Tag: cycling

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

CasaCopa Century – Revision 1

Posted on March 14, 2011February 25, 2015 by Rich

Jesse had mentioned to me that the roads around Maricopa might be good for a club ride someday, and so I designed this route as a possible alternative to the current Casa Grande Century. After riding it today, the results are in, for better and worse. The route needs some work, but this ride has some good potential. Jesse and I planned to ride it together, but Jesse’s lingering head cold flared up and in the end he decided to rest and repair. Since I rode it solo, there isn’t a whole lot of story here, but I will document

Back to Tucson: Near Century

Posted on December 7, 2010December 31, 2010 by Rich

Hard to believe it, but for the second time in four nights, my room was stiflingly hot. The heater was not on, and so once again it was coming from somewhere else, an adjacent room maybe. At one point, I turned the thermostat to COLD and turned the switch to ON, but got a continual blast of even more heat. Apparently the building had only the heat activated at the moment – and this room lacked a window air conditioner. I lay on my bed unable to sleep for quite a while, and considered calling the desk for maintenance or

Sierra Vista AZ: Through Palominas

Posted on December 6, 2010December 14, 2010 by Rich

Up at 5AM, then just dozing with MSNBC’s Morning Joe on the TV. I figured I’d better address the saddle sores acutely, and so washed well, applied a bunch of antibiotic cream, and then 2 big square padded bandages. On top of all that an extra generous dose of Chamois butter. Better to nip this in the bud (or butt). At 8AM, Jesse and I met up and took another roll through Douglas. This time we tried to find a café from the Google map, but unfortunately found only a local Iglesia de Luz del Mundo at 12th and A

Douglas AZ: Through McNeal

Posted on December 5, 2010March 16, 2011 by Rich

What a hot room! Even though my heater was off, the air got stifling. I finally touched the walls and found them very warm – the heat was radiating in from the office or some other source. About midnight I reached over to the window air conditioner and cranked on the fan only. With it being 40°F outside, I soon had a nice equilibrium 70°F, however inefficiently obtained, and so ran the fan all the way until 5AM. I met Jesse at 8AM. We rolled again to the old west main street (Allen Street) and found the OK Café for

Tombstone AZ: Riding on I-10

Posted on December 4, 2010March 16, 2011 by Rich

I woke up to see 2:21AM on the clock, and never got back to sleep. Keyed up to go, with dreamlike thoughts swirling around my head, I lay in bed sort of quarter dozing, waiting for the morning. At 6AM I opened my door to find Jesse ready to go. We considered Denny’s again, but instead drove the X5 about 6 miles north of Davis-Monthan AFB to Joe’s Pancake House that got great reviews. It turned out to be perfect – friendly service, local customers, homey comfortable atmosphere, good coffee, and tasty fare. I enjoyed coffee, eggs, pancakes, and grits.