Julian Wash

January 27, 2025

AFD#3

Today’s outing is a team out and back up Julian Wash, starting from the Big Tire and Aviation Way. It’s essentially the same ride as we took a few days ago, but with a further destination as a goal. The plan for the day includes two business stops at its end: a dinner reservation at 5 at Agave, a spot I tested out with a pub run but that Rachael hasn’t tried yet; and then a stop at the CVS on the way back. Also it’s multimodal with the streetcar tossed in, and we’ll be walking back in the dark.

So there’s plenty of material here for testing out the indoor and business scripts, both of which are found wanting. Practice, practice, practice. Two lessons learned would have improved today’s start. One is with my instructions for loading the route to the Garmins. I need to start with Rachael’s, meaning the route needs to be loaded through her RideWithGPS account that it’s linked to. If I start from my account I can load it to mine but not hers; and we can’t use the transfer device to transfer from mine to hers because the 1040 doesn’t accept transfers for some reason.

Also, I need to create the route so that it begins some distance beyond home; because otherwise the map display is blank because RideWithGPS thinks you’ve already arrived. This causes confusion but isn’t disabling today. We just go inside and start over, and then verify from inside that both Garmins have been loaded to the same route with the same distance to destination. Unfortunately going back indoors to do this pushes our start time out by a half hour, time we could use later when we try to get home in time for the dinner reservation.

More consequential is the third problem, the failure to validate that chargeable devices are fully charged and the cameras have sufficient memory. Had we done this indoors we would have noticed that Rachael’s go pro has no memory because now her SD card has gone missing somehow also. We apparently have an SD gobbling goblin on the premises somewhere.

On the plus side, this will make a really zippy post to sail through. We biked with the assumption that most of the photography would come from the video; but since there’s none of that we’re left with very few photos of the day - barely enough to prove we made our goal, Wilmot Road.

I’m off script, phone is verified to be in my position, so once partner makes the scene and locks the door behind her we’ll both be off script and free to go.

Hmm. No map; and no GoPro memory as we’ll also soon discover,

We turn back at Wilmot, with Rincon Peak filling the sky ahead.

We’ve probably still got a few more miles in the tank, but with fifteen more miles to go and a 5:00 dinner reservation we don’t want to miss, it’s the right place to stop.

I’m not sure where I took this shot - looking north on Wilmot maybe? In any case, it’s a view north to the Catalinas and Mount Lemmon.

It’s nearly three when we turn back; and with fifteen miles still to make it back to the apartment Rachael is getting anxious about making it back in time for dinner. I reassure her that we ‘ll be fine because of the big tailwind that will blow us home. We’re going to fly the whole way back I say, and likely we’ll be home by 4.

But we’re not back by 4, because weather is fickle. Today its big trick is to reverse direction with that tailwind, which now is blowing straight into our faces for the next hour plus. We make it home only a few minutes before 5, the wind having taken another hour out of our time window.

One of our favorite art works on the Loop, at the switchback underpass beneath Valencia Road. Hey, Rocky - here’s someone else who likes talking to Alexa!

Rachael is out the door two minutes after we arrived, speed walking down to Agave House which she reaches at 5:05. I arrive ten minutes later, because an essential stop in the bathroom is needed. Still, plenty of time.

Our dinner reservation is at Agave House, the place by the entrance to the UofA campus I checked out previously. Rachael leaves immediately after changing her clothes, speed walks the whole way, and arrives by 5:05 to secure our reservation at an indoor table. I walk much slower and take the streetcar part of the way, and arrive about ten minutes later, a partially eaten bowl of chips waiting for my arrival.

Back at Agave House, and indoors this time because it’s so cold and windy out.

Afterwards we stop off at the CVS with three items on the list, all of which are found. Another gallon of milk, some energy bars for the emergency kit, and three 250 gig super-fast mini-SD cards, with an adapter so it can be loaded to my Canon also.

And, there’s one other business stop when I cross the street to Time Market to pick up nourishment for the long walk home: a large peanut butter cookie. And the walk home is safe enough because we have a flashlight along so visibility isn’t an issue once I remember to remove my Ray-Bans which effectively make the trail too dark to see. For nights like this I need my new prescriptionnglassses once they arrive.

It’s cold though, because I’m not dressed properly. Maybe next time I’ll finally learn my lesson and wear long pants if we’ll be out after dark.

A late night shadow shot caps off the day.

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Today's ride: 30 miles (48 km)
Total: 340 miles (547 km)

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