Superior RR then to Ski Valley - Good training for Tour de Gila

I have never raced Superior before, so I was a bit scared because I heard it was tons of climbing. Yikes, and I have always been scared of the climbing races. It was a 62 mile out and back race and I have to say it was the most challenging race I have done this season. But I loved it, I hung in there longer then expected until the very end when I just did not have anymore, I saw some guys walking up the climb so I didn't feel too bad. So I started to cramp towards the end of the race when I ran out of water so my legs were rocked! I couldn't move all day yesterday. So I thought for good training I would set out to climb Mt Lemmon as far up as I could just to get some back to back days for Gila training. Gila is a 5 day stage race coming up in a month that I really want to be more of a climber for. It was a rough start but when I hit the Mt I was so amazed the grade was a bit easier then yesterday so it seemed so easy on my legs. I kept climbing and before I knew it I was past Palisades the 20 mile marker. I ran into Frank and Andy from Summit Velo and they motivated me to go all the way to the top to Ski Valley 28 miles. The last two miles were the same grade as the race so that was the hardest part, but I made it. So Kevin and I both did almost 5 hours today, he went out with a bunch of guys and did an epic star pass loop and was seeing cross eyed. I think we are crazy, but we love it.