Spaghetti Legs 

Day 3 was Mt Lemmon Day. Roughly 20 miles of nearly continuous but not necessarily heartbreaking climbing. There was a descent before climbing again with a short drop into the summit town of Summerhaven. The climb back out there to the summit nearly broke me. It was about 2 miles on tired, cold legs and took me about 6-7 miles of the true descent to get my mojo back and really fly down the remaining downhill. My final day involved the short ride in Sabino Canyon, which is a paved out and back trail, mostly limited to walkers but open to bikes in the early AM. After a brekky and 2nd cup of joe, we rehashed a lot of the Day 1 ride with a longer stop for lunch at Saguaro Corners restaurant. As always, a really fun trip with good riding made better by good companions. Many thanks to Soup_Please for guiding the rides as well as the eating.


Nlerner - Master of All He Surveys - first rest stop on Mt Lemmon

Spot the Gugie

View on the climb out of Summerhaven before the long drop back down to Tucson

There is water here! Sabino Canyon

Andrew uses the power of meditation to elevate to great heights

downhill stretch back to the hacienda on my final day's ride

gugie 

fify

mountaindave 

To quote a famous line: I get older, they stay the same age.

rccardr 

My turn.
Monday was everyone's travel day & surprisingly only one of us- Neal- had any problems. His were...epic.
Our hacienda and base camp for the week:


Chef Gugie made dinner the first night- an excellent Carb Load for an expected hot, hard ride the next morning:


So, Day One there were six of us. Saguaro Canyon East Loop ride and then Colossal Cave Mountain Park. Hard and hot, just as planned:



Neal arrived for Day Two, and then we were seven. Long Loop ride around Tucson (which is an amazing riding resource for local residents), interspersed with a coffee stop, food truck lunch, and a visit to local legend frame builder Andy Gilmour.

On the road again...

How many riders does it take to fix a flat?

Awesome lunch stop!

Andy Gilmour's shop

Gugie, of course, has a story to tell Andy

rccardr 

Day Three was the ride up Mt. Lemmon. John drove the Sag truck, which was fortunate as it turned out I wasn't quite back on form after surgery and gave it up around milepost 14. Everyone else made it up much farther. At l;east I got to ride down from Palisades. Darn constant headwinds limited top speeds to the low 40's.

First rest stop, about 7 miles up

Steady, sturdy steed



Hoo Doos!

rccardr 

Day Four was a two-part ride: early morning in Sabino Canyon (bikes have to be out by 9am to avoid issues with later tram/hiker/jogger traffic), followed by second breakfast and back out to Saguaro Canyon East, which Neal had missed due to his airline kerfuffle




One of a handful of bridge/ford crossings in the canyon. Designed so that the water flows over it during monsoon season

rccardr 

Day five was another long Loop day. John's friend from work (also John) joined us and provided additional guidance, as the Loop connections can be quite confusing. Another food truck lunch (this time seafood) and a visit to San Xavier Mission


Interior courtyard

A hot and sweaty bunch

Fish or shrimp tacos?

rccardr 

All in all, a really great trip. Everyone pitched in with food prep, cleanup, bike repair, beer runs, more beer runs, and got along well. Disparate backgrounds but a common love for cycling.
This picture from the last hour of the last day says it all- joyous fun!

Soup_Please

Spaghetti Legs in Saguaro East

Bathroom stop in Saguaro East

Coming into Colossal Cave Park. rccardr and Andrew
I was the local host, and erstwhile route planner/food truck finder. I couldn't have had a better time. The photos are from say one, which included a trip up Freeman hill to the Saguaro National East (criterium) loop, and an out and back to Colossal Cave Park. On the return trip, Spaghetti Legs got a bee in his bonnet and he and I traded pulls on the downhill/tailwind section until we tired each other out.

Soup_Please

Day two included a coffee pastry stop at Exo Coffee's new barrio viejo location, and great Pueblo-style Mexican food at El Antojo Poblano en Tucson. We did not heed the excess calories/excess sugar warnings on the Mexican Coke bottles. We mostly stuck to Tucson's Loop, but truncated it somewhat to avoid a headwind and enjoy a spin through campus to take in the scenery. We ended the day in Andy Gilmour's shop where my new bike began its life.

Exo coffee stop


Making friends at every stop

Virginia legs meet Tucson sun.

Andy explaining the difference between "bicycle" aluminum tubes and regular aluminum tubes.

Soup_Please

(My) last day riding with the group was the climb up Mt. Lemmon. We had ideal climbing weather with snow by the road up near the top when we got over 8000'. It was Spaghetti Legs highest elevation climb. I was mostly with Spaghetti Legs and nlearner after Bear Canyon area. We enjoyed the best potato chips in the world at the Summerhaven General Store. Gugie significantly bested his Spring Break 2020 effort and we decided that he was our most "Combative" rider in a mostly man vs. himself conflict.

My new bike in Gilmour's workshop, its birthplace.

Spaghetti legs grinding up the slope near Geology Vista

nlearner on the climb above Windy Point

Nlearner with lots of geology in the background

First water stop at Palisades. Nice cold water from the spigot as usual.

rccardr 

What, no pics of me passing you on the descent? I’m shocked!

northbend 

Thanks for all the ride reports, guys. Sounds like you guys had a great time

Soup_Please

Haha, my contract didn't include that kind of action photography--no pics from me at over 35mph. I admit to being a bit surprised how at fast you pushed that ol' yeller C-Dale down the steeper curves above to Molino Basin. I kept thinking I'd catch you, but no. Nice bit of riding.

Soup_Please

It probably goes without saying, but you were missed. Your name was invoked several times and we all told stories about you--some of which might even be true. It is hard to say

Soup_Please

Total climbing is closer to 7000 ft. I got 7099 feet total over 61.3 miles on ride with GPS
Next time, we'll go clear to the radio towers which looks like this:
Total distance: 65.19 mi
Max elevation: 9136 ft
Min elevation: 2559 ft
Total climbing: 8322 ft
Total descent: -8316 ft