Day 1 - Julian Wash - PedalPushin 2024

February 7, 2024

Day 1 - Julian Wash

After arriving last night, we drove to the AirBnB we have rented for the next week and what a surprise. We are in a 3 bedroom house with a 2 car garage.. It is (was) a brand new listing when I booked it several months ago and the price was significantly below Tucson prices. Since then the price has gone up to what one would normally expect but yeah for us.

Both trikes were 90% assembled last night which turned out quite well today. Some cycling friends have been wintering in Tucson and we arranged to cycle their way for lunch. We first met Faith and Robert on the Erie Canal a few years back. Then we met them in Tucson again last year and finally cycled with them in Iowa last fall.

The view today was cloudy with blustery winds and sprinkles BUT it isn’t -40!

Despite the plan, the weather wasn’t exactly wanting celebrate our arrival. Temperatures in the 40’s attempting to get to 50’s greeted us as we began to cycle and then periods of drizzle kept us company as we headed west on the Julian Wash section of The Loop. Going west the trail has a slight elevation loss so we were zippy along nicely despite the head winds.

14 miles later we arrived at their RV compound and enjoy a few hours of chatting, eating, and watching the weather to see if a break in the rain was coming.

A small break showed and we quickly headed back east to see if we could avoid the very dark skies and rain which was forecast. We must have hit things just perfectly as we only had rain for a short few minutes, enjoyed a little tailwind and only got a little drizzle along the way.

We extended our return trip further down Julian Wash, past Rita Ranch Rd, to Houghton Rd. where we turned north to loop back around the AirBnB. Along the way we saw a new sculpture that we hadn’t seen before of a horse and a colt and a nice background of mountains.

A nice day of riding despite the questionable weather conditions and we are looking forward to another NOT -40 ride tomorrow.

Today's ride: 29 miles (47 km)
Total: 1,077 miles (1,733 km)

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Kelly IniguezI thought of you several times today! I was feeling sorry you had such a poor weather welcome to Tucson, but then reminded myself that it was +40 degrees, not -40 degrees. I started out riding the Treat Street Loop (Scott Anderson sent that one to me), but turned tail after 10 miles when I was headed into a black rain cloud, plus a headwind. I mostly rode out of it, enough that I got cocky and passed my house. That was a mistake. I ended up getting soaked before I got home!

If you are trustworthy of riding a small bit of dirt, instead of crossing under the Houghton Bridge to climb it on the paved path, you can take the dirt path on 'your' side to stay on the west side to get home. I hope that makes sense. It's maybe a block of dirt, then you can access the bridge on the opposite side. If you look closely at the RWGPS map, you'll see it. Having pointed that out, I don't trust the dirt in Tucson - too many sharp, pokey things. I also go for the paved trail on the other side.
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9 months ago

Larry MitchellTo Kelly IniguezWe actually saw that short path and turned. 20 feet later the mud was oozing and we turned around to go up the other side.
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9 months ago

Kelly IniguezTo Larry MitchellI"m glad my description was clear enough that you knew where I was talking about. I could definitely see that being mud today!
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9 months ago