After a semi-successful Coco-Redo I found myself in Tucson during June. Saguaros were blooming, temperatures were regularly topping 100, but I was quite content. I had come out of allergy season unscathed, and the summer just meant heat, not heat and a miserable head.
Thursday Mi Ranchito rides continued. My goal has always been to never ride the same route twice, and throw something that someone in the group has never seen before. Even if it’s something stupid, like hike-a-biking backwards on ‘wormhole.’
All that ends in Carne Asada ends well, right? Please forgive me, guys!
There was a bit of moon one night, so we were riding in stealth mode — no lights. As we got to the descent, we had a little visit from the Tucson police helicopter. We got a good minute or two of night-as-day riding, thanks to the copter’s spot light. It was awesome — if only we could get them to come out every night.
Other nights, J-bake and I would turn our Fenix lights to strobe mode and try not to lose our burritos or our sanity as our brains tried to fill in the gaps.
I always felt like a few gaps had been filled in after every Ranchito ride.
Pink recovery socks, plaid shorts and a blazer. Chad has always been ahead of the fashion curve, especially nuevo-campo-fashion.
After the teeth were brushed and pink socks put away, it was time to ride.
photo by Chad Brown
There’s a healthy amount of chunk all over Lemmon, and I wanted to get my fill before leaving for the summer.
Hang on there Chad…
We’d never seen this little puzzle cleaned, and for some reason we are never much for trying.
It was a team effort, switching off between riding and heckling/photo duties. Chad got oh-so-close, which flicked a switch in my brain, increasing the expected probability of success from negligible to minimal.
photo by Chad Brown
And it went! My reaction was exactly the same as in the above pic… which sums up the rest of the ride and camp trip as well.
Back on Lemmon, this time with Master Blackwell, sampling Butterfly and Crystal Springs. The latter had received a healthy dose of trail work by SDMB. I’ve said it before, but will say it again: the Lemmon trails are in better shape than they have ever been.
Even before the fires they were never this good.
With a view like that, it’s hard not to dream of crossing between sky islands on a big ride or a bikepack. But with temperatures as they were, one island was fine for now.
Eventually there wasn’t much reason for me to be in Tucson any more (friends had made their summer exodus, mainly). I had worked hard to consolidate my belongings into what I thought would fit in my minivan. Simple is good, and the things you own end up owning you, and all that. I just don’t have that much stuff, so it wasn’t too hard. But it’s always a good exercise to go through things and move things on to others, recycle or junk. In the end I didn’t need to take everything with me, so I traveled light in the van with a couple bikes, camping gear, a computer and a couple of bags. What else do you really need?
On the way north I camped in the van, and rode a few trails, including this special one…
It’s on route for a Tucson -> Salt Lake City trek, and I can’t believe only in recent years have I been stopping there to stretch the legs and cover my bike in orange dust. Wow. I finished up the drive that afternoon and the summer had officially begun!
Thunder Mtn?