Tuesday Techy

The Tuesday Techy Taco ride went on without Chad this week, since he was off bikepacking with Lee Blackwell, exploring some new country north of Phoenix. I would have joined them if not for my dissertation, the deadline for which is coming up shortly! Instead I got to watch the ride unfold on trackleaders.com, which was a good substitute.

We had a big crew, biggest yet for the Taco ride, I think. Everyone was patient while some of us tried and retried various technical uphill bits. Some went, some didn’t. The heat and near humidity were awesome. Heat training for the AZT has begun. Temperatures were near 90, and it felt oh-so-good to be craving cold beverages and shady spaces, yet to have neither available, just more head burning, slow and technical trail to climb ahead.

Awesome.

The descent is full of nice moments, where suspending your disbelief pays off, and where allowing big rocks to adjust your line is the only way to keep riding.

Louis nearly cleaned the final hairball descent. No one has done it yet.

This hawk was none to pleased with us. He had prey in his clutches when we spooked him, forcing him to ditch it. Sorry! We moved on and left him to dinner.

photo by Tom (I think) with my camera

Our fish taco dinner was waiting for us once we hit the old and almost gone gap jump a few times. Mmmm… good.

Going back a few rides…

I got to ride with an old friend from Mexico, Santiago Lopez. It was fun to show him around Tucson Mountain Park and catch up.

And of course the sunset rides continue, though I may have to shift to morning rides as the afternoon wind blown allergens begin to build.

It looks like Wasson Peak is on fire, but they are just well placed clouds. The river is still running, though it is getting “shorter” every day. Amazingly the suburban assault is also still running! Stream crossings on that trail are a rare treat.