Wish you'd gotten in touch with me- I love meeting other TE members...
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DH and I just spent the month of February in Tucson and had a blast. Our first time in the city, and we were pleased with how good the cycling infrastructure is. Tons of bike lanes, nice bike paths, and some great rural routes just outside the city.
Only downside is the traffic (it is a BIG city, after all) and the fact that the majority of roads were badly cracked/crazed, making for some bumpy conditions. We were told by friends of DH who live in the city that it's due to the extreme dry climate. Still, we did enjoy our rides there. Some of my solo rides I did on my Jamis full-suspension MTB, which really smoothed out the bumps, but when riding with DH, I had to ride my Trek roadie or fall way behind.
The weather was AWESOME! We started the month in tights and vests, for the most part, but about a week in we were mostly in shorts and short sleeves for the rest of the month. We tended to wait to set out until 10 or 11 am so we wouldn't have to layer. We felt SO lucky to be wearing shorts while so much of the country was suffering in the "polar vortex"
We did a few blog posts on some of the Tuscon rides we did, if anyone is interested. Note that these are in reverse chronological order:
2 Rides in Saguaro National Park
Snake Bridge, Downtown, and the U of A
Collossal Cave - Pistol Hill ride
Tuscon Foothills ride
Solo ride on the Pantano River Trail
Emily
Emily
2011 Jamis Dakar XC "Toto" - Selle Italia Ldy Gel Flow
2007 Trek Pilot 5.0 WSD "Gloria" - Selle Italia Diva Gel Flow
2004 Bike Friday Petite Pocket Crusoe - Selle Italia Diva Gel Flow
Wish you'd gotten in touch with me- I love meeting other TE members...
2016 Specialized Ruby Comp disc - Ruby Expert ti 155
2010 Surly Long Haul Trucker - Jett 143
We lived on the far west side back in 2005/2006, coming from IL we couldn't get over how great the roads were!
February was the second warmest month on record. Glad you had fun!
To train a dog, you must be more interesting than dirt.
Trek Project One
Trek FX 7.4 Hybrid
Emily
2011 Jamis Dakar XC "Toto" - Selle Italia Ldy Gel Flow
2007 Trek Pilot 5.0 WSD "Gloria" - Selle Italia Diva Gel Flow
2004 Bike Friday Petite Pocket Crusoe - Selle Italia Diva Gel Flow
Haha, that's pretty funny, Pax. We kept exclaiming about how terrible they were. We did love the bike lanes, but our butts surely got tired of the bumps and cracks in the pavement. In NC, where we've lived most of our cycling lives, our roads are much smoother, but there are many fewer bike lanes/paths. It's all a trade-off!
Emily
2011 Jamis Dakar XC "Toto" - Selle Italia Ldy Gel Flow
2007 Trek Pilot 5.0 WSD "Gloria" - Selle Italia Diva Gel Flow
2004 Bike Friday Petite Pocket Crusoe - Selle Italia Diva Gel Flow
[QUOTE=Dogmama;690413]February was the second warmest month on record. Glad you had fun![/QUOTE
We LOVED the weather. We are so spoiled now!
Emily
2011 Jamis Dakar XC "Toto" - Selle Italia Ldy Gel Flow
2007 Trek Pilot 5.0 WSD "Gloria" - Selle Italia Diva Gel Flow
2004 Bike Friday Petite Pocket Crusoe - Selle Italia Diva Gel Flow
I'll have to read your reports! I understand about shy, I often find it awkward to meet people I only talk to online.
I've been in Tucson since January 1. AZ, maybe we can hook up sometime this month? I am down at Voyageur RV park about a mile south of I-10 and on Kolb. Biking the trails along the washes have been fun. I just did the short 50k route of the Tour de Cure Diabetes ride this morning.
Trek Madone 4.7 WSD
Cannondale Quick4
1969 Schwinn Collegiate, original owner
Terry Classic
Richard Feynman: “The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool.”
Yes, that's me too -- I have social anxiety. It would not be comfortable to me to reach out to someone I only knew through a forum. I know to extraverts, this would be no big deal and actually a lot of fun, and I wish I were like that, but I'm just not. I remember corresponding with you about "RVing for Introverts"! We are still talking about an RV and may pull the trigger this spring.
Which trails have you ridden, goldfinch? I spent a lot of time on the Pantano River Park paved trail. We were staying in a condo on Speedway just east of Pantano, so the northeast section of the city. It was about a 4-mile ride to access the trail, then head down south on the trail to Irvington. Sometimes I did a loop on some roads in that area; other times I'd just do the trail back and forth a few times since it was so smooth and fun to ride. Just wished it went farther!
Emily
2011 Jamis Dakar XC "Toto" - Selle Italia Ldy Gel Flow
2007 Trek Pilot 5.0 WSD "Gloria" - Selle Italia Diva Gel Flow
2004 Bike Friday Petite Pocket Crusoe - Selle Italia Diva Gel Flow
Loved your pictures and commentary, Emily. If you can believe it, I have only been to Tucson 4 times, despite living in Tempe/Scottsdale for 16 years. And 2 of the times I was there, was during the year my DS #2 was going to U of A, long after I left AZ. Tucson is just nicer and less like LA, and I often have rued the day I decided to go to ASU for grad school, instead of U of A.
And, a butte is a geographical formation: an isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top; buttes are smaller than mesas, plateaus, and table landforms.
They often look like small hills just sticking up out of the ground, not part of a group of hills or mountains.
2015 Trek Silque SSL
Specialized Oura
2011 Guru Praemio
Specialized Oura
2017 Specialized Ariel Sport
We are about 2 miles from Julian wash so I do that trail a fair amount. My favorite is the Rillito river trail and the Santa Cruz trail. There is a group from my very huge RV park that goes out twice a week on the road and once a week on mountain bikes in the desert, so I am getting plenty of riding in.
If you are interested in a used Lazy Daze, ours will be up for sale this spring. We are using our Blue Bird bus for rv'ing as my spouse is now traveling with me. So, the 24 foot LD has to go.
Last edited by goldfinch; 03-02-2014 at 05:45 PM.
Trek Madone 4.7 WSD
Cannondale Quick4
1969 Schwinn Collegiate, original owner
Terry Classic
Richard Feynman: “The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool.”
Just read your reports Emily. I will have to do that Colossal Cave rides; it sounds perfect.
Trek Madone 4.7 WSD
Cannondale Quick4
1969 Schwinn Collegiate, original owner
Terry Classic
Richard Feynman: “The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool.”
Goldfinch- I would love to meet you and ride with you.
I work in Rita Ranch and live about 10 miles north of you just off of Kolb Road. This week is crazy but from March 8-23 I have a lot of free time (except for all my Saint Patrick's Day gigs - but maybe you can come and see my band play while you are here.
I will send you a pm with more info.
Sharon
2016 Specialized Ruby Comp disc - Ruby Expert ti 155
2010 Surly Long Haul Trucker - Jett 143
Oh, that's too bad. No, that would be too small for us too -- we have to have a full-time bed, and not an offset one that requires one of us to crawl over the other to pee at night either! But we don't want to go too large as we want to be agile. Our current choice is a Phoenix Cruiser 2551 (26.5' long), which has twin beds. IF we are brave enough to pull the trigger, that is!
Emily
2011 Jamis Dakar XC "Toto" - Selle Italia Ldy Gel Flow
2007 Trek Pilot 5.0 WSD "Gloria" - Selle Italia Diva Gel Flow
2004 Bike Friday Petite Pocket Crusoe - Selle Italia Diva Gel Flow