February 9, 2025
Mission Road
Today we'll ratchet up the distance a little further. A ride up Mission Road with a loop through Green Valley will get us to the 50 mile mark which is close to the next step – a ride around the big Loop.
We're starting from the San Xavier del Bac Mission, a Tucson landmark since its founding by the Jesuit Eusebio Kino in 1692. Sunday Mass is in progress when we get here so we'll get right into the ride and come back to see the Mission afterwards. I run over to San Xavier Plaza to make a quick pitstop and then we're rolling.
A mile and an half in I reach for my phone on the handlebar to take a picture, but there's no phone there. Nuts. I must have left it in the bathroom, will have to back and retrieve it. The hurrier I go, the behinder I get.
Sure enough, the phone is waiting for me right where I left it, on the toilet paper holder. That added a few extra miles, but whew!
Mission Road climbs up steadily for the first 12 miles. There's very little traffic on the road, leaving us free to study the Sonoran desert scene as we crank along. It's exciting to catch a glimpse of Helmet Peak ahead sincw that means we're close to the top. Once we reach Helmet Peak there's six miles of up and down, and then a long descent into Green Valley.
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Turning north in Green Valley we ride through a nice residential area. Stomach growling, I'm looking around for a place to eat our sandwiches . There's no obvious place to stop so we pick a spot by the side of the road for lunch.
Continuing north on Abrego Drive there's a good bike lane. This town must be golfer heaven. There are no fewer than nine golf courses in Green Valley. Some houses have golf bags mounted proudly by their mailboxes.
In Sahuarita we turn west across I-10 on a bike path that is mostly great until brambles grow over the path and it comes to a dead end. Oops. Reversing course, we get back on track riding north on La Canada to Sahuarita Road.
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From this point we have to gain back all the elevation we gave up earlier and climb up west to Mission Road by Helmet Peak. At the top my Wahoo reports that we've ascended almost 2,400 feet today. That's less than a third of the elevation to ride up Mount Lemmon, a sobering thought. The good news - it's all downhill from here.
The Mission is closed when we get back there after 4:00. Scaffolding for historic preservation work covers the facade between the towers. Between that and the cloudy sky, conditions are not ideal for pictures so I'll share one from an earlier visit.
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Today's ride: 54 miles (87 km)
Total: 443 miles (713 km)
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