Thanks for the tip, Kelly. The Priority website looks great and I'll enjoy poking around there. Jean and I ride a Bike Friday tandem with a 3-spd IGH, but it is rather old technology and we've had some issues over the years. I think a Pinion would feel like a very delightful big step up, in terms of IGH performance, were I to get one as my all-around single.
As usual we've enjoyed your Tucson postings and look forward to getting back there ourselves. Thanks for keeping us informed and motivated!

Mark,

I'm a little tardy in expounding here. If you decide you are interested in a new IGH bike - look at the Priority brand. Jacinto paid $2,300. for his Model 600. The total price was excellent compared to other brands. He did have to wait from April when he ordered, until August.

Jacinto says the Pinion is heavier, but the rear wheel is far lighter!

Kelly

Hi Kelly,
We love the belt drive, especially when angling the long tandem into a hotel room or up onto the roof of our car. We won't be crossing paths with you in Arizona this year, however, I used your journal your recent tour in Colorado to entice some of our Colorado tandem friends to replicate that ride. Colorado is a big place, but we could possibly connect. Thanks for the touring suggestions. I reread your Tucson journals when I'm planning a tour from there. Your logistical information is so valuable.

The CycleBlaze consulting committee is planning your next bike tour on the message board. ;-)

I stayed at Sonoita Inn on a Wednesday night. It has unique charm.

I tried a slime tube once and hated the mess. Pumping up a tire was tricky. I just patched a flat today, but only get maybe 3 flats per year. No goat heads here!

I prefer lodging to be close to a restaurant and/or store and close to an interesting town to explore.

David,

Thank you for the compliments! I will be watching for a Co-Motion tandem with a belt drive and a Rohloff hub! There can't be too many of those out there. How do you like the belt drive? Jacinto has three belt drive bikes now. He says there are the very best. His first priority was not having to clean the chain. An unexpected bonus was how quiet the bike is going down the road.

If you want a quick overnight trip south of Tucson, I would take Mission Road and come back through Sahuarita. Green Valley would be the logical choice of a place to stay, but I like Amado far more.

I have yet to cycle Madera Canyon, but there is lodging up there. It could also be a nice overnight trip.

The road to Arrivaca was a nice ride, if there's still an airbnb in town. We did that in . . . 2018 (?).

I think going to the effort of getting the pass to ride through Fort Hauchuacha is worth it. Canelo Pass isn't too difficult if you are used to climbing. The quiet grasslands ride is a treat.

You can tell I enjoy the riding in the area - I am there until February 27th this year. I think I might miss you by a few days?

Were you there on a week night? I think that might be the secret. Thanksgiving 2020 we wanted to stay there and they were full for a 'roping'. Which I think is a rodeo contest? That's when we stayed at the Xanadu Ranch. Same price, not as upscale, down a long dirt driveway. No breakfast at all. Inconvenient to food. I would stay there again. Being close to food and on a paved road is important to me. I am especially aware of flat tires at the moment, although that isn't usually a personal problem!

Have you ever tried slime in your tires? Hank (Thanksgiving 2020 trip) swore by it. Tom (lives in Tucson) uses Marathon Plus tires. I've never had enough trouble to consider either one too seriously, but am now giving it some thought.

I also stayed in the Vaca Ranch room at Sonoita inn. Totally quiet during my stay. You just got unlucky. As you wrote, the loud guests and baby are not typical for such an upscale place.

That's funny, I'm turning 60 next year as well, hopefully in Andalusia, we'll be there for my Aries birthday April 5-25.

I looked at your Utah Birthday route, we have done several 1-2 week tours as well as many many day rides in central and se utah over the years and know those areas extremely well, and also the area around the Wasatch Front where we live of course. I like the concept but agree Hite preferable to Moab. You might also consider using the Lake Powell ferry from Halls Crossing to Bullfrog IF it's running - hwy 276 from Natural Bridges to Hall's Crossing has 0 traffic and is absolutely spectacular, one of the best rides anywhere. There are a few hidden accomodations that make this possible inn to inn. I might also suggest a few changes in the small details of some of your routes to better cycling roads, if you want to kick it around a bit maybe better on email: benjaminmeyerson@hotmail.com.

Sorry there were so many problems ut you did great in handling them.

Shoot - I'd love to include a link here, but I guess that's not possible in the comments. Thank you for including your route details. I've mapped it out on Ridewithgps - under my name, then search my routes for Ben's Silver City Route. I think it looks very interesting. I don't know when we would ride it . . . we already have plans for 2022. We will be in your neighborhood. It's my 60th birthday, so I picked the route. We are riding some of our old favorite spots, with some new ones included. We have ridden southern Utah, and some of northern Utah in 2020. Now we are going to cover the middle.

If you go to my name on ridewithgps, and look up my route titled 'ending', it will show you our Utah route. I mostly took it from the USBR map, not having personal experience. Not many people ride central Utah, so, defaulted to USBR.

What I would like to do is ride to Hite Marina instead of Moab. I've discovered that they *should* have RV's for rent. That would get us out of the heat, as we will be there in late June. If I can sleep comfortably, I can get up very early in the morning and escape most of the heat. We are waiting to see about an RV rental for certain. If that doesn't work out, we will do the Moab/Green River piece.

When this spring is your Andalusia trip?

Kelly

Here is the link to Strava:

https://www.strava.com/activities/5122798774

Hi Kelly:

Congrats on another TWO successful Tours!

Yes, that climb out of Morenci if you go clockwise on the Coronado is pretty intimidating. That is why we chose to ride the Coronado ccw and gain our elevation in smaller chunks and downhill into Morenci as we were not exactly traveling light, touring with our dog in a trailer (yes, ridiculous, I know, he's very spoiled) so were fairly heavily loaded for an inn to inn tour with no camping or cooking gear.

For our route we robbed the Anderson's terrific "A Short Southwestern Sojourn" route from Tucson to Safford almost exactly - you know most of that turf - and used many of the same lodging options and also did the day ride from Pearce (Dreamcatcher BnB) to Massai Point in Chiricahua National Monument which is highly recommended.

In addition we also spent a second night in Safford and did the climb up Mt. Graham as an unloaded out and back day ride - nearly traffic free and outstanding. Jacinto would like that one!

From Safford our overnights on Coronado and into Silver were as follows:

Clifton (just below Morenci) - Rode Inn
Glenwood - Los Olmos Lodge
Hwy 180 (at hwy 12 junction) - Hidden Springs Inn
Alpine - Escudilla Mountain Cabins
Hannagan Meadow - Hannagan Meadow Lodge
Clifton - Rode Inn
Lordsburg - Hampton Inn
Silver City - Holiday Inn Express

All pretty reasonable days although the Hannagan Meadow to Clifton day was fairly difficult even with the big downhill at the end due to a lot of high altitude climbing and absolutely no services.

For route specifics and stats, photos, and brief descriptions of the rides you are welcome to check my Strava posts, each day of the entire tour is on there from 3/28-4/15 2021. Go to Strava - Explore - Athlete Search - and enter Ben Meyerson in the search bar, I'm the one from Utah.

And like the Anderson's we also did a one way minivan rental (Enterprise) from Silver City to get back to our truck parked at the Holiday Inn Express airport in Tucson.

Great Tour all in all, we had hoped to be in Andalucia during that time but had to cancel our tickets due to Covid so it was a pretty nice plan b. We now have tickets for Andalucia this coming spring keeping our fingers crossed!

Benjamin,

We rode small bits of the Coronado Trail on our 2021 border to border tour. We were supposed to ride the entire route - but sanity prevailed about the steep climb out of Morenci. Did you ride it? My helmet off to you!

What were your overnight locations on your three week loop? It sounds like something we would enjoy, if we rode downhill into Morenci!

Thanks,

Kelly

Hi Kelly,
Thanks for again taking the time to write a journal on your trip. I admire your photography skills and writing style. My wife and I visit relatives in Tucson and found I really like the desert as well as the bicycle friendly city. Cycling the loop is always a scenic pleasure. We plan to come to Arizona this March and will once again use your logistically rich journals to plan a tour south of Tucson. On another note, I retired as a School Transportation Director and frequently drove a school bus filled with children whose parents trusted the driver (or me) to safely deliver the most precious persons in their lives to and from school. I have tremendous admiration for the challenging jobs you and Jacinto did throughout your careers. I hope someday when cycling in Tucson to encounter you . Watch for a stylish old couple on a blue Co-motion tandem.