Marana in the Morning with the Andersons

February 7, 2025

Barry and I are stoked for our first Cycle Blaze meetup of the year. We'll rendez-vous with Team Anderson on the Loop for a ride along the Santa Cruz River Park path. Scott has put together a route that includes a new section of the Loop on the north end in Marana. The 46 mile out and back ride will be our longest of the trip so far. This will also be our earliest-in-the-day ride yet.

Mornings were quite cold when we first got to Tucson, so we got into the habit of dawdling until it warmed up. It's not hard to fill time ... clean up breakfast, practice yoga, take care of business, beaver away at the journal, dither. Then it's lunch time so whenever we get going on a ride it might be 1:00, or maybe 2:00 if we're hitting the trails behind the park.

This week the weather warmed up a good 20 degrees, getting up into the 80s during our afternoon rides. Between the heat and our efforts to ratchet up the miles, we really need to reorganize the day and start pedaling sooner. So I welcome the early call, although I did counter-offer 9:30 to the starting bid of 9:00.

Still, it's a struggle to get ourselves and our stuff out the door. We pull into the parking lot south of Speedway right at 9:30, then faff around changing shoes, strapping on helmets, packing sandwiches into Barry's big seat bag, finding sunglasses etc. Clearly our script for getting to the ride start ready to go needs work. I do appreciate the little push we're getting from Scott and Rachael today, and their patience with our dithering.

It's really wonderful to see them again, and in fine form after a terrible run lately of bad luck. They are resilient folks. Most readers here will be familiar with their story. If not, do yourself a favor and check out their Winterlude 2024 journal, or any of the others really. Between the beautiful bird photos, observations on life, and awesome cycling, it's a great read.

Off we ride north yo Marana. Behind me I hear Rachael directing her camera - "Go Pro, start recording." I look forward to another one of her videos on their post for today.

Rachael heads Into the Sunset on my favorite bridge.

The path in Marana is newer and wider than other parts of the Loop, especially if you use both lanes.

Our first stop is El Rio Reserve in Marana, a beautiful place to watch the birds. We circle around to the north side of the lake to contemplate the scene for awhile, then Rachael, Barry and I continue north while Scott hangs around to commune with the birds.

From here we're on a new section of the Chuck Huckleberry Loop that goes up to Gladden Farms Community Park. It's wonderful how every year there are additions or improvements to the Loop. From the map it looks like this new stretch could be part of a big loop ride going east on Tangerine, southwest on the Cañada del Oro and back north on the Santa Cruz.

Rachael turns back partway while we continue to the end of the path. After a stop at the park to refuel we ride back down to find Scott and Rachael chatting with Heather and Kevin, two Brits visiting here from Yorkshire. They sound well-traveled, having visited many of the places Team Anderson have been to and I can see a familiar dynamic of the Andersons reeling in new folks to Cycle Blaze. That's how we got here, when we met Scott and Rachael in Sarlat, France three years ago.

Right away Scott homes in on some Shovelers, a Great Blue Heron, Snowy Egret and more birds I can't remember. There will surely be photos of them in his post for today.

Heading back south towards the Tucson mountains

Getting to know Heather and Kevin at the El Rio shelter

On the way back down Barry hits the afterburners and shoots off into the distance. As I get close to Ina Road I can see him on the bridge over the path. Scott and Rachael turn one way at the bridge; I go the other way thinking that's where I'll meet Barry again, but once I reach the south side of the bridge he's out of sight. On Google Maps I can see he has doubled back north to find me. Even with a route and a map it's not hard for us to get separated.

On the phone Barry tells me to stay put and he'll ride back south, with an assist navigating around the bridge from Scott and Rachael who circled back and met up with him. Team Anderson for the win.

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Today's ride: 46 miles (74 km)
Total: 381 miles (613 km)

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