Emily- where are you located now?

I had two longish rides this weekend: yesterday, 56 miles and today 50. Yesterday we strung together some of the regular routes on the east side of Tucson.

The ride today was exceptional. The weather is changing here and it was a little cooler, with a front bringing some clouds in. My husband was doing a long run with a running group in the Santa Rita Mountains south of Tucson. So my friend and I hitched a ride to the parking area, which was conveniently located at 4200 feet, allowing us to start our ride with a wonderful descent down to the Santa Cruz River Valley. It was pretty much downhill all the back to Tucson, with a tail wind for 42 of the 50 miles. We ended up with an average speed of 18.5 mph at the end of northbound section, and a final average of 17.2, even after riding across the city for 8 miles. It was perfect weather- some clouds, reasonable temperatures the whole morning and we were home by 10:30 am, amazingly.