Fun road riding in Tucson!

[emily_in_nc]

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

[azfiddle]

Wish you'd gotten in touch with me- I love meeting other TE members...

[Pax]

We lived on the far west side back in 2005/2006, coming from IL we couldn't get over how great the roads were!

[Dogmama]

February was the second warmest month on record. Glad you had fun!

[emily_in_nc]

[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!

[goldfinch]

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.

[emily_in_nc]

We lived on the far west side back in 2005/2006, coming from IL we couldn't get over how great the roads were!

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_in_nc]

Wish you'd gotten in touch with me- I love meeting other TE members...

Sorry, azfiddle -- I'm a bit shy/introverted, so I don't usually reach out that way. And my DH is even less social than I am. We're both friendly, nice peeps, but just don't go out of our way to meet new people. Nothing personal!