Ride Report
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| Sunrise on the I-10 |
The endless summer of Arizona brevets continued with a brevet of 200 km that included climbing to Kitt Peak and its assortment of celestial observatories. With a civilized start time of 0700 at the El Con Mall in Tucson, that meant hitting the road about 0515. Traffic was light and the sunrise was beautiful!
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| Alex, Mike, Teresa, Chris, Brian |
Only six of us on this one, Mike provided the preride briefing and we rolled out together at 0700.
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| University of Arizona Mall |
We rode through the UofA campus. It was game day and they were setting up tents and tables for the pre-game festivities.
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| Mike joins the Shootout |
We rolled along University Drive, being careful to avoid the embedded light rail tracks. We rolled right into a group ride with about 30 or so riders. They were the ‘senior’ group riding the weekly Tucson Shootout ride. One of the riders filled me in; the group got so big that there are now 3 groups, we had happened upon the ‘senior group.’ He assured me that while they may be old, they are still fast. Beware of the old man with a million miles in his legs! They were impressed that were headed out to Kitt Peak and back.
Lucky for us, they turned off at Silverbell road before the real shootout commenced, and we continued up towards Gates Pass.
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| Gates Pass - West Side Scenic Pullout |
Crossing Silverbell, the road tilts up toward Gates Pass. The group was a bit too fast for me, so I let them go and continued at my own pace. The forecast was for afternoon temps of 100+ and I did not want to burn matches this early in the ride. Cresting the Pass, there was some traffic behind me, so I jumped into the big ring to start my descent, I wanted to head down without being slowed down by car traffic. Unfortunately, my chain dropped during the shift, but I was already moving and rolled down, stopping in the scenic pullout to put the chain back on!
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| Kitt Peak in the distance |
Once back on the road, I was soon on the Ajo Highway with Kitt Peak in the distance. I stopped at the Robles Junction (3 Points) general store to reload my bottles just as Mike, Chris, and Brian were rolling out!
I made a quick stop, only 3-4 minutes, but the group was long gone. Another 18 miles to the Kitt Peak turnoff, but for some reason it just seemed like we would never get there. Somewhere along the way, I rode up on Brian. He was stopped for a flat tire so I took a break and we headed on together.
I made a wrong turn here, even though the sign was clear, and headed a few hundred meters down the dead end road to Pan Tak. It didn’t look familiar, and my Garmin was telling me I was off route!
So I turned around and rejoined the route as Brian rolled past. Ah, here is the correct turn, and the Garmin confirmed it!
Its 12 miles to the top, the first 2 are easy 2-3% grades, then it tilts up to 8% for a solid 10 miles. Whose great idea was this?
Progress is measured in mileposts and elevation markers, but the observatories still seem way out of reach!
Don’t be fooled by this sign, there are still 3 solid miles of climbing to go. No, I didn’t turn off my phone!
Great view of Baboquivari Peak in the distance as the road continued on the southern slope of Kitt Peak.
The Kitt Peak observatories from the southwest. Still some serious climbing to get there.
It’s usually a good sign when the elevation sign is more precise than just, 2000, 3000, 4000, etc. because it usually means you are at or near the top.
Chris and Alex both were heading down when I was on the final miles of the climb, and Mike was just about to leave the visitor center to head down when I arrived. He said there were drinks and snacks inside and pointed out a cool solar telescope exhibit that was open. I grabbed lunch and found a table in the shade next to the solar telescopes.
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| Solar Exhibit |
A volunteer docent assured me there were filters on the telescopes and they were safe to view. I really didn’t think to ask, and assumed they would be safe, since people heading out of the exhibit did not appear to be blinded by the experience. There were two telescopes, one with red filters that allowed you to view the solar flares, and the other with white filters to see the spots on the sun. Both were very clear.
As I was having lunch Teresa rolled up on her ElliptiGo machine. I was very impressed with her skill and strength to get that thing up and down such a steep climb. I ended up spending 45 minutes for lunch visiting with some nice folks visiting from Greenville SC. They were in town for a WWII fliers reunion. Her father was the flier, and when he was alive they started attending this reunion. Now it’s mostly families of those airmen. He was very interested in my Calfee machine, and he showed me photos of his vintage steel racing bike that he rides.
All things being equal, 10 miles of 8% downgrade is much more fun than 10 miles of 8% upgrade. Too bad it doesn’t last as long.
I stopped for one more photo of Baboquivari before rolling back into the desert heat. It took 3.5 hours to cover the 30 miles from 3 Points to the top of Kitt peak, and 1.2 hours to get back! I made another quick stop at 3 Points to refill bottles and headed back out into the 100+ heat.
There were no services between 3 Points and Tucson, and I thought 2 bottles would get me there. I was wrong. The heat and headwinds on Sandario Road really slowed me down. I considered going off route a mile to two the Saguaro National Park Visitor Center, but hoped the Desert Museum in Tucson Mountain Park along the route would have water. It was open and this delightful oasis was not a mirage. In fact the water fountain was refrigerated and filtered! I spent 20 minutes here in the shade, cooling off, drinking, and eating some pocket food. When I left there was a big puddle where I sat from dumping several cool bottles of water over my head and body!
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| East side descent Gates Pass |
Recovered and with the sun getting lower in the sky, the last 10 miles to the finish were actually enjoyable, that is, once the very steep climb up the West side of Gates pass was behind me. It was mostly downhill to the finish from there and with the sun at my back, and my kit still soaked from the dousing at the Desert Museum, I hardly noticed the heat.
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| UofA Mall |
Luckily the football game was still underway when I rolled through the University of Arizona Mall. Most the fans were still at the game, and the few I saw were watching the game on TVs set up in their tailgate tents!
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| Happy Halloween |
Mike uses the 3rd Street Bike Blvd to get from the UofA to the finish at the El Con Mall. There were several groups of cyclists in costumes headed toward campus. I’m guessing they were probably not headed to the library!
I rolled into the El Con Mall about 10 and a half hours after the start of this one. The sun was nearly down and I was very happy to have this one in the books. I doused myself with some nice warm water bottles that were inside the truck baking all day.
The other riders were staying in Tucson to ride Sabino Canyon and Mount Lemmon on Sunday, but luckily I had a Sunday commitment and couldn’t join them. So I grabbed a Chick-Fil-A sandwich, fries and a large Root Beer, and pointed the Sequoia back toward home!
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I made a quick stop, only 3-4 minutes, but the group was long gone. Another 18 miles to the Kitt Peak turnoff, but for some reason it just seemed like we would never get there. Somewhere along the way, I rode up on Brian. He was stopped for a flat tire so I took a break and we headed on together.
I made a wrong turn here, even though the sign was clear, and headed a few hundred meters down the dead end road to Pan Tak. It didn’t look familiar, and my Garmin was telling me I was off route!
So I turned around and rejoined the route as Brian rolled past. Ah, here is the correct turn, and the Garmin confirmed it!
Its 12 miles to the top, the first 2 are easy 2-3% grades, then it tilts up to 8% for a solid 10 miles. Whose great idea was this?
Progress is measured in mileposts and elevation markers, but the observatories still seem way out of reach!
Don’t be fooled by this sign, there are still 3 solid miles of climbing to go. No, I didn’t turn off my phone!
Great view of Baboquivari Peak in the distance as the road continued on the southern slope of Kitt Peak.
The Kitt Peak observatories from the southwest. Still some serious climbing to get there.
It’s usually a good sign when the elevation sign is more precise than just, 2000, 3000, 4000, etc. because it usually means you are at or near the top.
Chris and Alex both were heading down when I was on the final miles of the climb, and Mike was just about to leave the visitor center to head down when I arrived. He said there were drinks and snacks inside and pointed out a cool solar telescope exhibit that was open. I grabbed lunch and found a table in the shade next to the solar telescopes.
A volunteer docent assured me there were filters on the telescopes and they were safe to view. I really didn’t think to ask, and assumed they would be safe, since people heading out of the exhibit did not appear to be blinded by the experience. There were two telescopes, one with red filters that allowed you to view the solar flares, and the other with white filters to see the spots on the sun. Both were very clear.
As I was having lunch Teresa rolled up on her ElliptiGo machine. I was very impressed with her skill and strength to get that thing up and down such a steep climb. I ended up spending 45 minutes for lunch visiting with some nice folks visiting from Greenville SC. They were in town for a WWII fliers reunion. Her father was the flier, and when he was alive they started attending this reunion. Now it’s mostly families of those airmen. He was very interested in my Calfee machine, and he showed me photos of his vintage steel racing bike that he rides. 
All things being equal, 10 miles of 8% downgrade is much more fun than 10 miles of 8% upgrade. Too bad it doesn’t last as long. 
I stopped for one more photo of Baboquivari before rolling back into the desert heat. It took 3.5 hours to cover the 30 miles from 3 Points to the top of Kitt peak, and 1.2 hours to get back! I made another quick stop at 3 Points to refill bottles and headed back out into the 100+ heat.
There were no services between 3 Points and Tucson, and I thought 2 bottles would get me there. I was wrong. The heat and headwinds on Sandario Road really slowed me down. I considered going off route a mile to two the Saguaro National Park Visitor Center, but hoped the Desert Museum in Tucson Mountain Park along the route would have water. It was open and this delightful oasis was not a mirage. In fact the water fountain was refrigerated and filtered! I spent 20 minutes here in the shade, cooling off, drinking, and eating some pocket food. When I left there was a big puddle where I sat from dumping several cool bottles of water over my head and body!
I rolled into the El Con Mall about 10 and a half hours after the start of this one. The sun was nearly down and I was very happy to have this one in the books. I doused myself with some nice warm water bottles that were inside the truck baking all day.
