Nope, no teeth

I think ridership in my area has increased by maybe, MAYBE, one percent. Which is good because it means more shoulder for the road warriors...I mean, me and my pals.

This year I'm riding with a Mexican (Tito) and a guy from the Dominican Republic (Luis). The most diverse group I've ever ridden with, I think. I don't know where everybody was from in Arizona.

Anyway, we got Tito set up on a Fuji with Zipps and Luis is still riding his Cannondale from 5 years ago. I just got my new (old) Diamondback Podium 5 (an upgrade from the Podium 2 I was on before), and we're hit the proverbial road.

This last week was spent battling it out on the track at a nearby park. The first 4 or 5 go-arounds were spent clearing debris from the left-hand shoulder so we could focus on our peloton...er...triangle équilatéral. What's it called when there's only three? Anyway, it was Tito's first time on a road bike. We converted him because he's spent the last year riding every day to the gym on a Costco brand mountain bike.

No, this isn't us. Whoever took this picture is heartless.

Tito took a nasty spill on one of the turns, and after checking to make sure his bike was all right, we kept riding (we checked him out too, but what an awesome landing! The bike wasn't even scratched!). Good ride, nothing to shake a spoke at, but good enough for training purposes. We'll probably spend 2 or 3 days a week there training in the mornings to get our speed and endurance up.

And then Contador had better watch out...