Quad "Recumbents"

No, not all quads today but four recumbents.  Three trikes and a quad. 
Amy, myself, J2, and David (L to R) .

Gear review

Even though I have a few options to carry the necessities (water, repair/flat kit) and some extra gear on my trike, things were not feeling right.  The Radical Allfa ICE side pods are cavernous inside.  Unless you are carrying lots of large items, everything seams to get lost in this large bags (no dividers inside).  Great bags for this trike, just to large for non-touring/commuting needs.


The Trice Rear Carrier that came with my trike has a problem where a portion of the rack hits the trike frame, so that's been removed until I resolve that problem.  Otherwise, the bag I have for that rack is actually very nice.  The SunLite is a very nice bag with lots of pockets and two large drop-down side panniers.  The two new bags will work nicely with the two new bags, as the new bags have very specific purposes that are not duplicated with the trunk bag.


I placed an order with the Hostel Shoppe for:

FastBack - 4.0 Hydration Pack











 

FastBack - Tool Pouch














will finish this post later today, need to prepare to ride...!

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!