December 20, 2021
Figuring out where I am.
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The moment of truth is imminent. I’m going to the van to squeeze the bicycle tires. Can you believe I forgot to do that last night?
Jacinto woke up far too early for my taste. My eyes were glued shut for at least a half hour. We were awake by 8, but had gone to bed close to 1. That is not a retirement typical bedtime!
The temperature at home was 10 degrees, here it was 37. Jacinto vowed not to go outside until it hit 40. He had forgotten his coffee cup in the van.
I’m not a coffee drinker. My method of waking up is to take a shower. Even right before getting on the bike. Jacinto thinks I’m silly. I can see his point. That’s my life long habit, silly or not.
I learned the hard way this morning that the hot water heater must be a long, long way from the bathroom. I was thoroughly chilled by the time the water turned lukewarm. Maybe I will wear tights after all!
if I keep writing, I won’t bicycle. More later!
Much, much later -
We both had excellent, but very different days today.
I was out the door at 11 AM, with a simple, don't use my brain too much route. I headed to Marana, an out and back route. Jacinto had planned a nice 51 mile loop around Tanque Verde and the Catalina Foothills.
I rode 1.3 miles down Dodge Street to the loop. We are further away this year. I keep reminding myself what a screaming deal we got on the apartment. My goal is to be within spitting distance of the path. Price beats convenience this trip.
I swear this is fact. At the least, it is my fact. We were just here three weeks ago. I rode the Rillito Park area one time. To my memory, it was the typical silky smooth path. Today, there were numerous cracks of significant size across the path. Cracks of 4-5 inches. I am quite sure they were not there earlier this month. Presto! All of these cracks appear? I'm so sad that my wonder path is marred.
I rode the path and navigated the tricky spots like a local. I am no longer confused at multi path intersections. I know where to cross over from one side of the wash to the other. Look at me go!
My typical spot to cross from the north to the south is at Camino de la Tierra. It's necessary to ride through the wash on the roadway. That must be the roughest chunk of road in all of Tucson. Perhaps so because of monsoon flooding? I tucked the thought in the back of my head that I need to start using one of the other crossings, since I'm getting to be such an expert.
Being such an expert, I decided to pass up the potty at that park and continue on to the 'secret' potty I found by accident when I got lost last year. Sometimes good things come from getting lost.
Sure enough, I remembered where the Ted Walker Park was. There's my potty - all alone, with no one there. I happily parked my bike, went inside, noting casually that there were two rolls of toilet paper. HOWEVER, when I went to use said toilet paper, it was all totally drenched. I suspect that the potty had been hosed out to clean it, soaking the toilet paper. Great. I will have to remember to not only check if there is toilet paper, but is it dry!
I had 12 miles in. That must mean the side trail to my Marana turnaround is 9 miles. Look at me speed down the path!
There hadn't been much traffic today. I had seen two trike riders together. Then a single man, who might have been one of the two returning alone. Or, he could have been a different, but similarly dressed trike rider. I saw one short recumbent with under seat steering. Those aren't very common. Much later I saw a high racer recumbent. Pretty skinny pickings today. I saw only one cute dog set up. It was a man pulling a terrier size dog in a tiny cart. Such a tiny cart that it seems one good pull would tip the whole shebang over.
Near the Marana elementary school, there is a very steep up. It's short, but granny gear deserving. Today, I remembered. I put some effort into my speed, and attacked the climb. Look at me go! I built up enough speed that I did not have to drop into the granny and crawl up the climb. Local friend Steve fixes that problem by taking the roadway around. It is possible to think your way into a solution!
I passed the nice portable potty (flushing and with a sink). I planned to ride the extra mile to the very end of the bike path, then I would use the bathroom on the way back. Guess who recognized me? Scott Anderson! I was in lala land, looking at the saguaros on the mountainside (of which I did not take a single photo because of my human distraction).
We chatted in amazement for a few minutes, surprised that we were at this remote little tail of the loop at the same time. Scott and Rachael turned around and rode to the very end with me. The I stopped with them at their lunch spot. I ate my apple while we chatted. Time flies when you're talking bicycling.
We discussed our upcoming 2022 summer tour. We are currently routed to ride from Moab-Green River - Hanksville. That's the safe and sure route. But, what we would like to do is ride through Hite Marina. Tim Tower took that route this summer. His photos of the area were outstanding. I've spoken with the lady at Hite several times. Tim's inside intell was that they have a couple of RV's at the park that the rent out. The problem is knowing if they would have cleaning help. I suspect knowing how many employees they will have will be a last minute answer.
Recent email exchanges with Ben Meyerson let me know about a ferry at Bullfrog. It has been discontinued becasue of low water, and probably will be for the foreseeable future. However, I did some research. Tour boats are run out of Bullfrog. I wonder if we could make arrangements for a 3.5 mile ride? It might not even be 3.5 miles now, with Lake Powell being so low in water because of the drought.
Bullfrog is on Highway 276. Hite is on Highway 95. They are parallel roads, but different roads. Ben says he has ridden both sides of Lake Powell on 276 and would dearly love to traverse the entire road. It's on my radar, I just don't know if it can work.
That was all a side trip - part of our discussion. The Andersons' have tickets to go back to France, with plans to stay in Europe for nine months. They are real globe trotters!
We also discussed hiking plans. Jacinto and I both brought shoes suitable for hiking. I'm much more of a biker than a hiker. I should probably cross train far more than I do . . . Scott's photos of Wasson Peak were enticing.
Finally we were getting hot. In December! Sorry, I just have to marvel at such an oddity. We needed to get some wind movement and cool off.
I stopped at the potty and Andersons' took off down the road. Truth be told, now the road was uphill, but I still had my two week off the bike fresh legs, so I was riding right along.
I decided I was becoming such a local expert, I would branch off of my planned route (gasp!), and try the opposite side of the wash instead of crossing rough Camino de la Tierra. I took the giant over pass on the south side of the wash.
I've only ridden this side a couple of times. It isn't as frequented. First because the path doesn't go through - you have to ride through the Tucson Mall parking lot. That part isn't too bad, but then there's a little zigzag to the bus station, and the path continues after that.
This is where I saw the typically kitted cyclist last year who looked perfectly ordinary, except for the pistol strapped to his leg! You can be assured I said a very polite hello!
I made the commitment, and was then second guessing myself. I saw a trike rider stopped by the side of the road, and decided to ask some clarifying route questions. I ended up chatting quite some time with Ginny. We exchanged phone numbers and agreed we would have a little bicycle lunch ride when I return in February. Ginny lives off of Mountain Home Road. Even though she lives on the south side of the wash, she goes around the non path area I described above. Ginny did know how to get through and offered to escort me. She was correct - there were many homeless people in the area of the bus transfer station - there were also 5-6 police officers! I couldn't see any obvious action. We kept right on pedaling.
We soon reached Ginny's turn. She let slip that her 79th birthday is Thursday and they planned to lunch at Kingfisher to celebrate. I tucked that restaurant name away, hoping to use it later.
Speaking of eating, I was hungry! My trip had taken much longer than I expected, with all of my people entertainment along the way. It's a good thing I was nearing the end of my ride.
We were given only one set of keys to the apartment. It took some looking around this morning, but we agreed to tuck those keys inside of a cinderblock by the front door. That way we could each return at will. When I arrived home, it seemed a long, long way to crouch down to the cinder block. I couldn't feel any keys at all. Heck. I got down on all four. No. No keys. Now what? Had I been talking so long that Jacinto beat me home?
Yep - the door was unlocked and he was in the shower! How do you like that. Jacinto rode 51 miles. He waxed poetically about his ride. That is not usual for him. He went on and on about what a great ride it was, and why. It was out of character. I saved the route. I will have to ride it later.
We were both very hungry. We were debating between Texas Roadhouse and the Cheesecake Factory. Both were 20 minute drives away. In the end, we were too hungry. We walked to Filiberto's - a Mexican fast food restaurant a half mile from the apartment.
Walking at that hour wasn't a smart idea. I asked Jacinto if he thought it was wise. That prompted a discussion on what the definition of sketchy is. Jacinto said perhaps WE look sketchy . . . . sometimes we might . . . I also wear the same clothes day after day, just like a homeless person. I hope I give off a different vibe!
Even Jacinto had to admit that we saw two genuinely questionable characters. Enough so that we crossed to the other side of the road to avoid passing them. One person had two suitcases open on the ground, having a loud, solitary conversion while pawing through the contents. The other person was sitting on the side of the road, rocking back and forth. I don't have a very good radar, living in a mild, small town. But my radar was working tonight! I think we had better not walk to dinner again. Lunch, maybe.
We drove to WalMart for more supplies. Does your local Walmart lock up deodorant? It's not used to manufacture anything questionable? Razors were also in locked cases. Women's makeup - but perhaps because it's expensive? The contraceptives case was also locked . . . this is the same Walmart we went to last night with the guard at the entry. Today we were there earlier, no guard.
I wonder if there is a reason our airbnb is so cheap? It couldn't have to do with the neighborhood? The actual apartment is nice. I should have taken photos before we spread our gear all around.
Jacinto had to go to a Super WalMart to look for flip flops. Now he's back. We are going to eat Blue Bell ice cream. Christmas cookie flavor!
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https://swbiodiversity.org/seinet/taxa/index.php?taxon=3874&clid=101
3 years ago
Today's ride: 43 miles (69 km)
Total: 43 miles (69 km)
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We also stayed in one of the trailers at Hite Marina about 15 years ago. My only piece of advice is that the lake was too low for boating there that year, but the concessionaire was contractually obliged to keep the store open. They weren't obliged to keep much on the shelves, though, so the selection of food was very limited (a few dusty cans, that's about it).
If you cross at Bullfrog or Hite, where are you going to ride to? Either Mexican Hat or Blanding is a long tough ride. Are there cabins at Natural Bridges?
3 years ago