Helmet Peak

February 11, 2025

Another simple day. I’m taking a bike ride, Rachael’s going for a walk. No complications, other than for Rachael to get on and off at the right stops for the number 5 bus that will take her west into the foothills of the Tucson mountains. Easy stuff. What could go wrong?

Biking my Age in Kilometers: 78

Ten years ago when I was 69 I initiated an annual challenge to myself to bike my age in miles. If I complete it this year it will be the tenth iteration, which feels like a milestone of some sort. For several years now our friends from the north have been encouraging me to switch to the metric system and bike my age in kilometers, which is out there as an option someday. Not just yet though. I feel confident that I’ve got at least one more cycle in me, and will likely take my shot next week sometime if the right weather conditions come along.

In the meantime the ride I have planned for today will bike my age in kilometers, so I might as well claim credit for it. Also though, given current events it’s interesting to think about the metric/statutory question. If our current mad uberlords go ahead with their plans to buy Canada and Red-White-and-Blueland, will those folks up north have to convert to the statutory system?

Or on the flip-side, maybe the west coast will secede and append themselves to Canada like the tail of a muskrat hat? That’s an appealing image, leaving our new country with a shape that does homage to its fur-trapping origins.

Anyway, on to the ride. I get a somewhat later start than I planned because I decided to wait until after nine so I could call the rheumatologist to validate that they received my blood test results. It’s disappointing to learn that they didn’t receive either of them, but for now I’ll just add it as a follow-up task for tomorrow.

The ride begins with the dozen miles to San Xavier Mission, where I stop to and have a filling second breakfast: a bottle of Gator Ade and a Mars Bar, purchased at their gift shop in appreciation for the use of their facilities.

Today’s ride is essentially an out and back - 25 miles south and up Mission Road to its high point at Helmet Peak, just before it drops down to Green Valley. Rachael and I have done this a number of times, and I have a memory of how scenic it is. My goal is to get to the high point so that I can look ahead to views of the Santa Rita Mountains and back north to Helmet Peak from what I think of as its most scenic side.

I’d forgotten though how fine the ride itself is. It’s a steady but very relaxed climb of around 1-2% the whole way, and the road surface is much smoother than I’d remembered. And for most of the way the road is essentially empty, with me seeing a few more bikes racing down the other way more often than I’ll see a car.

I’ve got the Canon out and hanging down my back the whole time so it’s safe but accessible, because you never know what you’ll find in the open desert; but for the most part I’m out here for the scenery and to extend out my biking range another notch.

So I could narrate what we’re seeing here, or just let you look for yourselves.

Well, that was easy enough and worth the climb. Let’s turn back the other way. Going the other direction is a blast, literally. The wind has picked up and I’m going down this long, empty road for the next twenty miles, fueled by gravity and a 15-20 kph tailwind, biking through an inspiring landscape- colorful/apalling open pit mines to the right and left, and the Tucson Mountains and. Catalina Range growing larger ahead.

Toward the bottom, a few miles from the mission, I pull off when I finally see a bird - a pair of ravens. They fly off too far into the distance for any kind of shot to be worthwhile, but it does give me a chance to look more closely at the dead and dying cacti.

Back at the mission again, I pull off for lunch with the plan of eating the PB sandwich and energy bar I’ve brought along. Biking into the parking lot though I’m surprised to see that it looks like one of the fry bread stands is open for business. Once there I’ll learn that they’re in business seven days a week, but just in the core lunchtime hours of the day. I was too early last time, and I’m nearly too late this time. They’ll be closing for the day soon, and they’re out of the green chili option so I pick up a red chili one and take it back to a bench and make short work of it.

Should suffice. The sandwich can wait for another day.

While I’m eating I get the phone out to take a selfie of myself with the frybread and the mission in the background when two women walk up and offer to take it for me. Afterwards they ask me to do the same for them, and consent to let me take a shot of them on my phone too. We have an interesting and enjoyable conversation for the next five minutes. They’re Hopi, from Moenkapi up near Four Corners. I tell them I know Moenkapi and stopped there for a break fifty years ago on my ride from Cedar City to Flagstaff. I tell them I’m envious of what a beautiful corner of the world they live in, not far from the Colorado River, the Grand Canyon, and the Vermillion Cliffs.

It’s starting to get late in the day and I need to get moving if I don’t want to be out after dark, but I can’t quite leave yet. First I have to observe the scavengers that come through as soon as I’m done with my fry bread. They make a clean sweep of rhe premises, finding and snapping up every last crumb or morsel that’s gotten blown across the space.

And then there’s one last task before leaving - a selfie shot into my right hand mirror I added to the bike to compensate for the lost vision. Shawn was thoughtful enough to be concerned about whether a bike mirror would be large and clear enough for me to see on the right side.

Yup. Very clear. Thanks for asking, Shawn.

So in the end, I’m at the mission an hour and a half and don’t leave until 4:30. I’m only twelve miles from home and have a tailwind so I’m not conserved - it’s not dark until 7 now - but I cut it close by making a wrong turn and end up on a network of sidewalks for a few miles - very slow miles, that keep me out until it’s just turning dark. Late enough that Rachael is anxious, and late enough so that I get lost and make a weong turn in a few places, and late enough that I’ll need to walk a few blocks.

On the plus side, I’m late enough so that I get to see the Snow a moon rise above the desert to the east, and i see my first coyote of the season.

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Today’s walk

So failing to follow the map you plotted out is one thing that could go wrong. Another similar error would be to get the map right and create navigation instructions, but the instructions themselves are incomplete or inaccurate - as happened to Rachael this morning when she got on the correct bus line but in the wrong direction.

This is another case where the methodology can help us. Before we left, I brought up the route and talked it through with Rachael, and as I did she took notes. There’s lots of room for error here - she could have misunderstood me, or she might have written them down with inaccuracies or gaps. We’ll update her script to suggest that she create navigation notes when appropriate, but then we review them together for inaccuracies.

There’s still scope that things can go awry even if the map and instructions are inaccurate - just look above for a recent example - but it should improve her odds for success.

I heard about Rachael’s situation when she called concerned that nothing looked at all familiar or what she expected. And no wonder - she’s at the wrong end of a twenty mile long bus ride, somewhere south of Sabino Canyon instead of in the Tucson Mountains.

So no crisis or big deal, just confusing; and a situation calling for flexibility. She decides to just walk north along Sabino Canyon Road and turn back once she’s got her distance in, and then take the bus back home. The Tucson Mountain hike still looks like it will be great, and should still be there when she’s ready to try again.

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Today's ride: 55 miles (89 km)
Total: 796 miles (1,281 km)

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Janice BranhamCongrats on metric-biking your age. However further you go from here, it's a win.
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