Tucson 2014

Shey and I flew to Tucson for a week of riding and hiking.

The sky was blue and there was no rain in the forecast.  We arrived on Saturday evening and our bikes would not be in until Monday.  Sunday morning we hit the trail for a 20 mile hike on Milagrosa to Reddington Road and back.

Lots of rocky trail to traverse and Shey was not fond of the cliffs....here he is telling me I'm too close to the edge.  Cactus and blooming wildflowers were everywhere.

Stout beverage, sunblock and a journal are here for riders/hikers.

Cattle and horses graze the brown grasses.  Make sure you close the gates as you cross the land.

At the start of the hike, we saw a van parked in a driveway that looked a lot like Krista's eurovan.  We decided we would text her on the way back and see if that was actually her.  It was.  She was staying at a friends guest house and said we could park in the driveway and crash in our van.  AND there was a bonus shower available!  We had planned to stay at the trail heads along the way, but since our bikes were late in arriving, a place closer to town was perfect.

Krista's teammate Anthony  (for Turner bikes) was staying with her and was a really cool guy to meet.  Talented, intelligent and humble.  Exactly what makes enduro/xc/downhill racers such great people to hang out with.  Krista and Anthony helped us out so much with everything from gps tracks to pulling out the really awesome Nitro tank to lending me a seat clamp.  Thanks guys!!!

The scenery was amazing and the trails were a ton of fun!

I rushed to find a peak to watch each sunset!  Alicia (Randy's wife, super nice and a trail runner) gave us directions to a trail that led us to this....

The colors were breathtaking.

Back at the casa, Krista, who has endless energy, gave Shey a demo of her gadgets.  So much fun to hear all the info she has to share.

Shey rode the AZT up one side of Mt. Lemmon, then I took him to the top the next day and he rode down the other side.  It took me too long to drive around the mountain and I didn't get in a long ride, like I had hoped, and had a melt down that Shey handled extremely well.

On our way up the mt we passed Randy, the friend Krista and Anthony are staying with, on his hand-cycle.  He wanted to see how far he could make it up Mt. Lemmon.  He was pretty freakin' far up and I had no doubt he would go all the way.  I passed off some bars and water to him and he continued on, up, up, up.

The sky was blue during the day and nights were filled with stars.

I got in a good run and short ride at Oracle.

Another sunset.

Warm light.

Dinner at In-N-Out then over to Catalina State Park to hike some more and sleep.  The showers at Catalina S.P. were the most amazing of any park I have been to.  Seriously!

On Thursday we were meeting Rudi Nadler at Starr Pass for an afternoon ride, so we hit the down-town Presidio and Old Artisan ward in the morning.  Cool history here.

Then off to ride Starr Pass for a few hours.

Mike, Shey and Rudi finishing up their ride.  Gorgeous day!!  Then off to dinner with Rudi, Amy, Mike and his wife.  We stayed at Rudi's that night and hit the Ragin' Sage for coffee the next morning.  Rudi is a talented cyclist, artist and all around very cool guy.  A native Tucsonian, he knows the trails inside and out.  His wife, Amy, is a ceramicist, and a lot of fun to hang out with.

On Friday it was time to pack up the bikes, ship them, then go for a hike.  We hit another trail next to Milagrosa that follows a wash up a canyon.  There were climbers on our route and ropes and bolts in several areas.

Looking for a route up and out.

Pool #1

Climbing up.....

and through the cracks, to.....

Pool #2, with another one even higher up.  Great hike together!!

After our last hike, we found a hotel and slept in a crater of a bed before catching a morning flight home.

I need more ride/hike time on our next trip, but it was a good start and we were extremely fortunate to have such great friends to visit with in Tucson.  The timing was amazing and we got to laugh with old friends and enjoy some amazing mexican food, too.  Life is so good!