What a great day! I sure wish I was there instead of Portland. It’s cold here and is supposed to start raining in a couple of days. I’m glad I found a gym where I can workout.

Wow! We have to go back. This part hadn’t even been started when we were there.

Check your google i cloud for possible automatic downloading there. Sometimes these "smart" devices outsmart us. My electronics seem to do stuff I do not want and not do what I want. I can't even figure out how to send photos with my iphone I got the beginning of the year. I need to enroll in a semester of iphone basics.

Sorry you had so many problems! You used up your quota for a long time!

Ouch!!

That cholla encounter sounded very painful, hope all is healing quickly. Not much danger of cholla injuries where I live, but I will heed your warning not to overdo it in yoga!

Having experienced that more than once as a kid back in the 1950s, I can attest to the effectiveness of the comb method... Still need pliers/tweezers for the deeper ones.

I feel for ya!

Can I like a post where someone mixes it up with a cholla? I’m so, so sorry. Been there, done that, hopefully as a once in a lifetime experience.

Kathleen, this has been percolating in my head for some time. The last few years we've been to many places in the west where the road cycling was not very appealing and most of the bikers were out having fun on the trails. With all the lovely trails here I can't resist.

I am so impressed! You have me thinking!

Thanks Kelly, you're a font of great information. Looking forward to digging into all this, especially your RWGPS maps.

Scott - good point about the steep return, I should ride it in that direction before recommending the return trip. The Ajo Highway is noisy but it has a good wide shoulder. I haven't been out Sandario Road but am curious, we might drive out that way.

For sure Keith, it's good to know the local laws. We can do better at picking routes without a lot of traffic but will undoubtedly be in these situations sometimes. The AZ Dept of Public Safety has a page on bicycle safety and state law that looks like sensible information - https://www.azdps.gov/safety/bicycle. ARS 28-721 has the familiar language that vehicles proceeding at less than the normal speed of traffic must "drive the vehicle in the right-hand lane ...or as close as practicable to the right-hand curb or edge of the roadway... "
That language is, as you observed, open to interpretation, but there's good research demonstrating the risks of riding on the edge, and in poorly designed bike lanes. Controlling the lane is the safest approach when it's unsafe to ride on the right. To me that's the most practicable.

In our first Italian tour, our organizer stressed the importance of holding your line, about a third of the way into the lane from the right. Italian motorists, at least, are taught to respect that and will give you room (and NOT give you a hassle) if you do. The trouble starts when the cyclist hugs the extreme right edge of the pavement, giving (some) drivers the impression that they can pass without moving sufficiently to the left.

But that's Italy, where the culture is very different.

Stateside, it's a good idea to study each state's rules of the road. Some states specifically say cyclists should keep to the right "as far as possible" while others say "as far as safely possible" or "as far as practicable". Those last two are, of course, more nuanced and subject to interpretation but it pays to know your rights.

You'll never win in the event of a collision or an encounter with an ignorant and/or intolerant driver, of course, but it always helps to know what the legal requirements and expectations are.

The better strategy is, as you've already observed, to avoid those types of roads altogether, or at least as much as possible.

Gates Pass is a mixed bag for me. I really enjoy climbing it from the Tucson side, especially on a weekday morning when the traffic is still light. And from there it’s a great ride west as far as the national park visitors center, especially if you take McCain Loop instead of Kinney.

Coming back is the problem though. There are three choices- back over Gates pass (too steep, narrow and twisty to feel quite safe to me), the Ajo Highway (safe enough, but too busy to be pleasant) and north out Sandario Road to Picture Rocks or Twin Peaks (two lanes, no shoulder, too much traffic in my opinion).