Tucson Cycling Trip Report

To view some fine images from the trip click HERE.
This trip took place March 4-10, 2006.

After an uneventful flight from Milwaukee to Phoenix we grabbed a van and headed to Tucson.

Our de casa... Le casa... Me casa?... The place we're staying... is a lovely home in a golfing community called Saddlebrooke. Our hosts are Gene and Sheila Rech, a very spunky couple who insist on feeding us every chance they get. They've got all of the insider scoop on where to go ride, what sights are worth seeing and which restaurants we should avoid.



After getting our bikes put together we saddled up and headed out, and up, to a town called Oracle. One notable item from the ride included a side trip to Biosphere 2 (Recall the failed experiment whereby a group of pseudo scientists were going to live inside a self-sufficient geodesic dome for two years. The experiment came apart after the men, who outnumbered the women, began battling for female companionship. After all of the thoughtful design of the building and it's re-cycling capabilities they somehow forgot about human nature). I would have taken a picture but they hide the buildings behind a wall and you can get a view only if you pay a fee. Being the cheap cyclists we are we took on some free water and split. Here's a picture I grabbed from their website here, that'll teach 'em.



Our starting altitude of 3200 feet quickly rose to over 5000 feet and for a couple of fellas who spend their lives at 800 feet the thin air soon had us gasping. But for a couple of fellas who also spend their lives at 25 degrees and snow, the sunny skies and 75 degrees has us smiling the entire time. 46 relatively easy miles on day 1. But the best part came about 1 block into the ride. We turned a corner and I saw a woman walking in our direction, out of habit I yelled, "Walker up!". This is something that we do instinctively in the summertime and hearing it in early March was a beautiful thing. You probably have to be a cyclist to appreciate how lovely that moment was.

Day 2 had us driving 30 miles to Tucson proper. The most popular ride of the Tucson locals is a ride starting at the University of Arizona heading west and up into a mountain range. The climb from the city up to Gates Pass has you going from modern urban living to wild west scenery filled with Saguaro cactus in about 30 minutes. The climbing is tough but steady and the scenery is spectacular.



Up over the top and it's a fast and nerve racking hi-speed drop into the valley of Saguaro National Park. Darin, with his skills learned from years of motorcycle racing was first to the bottom.

This being the desert, we are always on the lookout for water. Our choice here was between Old Tucson, which is an old Hollywood set that was used in the 50's and 60's for just about every western movie that's now been turned into a classless tourist stop, or the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. We chose the nature center and filled our bottles from a bubbler surrounded by strange looking cacti and numerous singing birds.

From there we put in a couple of hours of pure fun as we rolled up and down the desert landscape. Stopping only to refill our water bottles. 63 miles of glorious sunshine. The day was made even better when we learned that it was snowing back home. Ahhhh!

We've put in a couple of good days of hard riding but it's only been a warm-up for tomorrow. The twenty seven mile climb and nine thousand and two hundred vertical feet of Mount Lemmon await us. We'd better get some rest...

The highlight of this cycling trip was going to be the big climb up Mt. Lemmon which we planned to do on Thursday, after a few days of acclimating to the hard riding and the altitude. But Monday morning dawned so bright, beautiful and warm that we decided to give it a go.

The thinking was that if we had any difficulties we could always try it again later in the week. Right.

We drove to the bottom of the monster and parked right at the sign marking "Mile 0". After getting our bikes together and our gear on we pedaled around a few minutes looking for a nice easy warm-up route. Every road was steep; either up or down. Figuring that any warm-up would just add to our vertical gain we decided to head straight up, trying to set an easy pace early as to not blow up before the top.

The climb features a journey through seven eco-zones. From arid desert at the base to sub arctic at the top. 80 degrees at the bottom had us in short sleeves. Knowing that we might be looking at 50 degrees at the top forced us to pack and carry long sleeve jackets, head bands and arm warmers. Every ounce counts when climbing but without support vehicles (or roadside fans) what else could we do?

Setting a steady pace we rode in single file up the switchbacks. At every corner the views were spectacular. Craggy canyons, vistas of distant mountain ranges and the City of Tucson getting smaller and smaller, and lower and lower.



Each mile marker had one of us proudly yelling out the number and the other two responding with a loud, "Check!".

Water, always a priority in the desert, soon became an issue when we realized that none of the parking or picnic areas had any. Concern at mile marker 6; panic seeping in at mile marker 9. As the realization that lack of water would likely cause us to have to turn back the wheels in our minds began turning, matching our wheels on the road.

Just as all hope was fading Russ made the bold move to ask passersby for water. Jackpot! The group from Ontario, Canada that Russ approached had just purchased a case of bottled water. Wanting nothing but to help us they provided all the water we needed and refused to accept anything in return. After drinking our fill and topping off our bottles it was back up hill. We love Canada!

The beautiful scenery soon began to fade as our vision narrowed to focus on the effort of riding up a steep mountain for mile after mile. This is the kind of riding we don't have in the Midwest. And why we are here. What had been loud and proud proclamations at the lower mile markers were becoming strained acknowledgments by mile marker 16. The noting of mile marker 20 at 8,000 feet was barely audible.

During the ride we noticed how many of the locals turned around at the ranger station near marker 21. It made no sense to us until a half a mile beyond the station the road turned downhill for two miles before the last tortuous climb to the ski station at the summit. Apparently they had no interest in going downhill until the climbing was done. We had no choice but to continue on as our goal was the summit.

By now the extremely thin air had turned cold. The climbing, the low temperatures and the lack of oxygen began taking it's toll. Mostly on me it seemed. Russ and Darin just kept powering on as I began to fall off the back. After almost three hours of climbing the thin air had gotten the best of me and as I rode alongside Darin and Russ I gasped that I was turning back. In a tone I had no choice but to obey they told me that we were in this together and that all three of us were going to finish together. Fortunately, the flag of Mount Lemmon Ski Valley ski resort at an altitude of 9,000 feet was soon visible. With the finish in sight, and the three of us side by side, we were able to power into the parking lot 27 miles, 6,000 feet and almost three hours after we started.

After a short stop for pictures we donned cold weather gear and made the quick decent back to the car. Russ and Darin stopped along the way for pictures, as seen here. I just wanted to get back down into the thick and warm air.



What took almost three hours to go up took about an hour to go down.

We were glad the day was done...

The next day we understandably decided to take it a bit easier. Having dug as deep as we had going up Mt. Lemmon left us with little reserve. But still, the warm sunshine had us in very good spirits as we headed north out of Tucson in search of Saguaro National Park. This park is one of the rare ones that actually charges cyclists to enter. Russ showed them by taking his bike into the 'fobidden zone' near the bubblers. As seen here. Well, you'll just have to trust me that the little sign next to Russ says, "No Bicycles".



Into the park and we were treated once again with spectacular scenery filled with desert landscapes and mountain vistas. The trail wound around and mostly up and down so we attacked the ride like a Sunday stroll. Easy, slow and with stops along the way to enjoy the views.



From the park we cruised over to Davis-Montham Air Force base and watched the warthogs (that's the A-10 Thunderbolt jets for you civilian readers) come and go. Ater cleaning up we stopped by the putting/driving range to be impressed with Darin's Tiger-like skills. Even more frightening was what we saw pulling into the driveway. Today was garbage day and we saw what looked to be 10 or 12 wild pigs milling around the garbage cans. Coyotes? Yes, you might expect those in the deset southwest. Pumas? Maybe. Rattlesnakes? Possibly. But wild pigs? Turns out that these things are javelinas. Unrelated to pigs and according to Gene they're mean and nasty (someone should have told me this before I had gotten out of the car and approached the herd for pictures), and according to Sheila they can run at speeds up to 35 mph. We're not sure about the land speed of these things but they certainly took us by surprise.



In the trip planning stages we talked about all of the cool things that we could do and see in and around Tucson but by the time we did our ride, packed up our bikes, got home and showered, all we really wanted to do was get something to eat and listen to more of Gene and Sheila's hilarious stories. Gene and Sheila are much more entertaining than anything else in town anyway. So that's what we did.

By Wednesday the miles and elevation started taking their toll on our bodies. Since the wind was blowing at 30 mph and the forecast was for rain and possibly snow, we thought we might take at least a little time to see some sights. First stop, Pima Air Museum. Here we got to wander around and by over 275 aircraft, highlighted by an SR-71 spy plane and John F. Kennedy's Air Force One (see more here, here and here).



From the air museum we headed out to historic Tombstone, Arizona. When you step into Tombstone, you step back in time. Or something like that. We stopped by the spot that the Hatfields and McCoys, oh wait, that was somewhere in Tennessee. This would be the Wyatt Earp bunch shooting it out with the Clanton gang at the O.K. Corral. Then we had lunch and bought some postcards to send home with the official Tombstone, AZ post mark. Too much wind and cold. No riding today. Rest day.

Thursday dawned bright and beautiful. Not unusual for these parts. We decided to head back into to Tucson to begin a ride up and over Gate's Pass again and then head south to see what we could find.



The miles rolled by as we pedaled down through one valley, up and over a pass and down into another valley. The sun was bright, the air was warm and our faces were smiling. This is why we came here. 68 miles rolled by before we knew it (Well, truth be told, the third time up Gate's Pass didn't exactly roll by. More of a painful grind. Fun nonetheless.). We also took two side trips; one up Sentinel Peak, better known locally as "A" Mountain, and one most of the way up to a research station. We were told emphatically that, "No bikes are allowed" on the premises and were forced to turn back short of the summit.

What should happen less than one mile from the car on our last ride? Our first flat tire of the trip. After almost 300 miles of cycling, 98 of those miles uphill, it was almost funny to have the first mechanical difficuty so close to home.

After the ride we went to our new favorite restaurant; Whataburger. And really, what a burger! Best hamburgers we've ever had. Maybe it was the caloric deficiency we were dealing with, maybe it was the beautiful sunset after a gloriously warm day, or maybe the burgers were just that good. Whatever, whataburger. These restaurants can only be found south of the Mason-Dixon line. If any of you dear readers have experience in franchising or the restaurant business let me suggest that you look into opening some of these in the midwest. Instant gold mine.

Friday was travel-home day. It was hard to say good-bye to Gene and Sheila. They had become more than just hosts, they had become our friends. They invited us back and I hope to take them up on it someday soon.

From there we dropped off our boxed up bikes at FedEx and stopped by the Phoenix home of some friends of Darin's for dinner. Then to the airport right on time only to find that our flight was going to be delayed at least five hours. Arghhh! It did give us some time to discuss any subjects that the three of us hadn't yet discussed on the trip. By now, nothing was taboo between the three of us. The good thing is, we were able to disagree on serious things without letting it affect our friendship. Not easy when the discussions include; politics, religion, money, sex and bike equipment.

My grandmother once told me to never travel with people that you don't love. As the trip began those echoing words filled me with a bit of concern as to how Darin, Russ and I would get along, what, with being in close proximity 24 hours a day for a week. Turns out grandma was right, I don't think it would have been the great trip it was if we didn't have at least some love for each other (you know, in a manly, heterosexual, don't touch me kind of way).

Seriously, I love you guys. Thanks for a great trip. Next year we go to Texas and The Boss joins us.

The end(s).



To view some fine images from the trip click HERE.