THE BEST PLACE IN NORTH AMERICA TO TRAIN!

Your editor has just returned from a week in Tucson, Arizona.  Accommodation was provided by Mirek Mazur, one of the most successful road coaches in North America who has Michael Barry, Brian Walton,  Clara Hughes and numerous American and Canadian national team members among his present and previous clients. His house is ideal as a centre for training camps, having five bedrooms, three bathrooms and a large double garage complete with loads of custom bike racks. To say that this beautiful city, set in semi desert and surrounded by mountains, is bike friendly would be a massive understatement. An initial brisk ride through the Oro Valley suburb where Mirek's home is located revealed lots of four lane roads with wide bike lanes and segregated multi-use trails beside them. In fact only one of the roads travelled had no bike lanes. The terrain was fairly flat but rolled slightly, providing great routes for intervals or casual riding. There were hoards of cyclists everywhere, both from Tucson and from all over the States and Canada, enjoying the mid 20's temperature.

But Tucson doesn't just have these great mild gradient roads to ride on. One of the best things about this city, located in the Sonora Desert, is the easy access to a number of the best climbs in North America. The nearest was a well-paved road going most of the way up Mount Lemmon, a nine thousand foot peak with some interesting varieties of vegetation. The climb is forty-five kilometers and rises six thousand feet. While there, your editor managed the first two thousand a couple of times, finding the average six percent gradient quite manageable despite his advanced years!.

Because of the warm climate, the racing season starts really early and there are numerous events from early February on. Last Sunday was a thirty mile time trial with over one hundred and fifty starters and next weekend there is a road race, time trail and criterium. It's no wonder, a lot of the North American based pro's use Tucson as their training base.

 There are many training camps run by such well-known coaches as Carmichael and Friel but Mirek Mazur has perhaps the least expensive and most comfortable. His basic weekly charge starts at $650 for basic accommodation and goes to fifteen hundred dollars for full board, with home cooked breakfasts and lunches and a nightly dinner with wine at a local 5 star restaurant. Of course, there is always Mirek's wise advice re. Everything from bike sizing adjustment to training tips. There is much more information at www.mazurcoaching.com.

Now that we are familiar with this great south western cycling Mecca, a MIVA trip to Arizona next year is a strong possibility.