Hi - been AWOL but riding pretty much every day. I finished the school year with a "PCW"- perfect commute week and over 75 days riding to work. I'm doing the 100 commute day challenge on bike journal this year.

I think I posted we went to the Chiracahuas last weekend for a mini-bike tour. Just to practice, really, because we only rode 2 miles to the campsite! But we packed in all our gear. I had to replace my panniers- the ones I bought used ripped on the seam. (I think I'll post separately to see if anyone has a suggestion on whether they can be repaired). We took the touring bikes on a rough dirt road in the Chiracahuas - looking for a rare bird. Although we negotiated it successfully, it was not really ideal. The "back side" of the hill (we went down 2.4 miles over the top of the pass) was really steep and it was hot- we couldn't get enough traction to ride in places. Then coming down was just really challenging because the road was either gravel or rock and it took a huge amount of concentration. We had to brake the entire way and my hands were hurting. I decided it needed mountain bikes, disc brakes and possibly a younger body to enjoy that ride! But we did it! We spent time hiking and looking for birds on Saturday and did the big mountain ride on Sunday. We didn't even see the rare bird (Slate-throated Redstart) when we got to the spot after all that work!)

Tues, Weds and Thurs mornings I did various flattish rides around Tucson to some birding sites.

Then Thursday night until today, my husband and I took a somewhat longer bike camping trip to Madera Canyon. The grade is not bad until about 3 miles from the campground. It was about 16 miles, 5 flat and and 8 3-4%. But the last bit is 7-9% or higher most of the way and I could not pedal the loaded touring bike on the steepest (10-12%) sections. So it took us about an hour to go the last three miles. Friday I rode to the end of the road- maybe 1.5 more miles but gets up to 13%! I saw one of the birds I was looking for last weekend (Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher), but mostly lots and lots of hummingbirds.