I saw this T-Shirt on the San Antonio River Walk, and  - being a one-time ski patroller, and now a homeowner in Colorado - I thought it quite cute:


            

Of course, my favorite is "Tell a local you're from California"....however, where we have our condo, in the Durango area, the response would likely be "Oh, yeah? Me, too!"

I'm glad to be back in Phoenix. This morning, when I finished my 12 miler out on Reach 11, I went to my gym here in Scott$dale where - once again - they didn't have any towels. (This has been happening a lot lately, and they have now announced that, as of 1 August, they won't be doing towel service anymore).

After a bit of reflection, I realized that it wasn't a problem - I took my shower, put on my clothes, and - by the time I got into the car - I was dry. This is not San Antonio.

But it is Phoenix - while it's nice and dry, it is very hot, and we are now in the post-Fourth-Of-July period, which means that monsoons should be starting any day now. Monsoon season can be humid (but, of course, not like San Antonio) and still hot, as well.

But we shouldn't have too much of the monsoon season, as we are currently scheduled to head back up to Colorado (going back to the opening theme of this post)at the end of July/first of August. I'll have six weeks to train for Imogene Pass, and, having read the course description , it doesn't sound like those six weeks will be anything like enough time.

Imogene Pass is built upside down - at the lower elevations (down around 8000-10000 feet) the incline is fairly gradual - 5-8% grade- but then, when you run out of oxygen (up around 11000-13000 feet)  it gets stupidly steep - up above 20% grade. That's a thousand feet of climb per mile.

That's just crazy talk.

The sort of thing that might require a Colorado Paramedic. "Go ahead - run up to Imogene Pass".