Week at TMP

I think I spent most of the week out at Tucson Mountain Park. Mostly riding, but some trailbuilding too. I just can’t get enough of the place. Strength is definitely coming back, and I’m having a blast zipping around on the Leviathan.

Wednesday night was the first time Tucson dropped below zero (C), this year. The string of 80 degree highs is finally over, but there are some good things that come with the first freeze. Less allergies, less snakes, less bugs… I’ll take it. So Thursday morning was on the cold side — 28 or so when I woke up. For whatever reason I feel compelled to go out and ride when the weather gets “bad” here. The norm for weather here is always “good”, so I take advantage of the cold/wind/rain/snow when it comes. (One year I chose the absolute coldest, snowiest day to ride “Over the Lemmon” (~8000+ feet)).

Fuzzy gloves came out, tights (!!), jacket, oh my! And of course I was overheating by the time I climbed into the Tucson foothills. The sun was out and it really wasn’t that cold.

I met Tim and Dan out on the trail (tools had been stashed there, so I didn’t need a Bob to haul them in) and we got to work. The trail we were building looked really nasty and hard. But it wasn’t hard trailbuilding — it was fun trail building. Rolling rocks off the side of a mountain is always fun. But so is trying to save useful ones in the tread, and building crib walls. This new section is, without a doubt, going to be one of the best and most memorable pieces of trail in the park.

Why? Because in TMP you almost always ride around the mountains. Actually, that’s somewhat true of Tucson in general. We don’t have too many trails that traverse a steep sideslope, up high where there’s a good view. This trail has this. And it’s an excellent line laid out by Mr. Mark Flint. Can’t wait to ride it.

We made some impressive progress on the trail, despite only have a crew of 3. I stayed a half hour late to fine tune and build trail the other direction (since I needed to bushwhack that way to get out anyway). Then I hopped on the Lev and headed home.

I went out through San Juan to check on the (de)construction going on there. Tons of pads for new dream American Homes. Streets, curbs — a trail gone. You can still follow it (and the most memorable pieces are in tact), crossing brand new pavement, but not for long.

1 hour + ~6 hours of trail work and I still wasn’t tired. Hopping back on the bike and descending out of the park was too much fun, so I pointed my bike up Sentinel Ridge — almost cleaning the backside climb. Even as I rode back through the University and town I could feel that I was tired, but I still had a “kick” in my legs. Definitely something I have not felt in some time.

AZT camping and trail work this weekend.

In TopoFusion news – I’ve got User Maps working — at long last. Still a lot of busy work on the Visual Basic side to get the UI up and running, but the display/adjustment was fun to add.