Team Dave and Lynda, alias 2-Epic, rolled into town, looking for a couple good rides. I was happy to oblige.
First we rolled out to the Tucson Mountains.
Blue skies and plenty of rocks. Standard Tucson Mountain fare.
There was a little bike fiddlin’. Lynda’s demo bike was giving her fits, and I snapped my headset towards the end of the ride.
After climbing Golden Gate DH expressed his opinion, “that, that was a hike-a-bike.” Depends on your perspective. It was a bit of a gamble descending Golden Gate trail, with all its ledges and slow maneuvering.
But they loved it. Tail winds and the big rains meant we flew down the wash and out on the 36th street singletrack.
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On Sunday we met up with Chad and Craig at Circular K, ready for one of my favorite loops in Tucson – Redington->Chivo->AZT->Milagrosa.
The busted Lev headset meant I was on the Behemoth. It’d be my first choice for this loop… unless riding with the likes of 2-Epic, with their power meter trained legs and insatiable lust for speed. DH got lured into some off route singletrack on the way up, later passing Craig and I like we were standing still.
Once we climbed out of the strange fog/inversion, it was a beautifully crisp day. Couldn’t have asked for better conditions to ride a mile or two in the mountains.
My camera refused to turn on until midway through the ride. I missed all the ledges and jumps on Chivo, but got quite a few shots from the singletrack.
I was really feeling the groove throughout Chivo. Sometimes the Behemoth feels heavy underfoot, other times it’s jumpy and spazzy. Just couldn’t resist every ledge, rise and indentation. The sillier the better.
While snapping those pics I overheard DH, “ahhh… the AZT is calling me…”
Craig, lost in the grass. The shindagger impaled grasshopper from a ~month ago was still there, though decaying rapidly.
On to Milagrosa…
Chad remarked that Milagrosa was a lot more fun when not racing, his usual experience as of late. Uh, yeah.
On the other hand, I’m used to descending (or climbing) the trail solo. There are a few moves that I won’t touch when alone. But in a group it’s go time. The staircase gets a little easier every time, and the lower “triple trouble” moves went by in a flash, eliciting a gutfelt laugh or two.
Still hazy in Tucson.
Too much fun. Thanks for coming down, guys.
Scott, Your pics do the trail and day justice. All beauties. Our brief foray down to Tucson left me wanting to explore the area more – maybe not 300 miles in one shot tho ;-)Thanks for hosting and hanging out with us. It was super nice to meet Paula too.
Another proper Tucson mtb beat down. Ya’ll are nuts.