January 27th, 2010

The plan for the day was to rise early, have a quick bowl of oatmeal and kick Barry out the door at 0730 in time for him to meet up with a group bike ride to Mt Lemmon. Reality turned out to be out the door at 0830. I headed out for my first ride in the desert. The road to the Catalina Hwy are wide with good bike lanes. However, some of the on ramps were a bit scary with traffic moving at plus 80km. The distance to the base of Mt Lemmon turned out to be further than I had imagined, 18km's. The climb up the mountain is "moderate", about 5 or 6 degree grade. Much like some of the Mt Baker climb. Being the first time I have been on a big hill since the Mt Baker Hill Climb in September, my climbing legs were feeling the effects of the climb. I settled in to a steady 14 to 16 kph. I got to the 4 mile marker, which is also the 4,000 foot elevation point and felt I had enough to go to the 5,ooo foot elevation marker. I got to Molina Basin, then the 7 mile marker and caught up to another cyclist who as it turned out was at his turnaround point. I felt that a 7 mile climb was about it for Day 1 so I too turned and made the descent with Mike, my new cyclist friend. Mike filled me with information on group rides and routes to enjoy while in Tucson. I'm looking forward to more of that.... I returned to our townhouse at around 1130 having logged 60kms. It was time for food, hydration and a nap! (forgot the camera. No pics. Will do better next time.....)