Saguaro National Park East - "Work Off The Stuffing!"

J2 came over at 7:30am and we rode to the corner of Craycroft & Golf Links were me met up with Dan at 8am.  Unfortunatly Wayne did not show (and we have not heard from him yet either).  

From here we rode together West on Craycroft to the end.  A quick left on Houghton and a quick right onto Old Spanish Trail and a few more miles to the park.  The BEAUTIFUL 8-mile hill loop and back home the same way with breakfast at Joe's Pancake House.

It's a pretty hilly route TO the park, than the loop itself is all hills (DOWN & up).  Today there were more bikes than cars in the park - nice!

A fun day together and we did indeed work off the stuffing (and the pie!).

Here we are with our machines at the top of Hill #1:  J2, Dan, J1

Saguaro National Mounument East

J2 proposed a "hill climbing".  From his house, out AND THROUGH, Saguaro East, and back - 28 miles.

I was a bit leery about the 8-mile loop especially after riding all the way there but thought, why not try it.  We each paid the $5 park entry and in we went.

It is 8.1 miles of incline just to get to the park entry from J2's house.  From the 8.1 mile mark, look at the map.  You can see that when you enter the park the fun begins right away.  3.6 miles of SCREAMING downhills! Then... you guessed it The Hills...  The first is a 1.5 mile hill (with a view point halfway) that makes you think the climbing is over.  It's not!  There are three more climbs, shorter but just as steep.  The steepest being a 5.8% grade.

We took a few photos but they don't do the monument justice.  You need to ride this loop yourself!

All in all it is a very doable 8-mile loop.  A bit tiring and could be hard on the knees if you are not spinning fast enough.  What makes it even more enjoyable is the pavement is "A+" and the scenery is beyond description.  This is not a ride you want to just do non-stop.  It is too nice an area to not stop and take in the spectacular views along the loop.

Here is a photo of the first climb.  Quite steep and long.  Enjoy the views, the perfect pavement and don't think the hills are done until you are ALL the back at the guard gate.

The view-point 1/2 way up the first climb.

The reward of the climb... the SCREAMING fast downhills!
Enjoy, you earned it!

Cleaned up the blog today = speedy!

I noticed that the "RideWithGPS" embedded maps were significantly increasing the "page-load time" for this blog.  I removed all of the embedded maps under each blog posting and decided to LINK to them in the right-hand list for each ride.

So, all the maps are still available - just now neatly linked in the right-hand column.

The blog loads MUCH faster now!

El Tour de Tucson

Not only my first ever El Tour, not only my first ever "bike race", but my first ever competitive event!

J2 and I rode in the 35 mile portion today.  Starting in Oro Valley at Ironwood H.S., then followed the route (as mapped below) into downtown Tucson to the exciting finish line!

Here we are in Oro Valley, AZ at the 12:30pm start for the 35-mile portion.

Music blaring, announcements, and a line of over 1,100 of us waiting to ride.











View from the trike as we head into, UP, and through Rattlesnake Pass...













And in we come at 3:00:20!

Denise and mom had made up nice signs for us!

"J1 & J2..."
Now even my own wife & mother are calling me J1, oh no!

J2 & J1 at the finish.

Greeted by Denise!

Friends and family came to see us off, and greet us at the finish.

Bryan, Dino, Krista & Tony, Denise, and Mom. 

17 miles, registered for Saturday's El Tour de Tucson, and front derailleur issue!

Rode the trike to the Tucson Convention Center for packet pick-up for Saturday's El Tour de Tucson.

Received timing chip, t-shirt, gooddie bag - all set for my first El Tour!

Here I am, rider #12886.  I think J2 is #12888.

J2 met me there (via car) as K8 had to go into work for a bit anyhow so it was convenient timing for us to meet up.









Signage, walls, bollards, and especially the bike path and road surfaces themselves are VERY neglected in Tucson.  Here's a photo of the one good sign on the bike path and a photo of one of the rest for comparison.

From there I went up 4th Ave., and my front derailleur came off!  I called Denise for a rescue ride but then noticed a bike shop right across the street!  Ordinary Bike Shop put it back on within 20 minutes and everything works great - all for $5.

I continued the ride through the UofA to the 3rd street bike route and happened along a large crowd, all on bikes, all waiting in line.  The city was giving away free Trek front & rear mini-lights if you filled out a survey about bike riding/commuting in Tucson.  So I did!

Here is the trike getting blinky-lights!

Dr. appt, 36 miles, Time Market x2, and PRISIONERS!

Took the trike on my first "real" commute today!
I had a 9:45am Dermatology appt. on Alvernon and Glen.  Yesterday I decided to cycle there, then go for a ride afterwards.

The Doctor's office is just South of the Rillitto MUP (on Alvernon & Dodge) so I got on the path there and went as follows:

Alvernon to the Rillitto MUP (Dodge)
Mountain Ave. to University Blvd. (Time Market, pizza slice)
4th Ave to Aviation/Golf Links MUP (see photo of prisioners!)
To Craycroft, turn around and head back to Time Market again.
Down University Blvd. and back through the UofA and East on the 3rd Ave bike route
to Rosemont to home.

This is a photo of a group of 10 or so prisoners in orange jumpsuits cleaning up the path.  They were there with a dump truck, a mini-bus, and a pickup truck pulling their own porta-potty.  They were a very rough looking bunch of guys!

3rd St. then mostly what I call our usual "Big Ride"

What a perfect day, beautiful weather! 

Started at home;  Rosemont to 3rd St., UofA to Mountain, Rillitto MUP West to N. Camino de la Terra
Orange Grove to La Cholla, Rillitto MUP East to Craycroft, Rosemont to home.

J2 and I had lunch at The Glass Onion (with Jen1)

GABA bike swap-meet and breakfast at Franks

Met the group (Bruce, Dan, Wayne) at Craycroft & Broadway this morning at 8am. We rode along the Golf Links/Aviation MUP to the annual GABA bike swap-meet on 4th Ave.

Denise & Clara surprised us by showing up at 8:45am, and they hung out with J2 for another hour after we left.

I heard afterwards that J2 had given Denise the sutle sales-pitch on the many benefits of recumbent trike riding. #1 being not falling on trolly tracks!

J2 was ready for us with plenty of sodas and mini danish, how nice!

He was there displaying his new advertising business: BikeLaneBillboards.com







We walked around for over an hour and left (without Dan) for the ride to Franks Restaurant. By the time we got to Franks, Dan was there waiting for us!  The four of us enjoyed a hearty breakfast and had a good time together.

How I often forget to take photos is mind-boggling, as a group photo of the four of us with "The Food Bitch" would have been so fun!

(Missing photo here)  :-(

We rode back the same way we came and met up with J2 again for a bit.

15 mile ride, also "drove" the El Tour de Tucson route

We took the trikes in J2's truck to Oro Valley and drove the 35-mile El Tour de Tucson route so we know what to expect on the 21st.

Since we ended up downtown, we parked at Time Market (okay, just maybe we had a slice of pizza!) then we rode the trikes the opposite way than usual (south, west) down 4th Ave, onto the Aviation/Golf Links MUP, all the way to Craycroft - then turned around and rode it back our usual direction (Westbound) back to the Time Market and J2's truck.

Dan C. told me about a new online map that I starting using today.  It looks promising, although does not run live (and record) on the iPhone like MapMyRide.

One month old!

I've had the trike ONE MONTH as of today, and have ridden it 441 miles!
This is the most I've ever ridden a cycle in a month in my life!

38 mile ROAD ride

Long ride, all roads today.
Dan came to my house at 7:50am.  We then rode to J2's house and onto Le Buzz to meet up with the rest of the group for the official "Eastside Ride". Bruce was waiting at Le Buzz for us with Ron C. and we rode out to the end of Speedway & back as a group with a 2-mile loop through E. Woodland Rd. and back to Le Buzz for a great breakfast.  Then J2 & I rode back (part way with Dan too), where I left J2 on Pantano and kept heading back home myself.

Here we are at the trail head about 9:15am.  LOTS of people horseback riding on these trails, it's so beautiful against the Rincon Mountains.  (click photo to enlarge)

J1, Bruce, J2, Ron, and Dan

Web-promo for this blog...

In making some fun videos of us riding the recumbent trkes, I decided to open a new Youtube account: TucsonTriceTrikeTrip.  I will be posting all my videos under this new account.



Denise will use her own account just for her & Clara: ClaraMarieBichon

BikeLaneBillboards.com

Rode 20 miles this afternoon.  Went to 4th Ave and through the UofA and back home.
J2 met me at the Time Market on University where we shot a "temporary" video for his new advertising service, BikeLaneBillboards.com

Catrike 700 - a real GoFast Machine!

A video of J2 on his Catrike 700 from today's 38 mile ride...

SNAKES!

During certain seasons you will always find critters here in the Sonoran Desert.  Here is J2 checking out the snake.  After this photo I chased it off the trail so it didn't get run over.  It slithered away safe and sound.
Today's ride:  38 mile ride, re-shot some of the bridge video clips in HD.

Reid park 25-miler (distractions galore!)

Left about 4:30pm to Reid Park.  It's an easy 2-mile ride from home, along the Arroyo Chico and right to Alvernon.  Each time around Reid Park is 3-miles so it's easy to determine how many miles you want to put in.  Tonight, the only thing that stopped me was that it got VERY busy on the path and became unsafe for me to continue riding as it became dusk.  That path is FILLED with walkers at certain hours every day; walkers, dog walkers, joggers (most with their iPod on so they are unaware of everything around them).

Always distractions - tonight it was the usual hotties jogging, a huge full-moon and a new one - the darn restaurant (Claim Jumper) on the path smelled like Onion Rings!  I mean come on!  Here I am trying to ride mile after mile (get healthy) and I smell Onion Rings!

(sorry, no picture of the Hotties or the Onion Rings)

25 miles (rode home in the dark).  Done.

Poor Denise, I find her desperate for dinner, making this concoction. 
I need to go make her a real dinner now....