Meeting Eros Poli

The Cyclefit gang gathered in Sahuarita for a group ride to Madera Canyon.  A surprise visitor, Eros Poli, arrived too.  I know, you're thinking, "Who's this guy?" Well, he won an Olympic gold medal at the '84 games in Los Angeles but more interesting, he was Mario Cipollini's lead out man on sprint stages at the Tour de France and other races. This is....

....Mario, winning one of many sprint stages. Eros is a very gracious, humble man with 0 ego and you probably had to have that in order to ride with Mario.  Anyway, Eros is a large man, 6'4" tall and understandably, not a strong climber.  However, in 1994, Stage 15 at the TDF, Eros attacked the peloton, soloing from the group and arrived at the base of the fabled Mont Ventoux with a 20 minute head start.  He was almost caught at the summit but then stayed ahead on the descent, finishing first!

Nice bike!  We split into two groups, one for 8:30 and one at 9am.  Eros went with the late group and I went with the early group.  I assumed I would get dropped and would not have had the opportunity to hear his stories anyway if I waited for the late (and faster) group, lol.

Passing one of the area's pecan farms.  The leaves are turning so it must be southern Arizona's fall season on this beautiful day with a high of 78.

On Monday I got out for a very short ride to stretch my legs which were kind of fatigued after the combination of Saturday's hike and Sunday's ride.  Funky looking saguaro and then....

....our pickle ball paddles arrived!  I ordered lightweight, Engage brand.  The quality of the paddle far exceeds my skill but maybe I can "grow" into it.  Will be interesting to see how much I play as I won't cut back on cycling or hiking so not a whole bunch of extra time in which to play.  We'll see.