Ultimate Lemmon

There was a bit of noise about the Red Ridge trail. A large crew were shuttling, Max was going to ride from town, much like Chad and I did a few months back. With temps still reaching for 100 degrees I didn’t much like either of those options.

Then it hit me. Combine Red Ridge with all the prime Biggie/Secret/Aspen riding high on the mountain. The Ultimate Lemmon ride…

I called Lee at about 8pm the night before, proposed the idea, knowing full well it was a longshot.

He signed on, and a short while later we were climbing to Mt. Bigelow on superior singletrack.

An hour’s pleasant riding brought us to Summerhaven, where we filled up on water and headed for Red Ridge. On pavement we bumped into Ross Zimmerman, TopoFusion (Mac!) user and hard core trail runner. Ross and I have big talked quite a bit on email, but never met in person. When we described our route he said that he was “moderately impressed.”

Red Ridge drops 2500′ in three miles. Best hope your brakes are in good working order.

Colors were rich out there. Good excuse to stop and give the hands a rest.

Electric green ferns have taken over were thick pines once dominated.

BIG trees. Tiny Lee.

Best run on Red Ridge I’ve had. No deadfall, clear of brush, just a hoot.

The heat was poignant as we dropped below 6000′. The shuttle crew had continued down into the hell fire wash. I was happy to be turning around to climb.

First, we hit Catalina Camp for a lunch stop.

I must have been hungry because I wolfed down half a bagel without even much of a breath between. The result? Big ball of bread stuck in my gullet. It didn’t want to go anywhere, and for a second it was starting to look bad, but coughing and some water finally got it to going. A little scary there for a second.

Eat slower!

The climbing is STEEP away from Catalina Camp (seen below in the above pic). The sun was impossible to ignore.

Sweat burned and stung, bikes were pushed, water was lost at an alarming rate.

Clouds rolled in, offering promise, but only that.

We reached Dan Saddle and the famed Oracle Ridge trail. My plan was to descend down to the Control Road, losing 2000′ or so, but gaining a graded road to take us back into the trees.

Lee voted for the trail, and I couldn’t find a counter argument.

And so it was that I found myself pushing my bike up Oracle Ridge. Again.

And it really wasn’t that bad. Actually it was a cake walk compared to the last time. The sun was hot, but with a breeze, fresh legs and unloaded, it was a good ride.

I argued that Oracle Ridge was an evil, wicked trail. But Lee didn’t agree. He thought it was great. “It’s not that bad.” Well, he’s right, there’s really nothing wrong with the upper 3 miles. Even going uphill there’s a lot of fun singletrack to ride.

We dropped into Summerhaven for ice cream and hot dogs. “No bowsers!” exclaimed Lee. Probably for the best anyway. 2 roller dogs was enough for 2009 for me. Ice cream sandwiches were the primary means of dropping our core temperatures.

Core mountain temperature had also dropped with the arrival of widespread thick clouds. We rolled out to climb to Mt. Lemmon proper (9,100′). The air was cool and fresh.

The ‘adventure’ portion of the ride was behind us. Time for pure entertainment. Time for Aspen Draw:

Enjoyment and perfect temps continued, reversing our route back to Mt. Bigelow.

The ‘secret’ trail now has a name! We found this on a downed tree:

The 1918 trail it is. Perhaps my favorite trail on the mountain. I was happily surprised to find that my legs felt no fatigue. I was climbing strong, and if anything ready for more. Can this feeling last?

Descending Bigelow it was hard not to smile wide. Easily the best ride I’ve done on Lemmon. Loaded with good riding and a healthy dose of adventure and suffering as well. A pleasant contrast and a satisfying GPS track laid into the depths of the TF archive.

We filled the void in our stomachs at Francisco’s (elegant dining elsewhere).