Finally a Long Ride

January 3, 2021

This cardinal liked the new bell-shaped feeder we just put up. It had larger seeds in it like sunflower.

Ok, I think this is either a Pyrrhuloxia or a female cardinal?

Today's longer ride took us down to the Santa Cruz Trail where we saw a lot of nice fall color in the trees.

There was actually quite a bit of water in the Santa Cruz river.

Arizona's version of a cell phone tower.

Hmmm - guess that means no pee stops along the trail except in a bathroom!

Looking toward the Tortolita Mountains west of Tucson.

Although it had been cold overnight, the morning dawned nice and sunny. By 10:00 it had warmed up to 50 degrees so we took advantage of this opportunity to get in a longer ride.

We got back on the La Canada del Oro Trail and turned north until we reached a trail that ran west along Tangerine Rd. We could have ridden in the bike lane on the road, but it's pretty busy traffic. Don decided he wanted to try the trail even though we would have some street crossings to negotiate. Those can be awkward for a long tandem.

The trail was fine once we moved past some businesses and into more residential areas. They varied from huge mansions to more modest but still nice homes.

When we reached Twin Peaks Rd we turned SW, still staying on the trail until it got too rough to ride. We just moved onto the street and used the bike lane. This road was a divided 4-lane highway, but did have a bit less traffic than Tangerine.

We enjoyed the long downhill that took us to the Santa Cruz Trail where we turned south. There were lots of nice fall colors on the trees as we now followed a river that actually had water in it!

At one large park we stopped to use the bathroom and eat our lunch. After our break we continued further south until we got to the La Canada del Oro Trail which we took back to camp.

It was a gradual uphill but much warmer out. We saw some Gambel's Quail,a road runner and a Vermilion Flycatcher.

There were lots of people out on the trails and we noticed that few wore masks, even when using the bathrooms. That's so different than at home in Denver. That type of cavalier attitude toward Covid is why the positivity rate is skyrocking in Arizona and their hospitals are filling up.

It continued to be an enjoyable ride past older homes and golf course communities. They do have some nice dedicated trails here in the Tucson area, but could have done a better job with signage and bridge crossings that had way too tight of corners for our tandem. Especially with oncoming traffic. We had to get off and walk several times.

By the time we had returned to camp we were both pooped and just sat for awhile bird watching. We saw a new woodpecker today - a Ladderback woodpecker.

After resting for a bit, we took some showers even though the water was still not very hot. By then it was time for dinner and usual movies.

Today's ride: 35 miles (56 km)
Total: 394 miles (634 km)

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