As the summer progressed and my rapid recovery from brain cancer surgery on March 5, 2009 became a distant memory, my hopes were raised that I could make it back ( all the way back ) to a Platinum speed ride in one of the biggest bicycle races in the country. From my first easy 25 mile ride 10 days after brain surgery to a great 3rd consecutive weekend century plus ride 2 weeks prior to El Tour, I thought that the stars and planets were aligning for me once again to achieve what everyone would have thought impossible when I was wheeled into the Operating Room back on March 5th. I trained with intensity, focus and a purpose like I’ve never had. It was like I had a constant tailwind pushing me up every mountain with an extra gear I never had before. Instead of whining during my rides about the pain I was experiencing, I laughed at it and kept smiling thru it. I even welcomed it because it meant that I WAS ALIVE- SO ALIVE!! Dead people don’t feel pain! I was ready and feeling very strong on a fast 50 mile Miles Ahead shop ride the Saturday before El Tour. I felt great the next day when I was interviewed by FOX11 news for their lead story on the 9:00pm newscast. The next day as luck would have it- I came down with a nasty cold – 5 days before EL TOUR!! Was this just another seemingly insurmountable obstacle that I would have to overcome? Would I even be able to ride the race? Much less make it in Platinum time? I didn’t want to disappoint all those wonderful people who have encouraged me during my latest journey by not making it to the race. I decided quickly that unless I was extremely ill, I would make it to the race and finish the 109 miles no matter how long it took. I took lots of zinc & vitamin C, got plenty of rest and by Thursday I was set to ride the race- even though I was not quite back to 100% yet. Maybe by the start on Saturday I hoped! I did a easy 16 mile warm up/ leg stretching ride on Friday and my legs felt very strong even though I still had some nasal congestion. My hopes were rising that when the adrenaline kicked in at race time, I could still do a Platinum time, as I know very well that “miracles do happen”!

EL TOUR DE TUCSON COUNTDOWN

Barry — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:20:13 +0000

After a great GABA Silverbell Century ride on Sunday- (which was my 3rd consecutive weekend century ride), the 2 week countdown until El Tour has begun. My taper to El Tour starts this week with probably 3-4 rides for a total of 150-175 miles. I rode 10 extra miles after the Silverbell Century finish to round off the ride at El Tour distance. I rode the century in just under 5 hours but could have ridden faster but I didn’t want to overtrain with just under 2 weeks to go.

Happy Birthday & Happy Halloween Century

Barry — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 03:46:15 +0000

Halloween is my most favorite holiday of the year by far. Not only because I was born, raised and graduated from high school in the Halloween Capital of The World ( Anoka, MN ). But also because on Halloween night – October 31, 1982, I was given the “Gift of Life” and my second chance! That was the night when I was handing out candy to trick or treaters, that I got the call from Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, MN telling me that they had found a kidney for me. I thought that the best way that I could celebrate my kidney’s 27th birthday with me and its’ 77th overall, was to do another 100 mile ride covering most of Tucson , AZ. It was a celebration of life for me and because of that I did the ride solo so that I could reflect upon how lucky I am to not only be alive, but to be able to fairly easily do a 100 mile bike ride. It was a wonderful ride floating along the flats, pounding up the 2 mile climb up Ridgeside and blasting out to and up Pistol Hill. From the top of Pistol Hill, it was a lot of fast miles with many downhills and fast flats with a great tailwind through the East side of town and then out to Sabino Canyon. I finished the ride with a nice loop out to Oracle covering a good stretch of the upcoming 109 mile El Tour de Tucson Bicycle race this November 21. 3 Weeks until El Tour ! Pedal On !!!!

Recovery Socks Rock !!!

Barry — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 05:15:04 +0000

I did a 100 mile ride up to Mammoth, AZ yesterday with some fellow crazies. A 35+ mile gradual climb out of Tucson with a long, steep descent into Mammoth. Of course that meant a long steep climb out of Mammoth before the 35+ miles of fun back down to Tucson. I have been wearing these new Recovery Socks during and after all of my rides for 3 weeks now. During yesterday’s long, hard ride I had absolutely no lower leg cramping whatsoever and my legs feel incredibly good today. I have found their patented “graduated compression technology” invaluable as a training and recovery aid. I have done several hard back to back hard rides since I started to wear the socks and have been amazed at how much better and faster my legs recover. I have not had even one cramp in my lower legs even though prior to trying the socks, I was prone to cramping on hard rides. 4 weeks left to train for El Tour de Tucson. Wish I would have known about the socks several months ago!!! Oh well… Climb That Mountain!!!!!!!!!

Great Follow Up

Barry — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 18:15:27 +0000

I had an interview with the Marana Rotary editor to do a follow up story for their newsletter from the speech that I had given a couple of weeks ago. Apparently many members in attendance expressed that they were deeply moved and inspired by my story so they thought it would be a good idea to do a follow up story.

It was a tough week to get rides in early in the week but I was able to do 3 rides in a row for a total of about 160 miles. The hardest was a fast 44 mile Cactus Cycling Club ride out to Pistol Hill with a loop back which made my ride 60 miles from my home and back.

Mt. Lemmon Mayhem

Barry — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 18:14:56 +0000

I gave a well attended speech to the Old Pueblo Rotary Club. They were very welcoming also and everyone left feeling inspired according to the feedback that I received.

My training continues as I got in 3 rides this week for a total of 165 miles. The big one was a 77 miler from my home to the top of Mt. Lemmon and back on Saturday. The memorable part of this ride besides the normal suffering up the mountain and especially the last 1 ½ miles up Ski Valley road was a mechanical breakdown. I had headed back down the mountain and climbed out of Summerhaven when I reached Bigelow Road at about mile post 21 where the rest of the way down to the base is very fast and very fun. My shifter cable to my big ring had snapped and I had to go down the mountain in my small chain ring. It’s not a big deal since you can pretty much go down the mountain from there without pedaling, but it spoiled the fun of blasting down the mountain in my big ring at 35 – 45 mph to the base. One of the main reasons that we suffer climbing up mountains is for the incredible reward coming down the mountains. So I felt kind of cheated on this ride.

Monsoon Madness

Barry — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 18:13:26 +0000

I gave 2 speeches this week to a couple of wonderful Rotary Clubs here in Tucson. The Marana Rotary and the Oro Valley Rotary. Both meetings were well attended and I was made to feel very welcome. Both speeches were well received as many of those in attendance expressed that they were emotionally moved and inspired by my story.

In between speeches and my day job as a Portfolio Manager for First Financial Equity Corp., I attended a 3 hour Donor Network of Arizona meeting on Thursday night to discuss new developments with regards to upcoming events and ways that I could greatly increase organ donation awareness thru upcoming speeches.

I managed to continue my cycling training for the upcoming 109 mile El Tour de Tucson this coming November. I got in 4 rides for a total of 175 miles. 2 in the afternoon and 2 on the weekend. The Saturday ride was a Cactus Cycling Club Ride of 56 miles from Three Points to the top of Kitt Peak National Observatory . No breaks on the climb up Kitt Peak as it is steeper than Mt. Lemmon, but only 12 miles up versus 26 miles up to Ski Valley. Tough ride regardless. I also got caught in an incredible monsoon storm in the north central foothills by Sabino Canyon on Friday afternoon as I was heading back from an afternoon ride to pick up my 10 year old son after school to ride the 2 miles home with him as I told him I would that morning. The clouds were looking quite ominous over the foothills. The air went from hot to cold within minutes, then a sprinkle and a little wind. As I turned west down Sunrise, the clouds opened up with blinding rain and 30-40mph plus winds. As I rode the 3 miles to my son’s school, I found myself going 40-45 mph UPHILL at the peak of the winds. That was also the last time I was able to see my odometer before I arrived at my son’s school. That was by far the scariest ride I’ve ever done, as there was no place to stop or hide from the storm with many cars flying by- most likely unable to even see me. My son was incredibly surprised and proud of me for coming to get him in that storm, as he told everyone waiting out the storm that “ my dad rode his bike here to pick me up”.