Tucson Road Recommendation

[Thorn]

We find ourselves with a day to ride in Tucson. We're located near the airport and were thinking of doing an easy bike stroll to and through Saguaro East and back. The Tucson Bike Map shows that Valencia may go through to Old Spanish Trail by now.

"Walking" the route with Google street views shows the road clearly was (and maybe still is) dirt in spots. Can any of you Tucson located folks please confim/deny that Valencia does/does not go through? Or, if there is a better route we should take, please feel free to recommend.

Thanks!

[badgercat]

I've biked in Saguaro East once, and my impression was that it was not a "stroll" (thanks to a pretty big climb) but then again, I was a pretty new (and pretty wimpy) cyclist at that point. :p Have you been there before? It's very pretty out there, I'd love to go back some day and see how I do. ;)

I can't help as much with the getting there part (yet), as the one and only time I was out there, we drove...and I'm much more familiar with roads in the central/campus and north parts of town. How soon will you be visiting? I'll be driving someone to the airport this coming Saturday and would be willing to check out Valencia on my way home if that'd help. I'm always curious about bikeable roads in town anyway. :)

[Thorn]

Thanks for the offer BC, but we're flyout out today (woohoo....warmth for my toes!!!!:D ). I guess we'll just have to give it a try or take another route. No biggie--I was asking because it is the fewest number of turns--it is hard for me to get lost that way.

We did Saguaro East last year. Yeah, there is a pretty healthy climb, but I like the idea of a low volume traffic section on my first ride. And it is so very pretty--if it doesn't rain this year, I suspect it will be even prettier than last.