Tag: Arizona

2018 Luna Lakes I Day 3

Posted on August 1, 2018August 19, 2018 by Rich

All photos courtesy of Isam This is it! The other two days of this tour are splendid in their own right, but today’s route is the best, well, on paper anyway. Still, you never know what you’re going to get on tour. Isam rose at 5:30AM to fix breakfast. Coffee, Spam, onions, red and green peppers. Delicious! How lucky are we? No messing around this morning. Two and a half hours of steady climbing (and OK a few breathers) from 5700’ to nearly 8000’ . The route doesn’t climb one particular mountain, but rather up the eastern side of a

2018 Luna Lakes I Pre-Ride

Posted on July 29, 2018October 16, 2018 by Rich

Though neither of us is really conditioned for it, Isam and I quickly put this tour together. Since he’s in town, and Phil had generously loaned us his Surly LHT for Isam to use, it seemed like a perfect opportunity. Isam and I drove up the long way out US60 through Superior and Miami. We soon got a strange message on the car GPS that asked us if we wanted to re-route due to traffic conditions. Out here? Hoping for further explanation, we pushed yes. The re-route was a 7 hour detour around Show Low that actually took us up

Saguaro Lake

Posted on July 25, 2018August 5, 2018 by Rich

So little riding this year means that today’s modest ride gets a blog entry. Ah well. Isam and I took off around 6:30 this morning up Bush Highway. Already 90F – gonna be a hot one. But oh so beautiful overlooking the Salt River coming down King Kong. It was great to see so much regrowth of foliage after the big ‘Cactus’ fire in the salt cedars last year. North through one of my favorite sections, the rollers past Usery Moutain Road. We stopped at the Pebble Beach rec area to splash water on our heads and generally look around,

Sunday Breakfast Club – Jim’s Cafe

Posted on May 6, 2012June 25, 2012 by Rich

37.6 miles total Another edition of the Sunday Breakfast Club. This time we picked out an unknown place called Jim’s Coney Island Cafe, located on Scottsdale Road between McKellips and Curry in north Tempe. I took the usual roll west on McKellips, assisted by a modest tailwind. Crossing the river bottom, a cyclist came up and passed me on the left, so I decided to pick up on his wheel. About 100 yards away from Alma School Rd., we saw the light yellow, and then red, so I began to coast. The other guy, though, simply stood up on

Sunday Breakfast Club – Butterfield’s

Posted on April 29, 2012May 8, 2012 by Rich

60.0 miles total After a round of golf at Orange Tree yesterday, my friend Terry pointed out a very popular breakfast place there on Shea Boulevard, so Jesse and I decided to give it a try. Once again, I used McKellips for my crossing west, and the Greenbelt north through Scottsdale. I’m starting to tire of the Greenbelt riding, due to pedestrian traffic, and due to the bump-bump-bump of a sidewalk seam every 8 feet, but in the early morning it is still a very nice ride. This time I crossed through Silverado golf course, too, which is quite beautiful

Sunday Breakfast Club – Randy’s

Posted on April 22, 2012May 8, 2012 by Rich

44.0 miles total Same route plan as last week, and this time I was successful in taking McKellips Road west out of Mesa. No reservation dogs! Still, I’m not going to recommend this as a great cycling route – the shoulder ranges from good to thin to cracked up to “no escape,” but the traffic is very light on Sunday mornings now that snowbird season is ending. I got on the Greenbelt right off McKellips in Scottsdale, and so had five miles of it heading north to Chaparral. There are lots of walkers there, so it’s slow and go, but

Sunday Breakfast Club

Posted on April 15, 2012April 30, 2012 by Rich

49.0 miles total Jesse and I have modified our Sunday riding plans to start meeting at various breakfast venues in Scottsdale and Tempe. This gives me a chance to explore the crossings between Mesa and Scottsdale, as well as the northbound options into Scottsdale. Today’s plan was to meet at the Breakfast Club on Scottsdale Road. From Country Club Road in Mesa, I took McKellips due west, but ran immediately into a Road Closed sign at the river. Backtracked, went north on Country Club to McDowell, and found two patrolmen barricading that way, too. I stopped to talk with

Fountain Hills 2012-2

Posted on April 1, 2012May 8, 2012 by Rich

58.0 miles What a great day to ride! Temperatures dropped from yesterday’s 90s to today’s 70s, coinciding perfectly with our 2nd meeting out in Fountain Hills. Today’s was the usual splendid roll out by Saguaro Lake, with a brief stop at the river below the lake for some photos. Particularly noteworthy were the ocotillo, fully decked out with leaves and flowers. Southwest winds assisted the climbing around the lake. The turn onto the Beeline faced me directly into them again, but at 10-15 mph, they were only a small factor, since the remaining 8-10 miles to Fountain Hills are a

Back to Fountain Hills

Posted on March 11, 2012May 8, 2012 by Rich

59.8 miles While I might normally not create a post for a simple local ride, my riding season this year has been sparse. I’m riding weekdays with friends and neighbors, good for about 60 miles per week, but that’s about it. Last week Jesse suggested we resurrect the Fountain Hills ride, so I jumped onto the trusty Surly and stretched it out one Sunday morning. Since last spring, I’d really forgotten that this is a tough ride. It seemed easier then. The hills out by the lake are moderately challenging. This winter and spring have been unusually dry – we