Gila Bend into Tucson

I spent the first few days of the new year fighting more wind in the sometimes lovely sometimes gross stretch across the northeast corner of the Sonoran Desert. See here.

12/1
A late start to recover from long empty headwindy stretches on I-8, I rolled out of the Space Age Lodge around noon. Winds were 10-15mph with occasional gusts, quartering me from the NE. I headed mostly East, into the Maricopa Mountains, and was soon in the Sonoran Desert National Monument. Winds increased. Saguaro became more and more prevalent on the slow grade to the pass. I'm back on Anza's route again, along the same rail line. Just after the pass I turn onto a dirt road and ride down a couple of miles, past an old lava butte, to make my camp. This winds hadn't bothered me much; I'd planned a short ride into beautiful country.

Neighbors arrived shortly before dark; I was a little miffed, excited to have the desert to myself. I went over to introduce myself to this pack of 4 men and two teenagers, one camper, several dual sport motorcycles, and a couple of jeeps. Keith offered me their fire, which was going to be much nicer than the one of dry rotten palo verde that I never made. I joined them after mac & cheese and tuna, and met the group. A number of them had met at work, and were out for the post new year eve's camping eat and drink the leftovers trip. Keith and Gary were the experienced offroaders. Gary, like me, has a penchant for endoing. Yeay superman! Keith gave me Leffe to drink, and we all settled into converstation around the fire.

Tony brought the kids, Danielle and Ben, and the three of them had a lot of questions about the trip. It's both fun and wearisome to talk about it. Ken too was inquisitive. Gary helped me out, telling stories of my own, and giving me some time to chill (warm) and drink yummy ale. Ed was mostly quiet.

I engaged these folks about offroading in the park, having seen a number of "No Offroading" signs, and many tire ruts in the desert. I got two answers. The first was the reactionary: "What are people, who've never been and will never been here, trying to tell us to do...". This was quickly moderated by Keith, experienced 'froader, who advocated staying on the designated roads trails. He understood the fragility of the desert. Everyone out there cherished it, and we were doing what we could to enjoy it and preserve it.

1/2
The wind picked up during the night. I hung out with 'froaders a little, and then got going around 930. The wind was fierce. I geared down, and road by new rail construction, kicking up red dirt. Dirt coming at me 30mph or so, pinpricky. Visibility 1/4 to 1 mile. This is not fun. It got worse after I passed the dump. There were more trucks coming and going. The shoulder disappeared. Trash would blow out of the beds of semis' trailers, several articles per truck every several hundreds or thousands of yards. After averaging about 5mph for more than 20 miles, I reached Maricopa.

I was hoping to find a place there, and just stop for the day. There were no places in this strip mall suburb in the desert. From blowing trash to plastic city, blech. So I rode on, knowing I'd be racing darkness against the wind into Casa Grande. Luckily, the wind let up a bit, though the scenery changed for the worse. Replacing the pristine then trashed desert was farmland and feed lots. I had a mediocre dinner burger in Casa Grande - probably locally raised, right? Then, exhausted, averaging 6mph over 50 or so miles, I conked out.

1/3
I planned a short day, and the wind had somewhat abated. I rode out of the farmland past Eloy to the edge of the North Picacho mountains. I got onto minor roads, making my way past orange groves, cotton, and maybe soybeans on my way to Picacho Peak. It's an incredible landmark - visible for many miles in all directions - like a well decayed molar sticking out of the dirt.

I stopped at the Arizona Nut House for some ice cream (never too cold for a cone) on the way into the park. The campground is in the bajada coming down from the west end of the peak, filled with foothills palo verde and saguaro along the washes, and various cholla and scrub everywhere else. The ground is littered with red lava rock, with a small 80' butte right by my campsite. I made camp and got the rangers to deliver me firewood, and set about fixing my stove. Apart, clean, together, light, off, repeat. I couldn't get a steady stream.

Gary Adler showed up, and then took me out to a truckstop for dinner. We spent 2 or so hours trying to catch up 15 or so years. It was great to see him, and clear to me why he was such a good friend to me then - he's bright and wise and very compassionate. Gary is in a doctoral program in sociology at Arizona, and my first example of what that can mean. We talked about our experiences and what our families were up to, and the time flew by far too quickly. He had a long trip planned, leaving the next day. It was nice that he drove out to meet me at my campsite before he left.

1/4
I used my firewood to boil my water, having broken my stove trying to fix it. Got a known problem as well as an unknown one, but it was only one more night until I roll in Tucson, so not worth sweating. After riding the frontage road for a couple of miles, I turned onto Park Link Rd, which quickly turned to a dirt road. I thought of turning back, not knowing what to expect - perhaps dirt road for 18 miles until the next turn. I'm glad I didn't heed these inner voices.

Park Link Rd was quite a lift after the previous days' rides. It cuts NE, up over a low pass and then onto 79. It is pure Arizona Upland terrain of the Sonoran Desert. It's marvelous saguaros and dense dense brush with honey mesquite, palo verde, barrel cactus, teddy bear cholla, pencil cholla, some creosote, and all sorts of other attractions. The road was a gentle grade up about 1% for 18 miles. The sun was out and bright and hot and the wind was low. After maybe 3 miles of dirt road the pavement appeared again, and the whole stretch slowly changed the flora as I climbed higher in the upland.

At the pass, the terrain changed, on the other side were valleys leading up to the Santa Catalinas, enormous and brushed with snow at the top. The saguaros disappeared, and there was much grass and occasional mesquite. I turned South, with occasional rollers ahead, and knowing I'd get to drop all the elevation I'd just picked up. A good days ride indeed!

Soon after I turned onto 79, I was passed by a roadie, Ryan. I sprinted, much as I can loaded, to catch up with him and asked to grab his wheel. He obliged, dropped me, then slowed down to pull me, understanding how slow I am after riding loaded 30 or so miles. Ryan pulled me all the way to Oro Valley. We shot the shit as we rode, and it was a great diversion. He pushed me really hard at first, over the rollers. Then it was slightly downhill, and I could hide behind him more effectively, often keeping him on one quarter or the other. The winds get swirly near the mountains, but we were going fast enough that much of the wind was ahead. Ryan sped me up to the point that I decided to call Scott about coming in the last 20 miles that night.

I rode into town from the northwest entrance. Tucson is surrounded by mountains, with roads radiating out through passes between ranges. I could see across town from my spot in foothills along Ina Rd over to the University of Arizona and knew I had eight or so miles left. I got the early impression that Tucson is a good cycling town, with clear and frequent signage as well as marked route. Having someone ride me into town and seeing all of the other folks out riding supported this.

I met up with Scott Savage, more a family friend than someone I knew well. We'd each spent much more time in the company of each other's fathers - out hiking or fly fishing - than we had with each other. It was good to meet him and spend some time swapping family stories or insight. Yeah, we talked about you. Hope you're all doing well.

1/5 - 1/10

Ultimately I couldn't spend too much time with Scott, because he is working like mad on grad school, in the same sociology program as Gary. I was lucky to have Scott introduce me to friends of his in the program, and found a good group of folks. It reminded me of the dojo, everyone working on self-improvement, helping those around them, and all sharing in each other's accomplishment. Good stuff. As Scott's roommate returned, and his place was small, I needed somewhere to stay if I was going to stay in Tucson longer.

Seth, one of Scott's friends and mentors in the department offered to put me up. This gave me a chance to relax my way through my to do list. It's been great preparation for what's to come. Seth has given me a ton to think about, which may happen in some middles of the night in the mountains to come. It's been a great time meeting a small circle within the sociology department, going out with Scott and Seth and Jeff. It's the first time this trip I've been with new folks my age, with whom I share many values and goals, for any number of days. I feel like I've grown by lingering here.

Tucson is indeed a good cycling town. There are routes all over, with frequent signs indicating routes - a good reminder for motorists. Roads are comparable to Seattle's, before their recent repairs initiative. BICAS, the local cycling coop, is the best I've been to. It has a huge space, a ton of used parts, and many friendly advisors helping wrench at the stands. They have a work for your parts plan, and are focused on teaching repair and building community. It was a great place to work on Ziggy, patching my sidewall puncture, cleaning, lubing, and tuning. There have been riders of all sorts out, which is good to see.

1/11

Today I rode out around town unloaded, to have some fun getting Ziggy rolling again. I went out to ride by the boneyards on the air force base, and then the ones at Pima County Air Museum. The bike trail leading out was a great break from trafficked riding. The aircraft looked tired, all lined up for disuse. I rode on, making a big sweep south to the Mission, and then back north into town to the UofA. It was a great day for it, and I really enjoyed hammering on the gentle grades.

I'm planning on heading out of town this weekend. I'm not much past my halfway point, but I've got no other planned stops. I've planned a number of options for my route. I'm hoping that I've learned a few things by now, and will be able to enjoy this push. It's going to be a lonely road, but time and again I've been friendly people possessed of a good spirit. It'll be nice to get in range of folks in Austin; maybe they'll join me for some campings along the way.

Primary planned route
or
Scorch across NM
or (
To the Guadalupe Mountains
and (
Through the Davis Mountains
or
Bail to Van Horn
))