Good day to ride fast. We got Kate a new/used road bike. So we had to do a 27.8 mile break in ride around our neighborhood. I like this ride cause about 30 minutes in we stop at the local coffee shop For caffeine and cherry tarts. We also spend half the ride or more on backroads with much less traffic.
Bittersweet morning today. It was the last day of the ride which is exciting as we will be done riding soon. Which will be nice on our butts. On the other hand it means we will be done riding our bikes. Which means we have to go back to our normal lives.
It was chilly this morning in the 40’sF with the breeze still coming from the southwest. The good news is that we were going to get to wear all of the warm cycling clothing we had been carrying.
Today’s ride from Sonoita to Tucson was highlighted by a massive amount of downhill which we had paid for on Monday when we climbed up to Sonoita. After riding about an hour out of Sonoita we were at the top of the hill which concluded about 40 miles later in Tucson.
Descending on a two lane road is fun and terrifying. We were lucky to have had very polite automobile traffic the entire tour and that continued today. Still when you are riding at 40mph dealing with traffic is never ideal. We flew down the hills with no issue and the shot eating grins on our faces were very difficult to remove.
The rest of our ride into Tucson was also uneventful except for our butts falling off. We definitely could have done some longer training rides but here we are riding for five days straight in March. Not a bad way to start off the cycling year.
Here’s the results on Strava:
I’m gonna out some final thoughts together tomorrow or the next day but overall this tour was a success. We had no injuries, except for our tender bums, no major mechanical issues like a flat tire, and we are still married!
Today was the second shortest ride of the tour. 38 miles on highway 82 from Tombstone to Sonorita. The thinking was this might be a pretty nice day to ride with less elevation gain than either of the first two days. Then the wind forecasts started showing 30mph gusts for Tuesday then Wednesday and finally Thursday. It had blown us from Sonorita to Bisbee and now we needed to pay the piper to get back to Sonoita.
Sure enough we exited Tombstone and the headwind was immediate. So we dug in and duked it out all day. There were times when the wind wasn’t so bad but it wasn’t very often.
There is a point when wind is too strong and you should not be on the road. Basically if you cannot stand still in the wind you probably should not try to ride a bike unless you are Danny Macaskill.
Today’s wind was not that bad but it wasn’t joking around either. We didn’t feel that it was pushing us into traffic and that’s really the important issue to consider.
We stopped at a winery called Rune about ten miles from Sonoita. It was a great place to get a nice rest and enjoy the scenery of the area.
We knew the wind was only getting worse as the day wore on. So we packed up from Rune and pushed the last ten miles into town. We stopped at the market for a few things including double stuff Oreos. What a day.
Here’s the ride on Strava.
Tomorrow we wrap up the Tour with a long downhill back to Tucson. It’s been a fun trip and while I’ve been complaining about how difficult it’s been we’ve enjoyed ourselves a lot.
Today marks the third and shortest riding day of the tour. Bisbee to Tombstone is just 24 miles. Sure there’s a hell of a climb out of Bisbee and another insane climb five miles from Tombstone but otherwise we got a massive descent.
Initially we were thinking of taking the morning to chill in Bisbee but the OK Cafe in Tombstone only served their veggie burger till 2pm so we cruised out just after 10am.
The climb out of the town of Bisbee is deceptively easy at first. Sure you are climbing out of town but it’s not till the buildings stop that the climb gets really steep. Then you get to the tunnel.
The tunnel is about a mile long and is a steep climb. Once we got through it and to the other side a local rode up from the old pass road to let us know that people die in there all the time on bikes. We wished her a happy day and rode onto Tombstone.
Tombstone is probably most famous at this point for the historically questionable 1988 movie starring Curt Russell, Val Kilmer, Powers Booth, and a shit-ton of notable rich people from Hollywood. The town is a replica of the movie at this point with actors playing out the shootout at the OK Corral on a daily basis. It reminds me a little of sixth street in Austin.
At just 24 miles we only spent 2.5 hours getting to Tombstone and used the day as a recovery day. After unpacking and cleaning up we both took a restless nap listening to the strong winds which we managed to miss on our ride. Another good reason for riding earlier.
Here are the Strava details:
Tomorrow we ride back to Sonoita. At just 38 miles it will be the second shortest day of the tour. It is also our wedding anniversary so it will be nice to not spend the entire day riding.
Here we go! It’s the first day of the Tour de Bisbee. Today we rode 55 miles from central Tucson southeast to Sonoita. We climbed over three thousand vertical feet and completed the ride in 7 hours with 5.5 hours in the saddle.
We rolled out of Tucson about 10am and rode down Broadway to Old Spanish Trail before heading south on Houghton. There was a pretty long section of Houghton where we had no shoulder due to construction. Fortunately the cars were friendly and didn’t force passing us with oncoming traffic. We took a left on Mary Ann Cleveland way to Vail.
We drank a lot of water even though it was cool and cloudy. From southern Tucson to Sonoita is 25 miles of desert. There are a few homes here and there so we stopped at a grocery store in Vail to replenish water and get some snacks in.
We made sure to stop and take breaks every hour or so. The nice part about setting pre determined breaks is that no ones ego gets hurt.
What I mean by this is that for most active people, when asked if they want/need a break tend to say no. This happens for a variety of reasons from not wanting to look weak to not wanting to hold the group back.
By setting a pre determined time that a break will occur it is the clock deciding when to take a break. Everyone is happy and no egos are hurt in the process.
To say the least our butts were tired and a little sore. We trained for this ride in the cold of Colorado. After a few hours of cold weather riding it tends to not be much fun. Today we realized that we could have done a couple of five hours rides and that probably would have helped the seat soreness today. That said it was still a lot of fun and I cannot think of anything else I’d rather be doing with anyone else.
Here is our route on Strava:
Tomorrow we ride about the same distance and get to Bisbee. There will be a big climb at the end but we will get it done.
We drove from Mancos to Tucson yesterday on a route that was new to me. Usually we drive through flagstaff and Phoenix on the way to Tucson. This time google recommended that we stay further East and go through sho lo and globe before hitting Tucson.
The route was great. We only had to drive on an interstate for about an hour. Otherwise it was low traffic until Tucson on the 60 and 77. South of sho lo the road goes through a huge canyon for the salt river. That was really cool.
We got a late start out of Mancos afternoon which put us on schedule to arrive after 9pm. Packing the night before might have helped but we made it to Tucson before one of our favorite pizza shops closed. So we were able to pick up the pie and chill at our Airbnb for the next two nights.
Today we wanted to get a bike ride in with Kate’s brother Trip, who lives in Tucson. the goals was to have a nice ride but also to test having everything on the bikes and see if there might be any problems.
Being able to recover from a technical issue of much easier when you can call an Uber and goto a bike shop. Once we got the road we will be pretty remote.
We rode just under 20 miles mainly on a nice bike path that goes through town. The weather is wonderful and warm here so we only wore jerseys and shorts. It was a much nicer setup than our cold weather riding outfits in Colorado.
That said I made sure to stay hydrated and cut the bike riding short as it was going to hit 88F today. No need to wipe ourselves out before the tour even started.
The path was crowded with cyclists and walkers. Everyone out being healthy and enjoying the weather. A few people wore masks and my anxiety was mild about COVID transmission. Still we kept a social distance
It sounds like outdoor exercise is safe to do but social distancing is still important. As always if you have symptoms of being sick then don’t go outside and exercise. Let alone around other people.
Here is our route on Strava:
Tomorrow we leave for Sonoita about 55 miles southeast of Tucson. It’s gonna be a climb all day but the weather is going to be slightly cooler which will be perfect.
It’s Thursday night and our week long ride starts in a few days. Tomorrow we work one last day before driving to Tucson Arizona on Saturday. I’m so excited for this trip it’s hard to sit still.
The only real concern was my rear tire. It had been leaking air for a while but slowly. I would pump it up every few days and it would be fine. Then I tried fixing it and that was catastrophic. The problem is that it’s a tubeless tire so things have to be sealed up just so.
I finally relented and too it to the local bike shop to see if they could repair it. That was on Monday. I took it in just as the shop opened and the owner took a look and noticed a crack around the hole that the nozzle sticks through. I figure it was goner but he mentioned they could tape it and that would probably work.
Fast forward to last night and they called to let me know it was ready for pickup. Naturally we had a mild blizzard this morning so I figured I’d get it tomorrow morning. Then Kate went to see an office space and swung by the shop to grab the tire. Huzzah! All the parts are back together and we are ready to roll!
Now it’s all the final check lists to make sure we’ve got all we need. Tools, clothes, charge cables, excitement!
Happy mothers day to all you mothers out there! Kate and I spent some time with my mom at their home in Durango. We brought some homemade chocolate treats that Kate made: buckeyes, peppermint patties, and orange truffles. Too maintain social distancing we sat outside and wore masks.
The free-hub on my bike is not acting 100% free lately. Normally a free-hub spins in the opposite direction of the rear wheel when you stop pedaling. This allows you to coast without stopping the forward revolutions of the rear wheel.
The issue my free-hub is having is that it has some additional drag occurring at speeds over 20mph. This causes slack to occur in the top length of chain between the cassette, which is on the free-hub, and the chain rings. The chain then drops in between the bike frame and the wheel.
If that sounds fun picture this: the way you find out it’s happening is when you are going 20mph or faster. In the end I learned that if I continue pedaling at a certain rate, I can prevent the chain from falling and potentially destroying the wheel while I am riding it. 😬
The good news for yesterdays ride was that we were halfway through before I realized by bike was kinda broken. The bad news for today’s ride was that I knew the whole time, and still went for a 3 hour ride.
3 hour ride, any terrain, level 2 and 3 zones. Get back home.
After last Sunday’s ride, I was pretty tired. This week is week 3 of the current 3 week progression cycle in my 12 week training program. That means its the hardest week of the 3. Starting the week tired evolved into being very tired after yesterday’s ride. To the point where I was not excited about today’s ride. Last night and when I woke up this morning I was dreading the idea of a 3 hour ride.
So I got up, made breakfast, and got on my bike.
As soon as I started pedaling down the driveway I was grinning and knew this was gonna be a good ride. The weather was in the 40’s which is chilly but the sun was shining warmly. Once I started climbing I knew I would be warm for the rest of the day.
I turned off on Road 40 and headed up to the Chicken Creek Nordic Area. From there I cut over to Road 41 and continue on the Chicken Creek Road trail. This time, instead of dropping into Chicken Creek Trail, I took the 561 into town. The 561 is paved from just about where I topped out, all the way down. Its fast.
I took 2 hours climbing up for 15 miles to gain 2000 feet of elevation. In 30 minutes I was back to zero. From there I made my way back home with a couple of climbs and was on time to make it to Mother’s Day.
Even with a malfunctioning free-hub, and me being wingey first thing in the morning, it was a great ride. I hope you had a great Sunday as well!
If there are two things you need to maintain on your bike they are the tires and the chain:
Tires need air. Most pumps have gauges and generally your tires will tell you what pressure they should be inflated to. You should check this before every ride. Proper tire inflation will ensure a smooth ride and reduce the potential for a flat.
The chain needs to be cleaned and lubricated. Regularly. Compared to bearings in your wheels or the bottom bracket your chain is open to the world and all of its dirt. The chain is also one of the most used part of the bike as it is in motion whenever the pedals are moving. Finally it is made up of a lot of parts that are rubbing together causing friction and wear. Here is a nice overview of how to clean and maintain your drivetrain:
Long ride today, about 2 hours with some technical work. I opted for a new route that I have thought about doing a lot. Taking a right out of my driveway I went about 3.3 miles and took a left onto County Road 40. This climbs steadily to a trail system called Chicken Creek which crosses over to County Road 41. CR41 goes way up into the San Juan National Forest, which is what I did. The weather was perfect and I didn’t see any vehicles driving until I turned around and was descending.
I am at a loss for words how great this ride was. I felt like I could have just kept riding all day. If I had not made a commitment to help a friend I would have just kept going till I hit snow.
I will probably take the same route tomorrow and see if I can link up to Road 561 and come back into town by Jackson Lake Reservoir.
In a few religions Sunday is a day of rest. In the world of Roger’s cycling training Sunday is a big day of riding. While we aren’t going for crazy hard efforts like in intervals we are riding the longest and biggest ride of the week.
There are a few reasons for this: 1) Its Sunday so I don’t have anything else to do besides some chores and 2) I gotta get in my long rides sometime during the week. Kinda the same thing but I needed a list in this paragraph for SEO.
Since we have been parked in Tubac for about 5 weeks now there has been a pretty consistent use of heading south on the I-19 frontage road to start a ride off. This is because the wind is generally southerly and the road does not dead end at a US Border Patrol station.
For today’s ride I need a 30 minute warm up before I climb for 2 sets of 15 minutes. It just so happens that about 30 minutes south of Tubac there is an exit for the I-19 that has a dirt road which climbs to the west of the interstate. This is perfect for our needs.
The climb ranges from 5˚ to 12˚ grade and gets pretty scrappy at points with large loose rocks. Staying in an L2 to L3 heart rate zone is a challenge but that fits well with the slow RPM’s around 50 to 60.
I did well on both climbs and managed to keep my heart rate from getting too high. The view from the top was pretty awesome:
Once the climbs were done I returned to the Frontage road and kept riding south for another hour and 20 minutes. Then I headed home and ended up with 35 miles of riding and just over 1300 feet of climbing.
I felt better after today’s ride and attribute that to eating more while on the ride. I had 2 apples and a bag of dates with peanuts. I also added some powdered Gatorade to my second water bottle.
Next week is a recovery week so the overall time on bike will be shorter allowing my body to recover to the work the last 2 weeks have done.
strava.app.link/zBMehMixhpb