3 more dirty rides

March 2, 2025 to March 4, 2025

Let's catch up on a few more off-road rides during our last week in the Old Pueblo.

Sunday loops around Five Points

Bill Martin has been riding the trails here for 15 years and loves taking beginners out around Tucson Mountain Park. Sunday morning he leads Barry and I out on the course we missed last Tuesday during the weekly beginner ride. This is one of his favorite rides, a series of loops around the 5 Points junction in Tucson Mountain Park. It's a good one for getting more familiar with the easier trails in this area.

Bill sets a fast pace that compels me to resist my habit of braking down every little hill. It's good practice at letting the bike do what it does well. His one piece of advice today for getting back up the hills: "Look up." Add that to Hank's advice to "just keep pedaling" and I have a pretty good day getting up most of the hills. At 15 miles this is our longest mountain bike ride this year, and a lot of fun.

Catching up with Dave, Liz and another guy from Desert Trails.

Mystery structure at Gilbert Ray campground

We're moving too fast to take many pictures today. Bill is nice enough to snap one of the two of us.

In the afternoon there's an entertaining band playing by the Bocce courts - the Hot Club of Tucson. The trio plays acoustic Gypsy, jazz and swing music with a strong Django Reinhardt vibe. They perform at the Congress Hotel twice a month on Wednesdays; worth hearing if you're in town.

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Monday gravel to Keystone Peak

Yesterday while we were on the trails Bill pointed at Keystone Peak 30 miles to the south. He's ridden the four mile gravel road to the peak before and thinks we might like it. Heck yeah, we're up for something new.

It's cool this morning, in the 50s, so we get some errands done first at the recycling center and REI. Then we drive down Mission Road past Helmet Peak to McGee Ranch Road to start the ride on the paved road. From here there's six miles on blacktop and four on gravel with 2600 feet of elevation to get to the top. That should be plenty of exercise.

It's still cold when we get going at 12:30, a strange feeling after two weeks of afternoons in the 80s. Layered up against a headwind, we're climbing through ranching and mining country. My legs feel sluggish; possibly the daily rides are catching up with me.

When we reach the gravel road the mountain partly blocks the wind. The road slopes up more steeply, getting up to a 14 percent grade. It's softer too. Suddenly Barry's tires spin out in a soft patch and he's on the ground, dazed for a moment. His sunglasses are in pieces; the impact of his helmet has snapped off the temples.

Sitting down by the roadside to regroup and eat our sandwiches, we're visited by a curious cow who ambles down to stare at us from the road ahead. Both of us are already on the fence about continuing and her dour look is not inviting. We're not up for another fall today. Let's turn around.

It's a good decision. Just going back down the steep short distance we already covered on the gravel is tricky. Another three miles of this up and down would not be fun. Bill must have done this ride on wider tires. At least we get a good view of Mt. Wrightson on our way back down.

Our bovine visitor checking us out after the crash

The Santa Rita mountains peek through the clouds to the east as we start back down.

Barry gets some good news later that his glasses - Tifosi's, have a lifetime guarantee. For now he's able to superglue the temples back on.

Hopefully these will hold together until the new glasses come.

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Tuesday's group ride

I get the time right this week for the group ride, at 9 am. Barry's going to sit this one out and take it easy.

We have 14 in the group to start. After a while some of them peel off to ride harder trails. Bill takes the washes fast and slows down on the flat parts so we can catch our breath. I make it up some big hills and almost get up Ghost Gulch. I'll miss the group rides with these fun folks.

With Bill, Merlin, Lynette, Dave and Mary

All this fun on the trails has me motivated to lock in our spot for next year. I waited until November to book this year's trip and got stuck with a crappy site. It's situated so the awning is in the wrong place to block the hot afternoon sun. When the temperature inside the RV hit 90 last Wednesday I actually turned on the air conditioner - in February.

At the park office I inquire about several sites that look better, and score one of them for next year. It's a cooler spot, closer to the trailhead, and has a pretty little cactus garden one one side.

We'll have to steer clear of the cholla plant in the back of this garden next year.

Later on Hank comes by for a visit. This year he bought a new truck and travel trailer so he lots of great information on tow vehicles. We have a lot to learn before we pull the trigger on one of those.

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Today's ride: 42 miles (68 km)
Total: 921 miles (1,482 km)

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