Tag: fountain hills

Saguaro Lake

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,

Continue reading

Fountain Hills 2012-2

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

Continue reading

Back to Fountain Hills

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

Continue reading

preRA: Fountain Hills #4

Off the bike for 5 days in a row this week, playing in a golf tournament.  My partner and I didn’t do too badly, so I made a brief post about it here. [By the way, if you’re into exquisite dining and a way cool celebrity encounter, you should check out a couple other very recent posts on our travel site – start here.] The desert up by Saguaro Lake is always beautiful, and this morning the temperatures were a perfect 75F or so.  Most of the penstemons have waned, but the desert marigolds are in full glory. The other

Continue reading

preRA: Fountain Hills #3

Another loaded spin up by Saguaro Lake, then down the Beeline to Fountain Hills.  When the weather behaves we get NE winds in the mornings, and it makes the hills out by the lake interesting.   At Beeline and Bush I spied this outrageous orange-red cactus in bloom in the desert and trudged out for a photo. Rolling down the Beeline is almost always fun, and this morning I did so for about 7 miles at 24 mph.  Approaching Fountain Hills, I watched the end of the fountain’s cycle, realizing that it was actually the 9AM cycle I was watching, with

Continue reading

preRA: Fountain Hills #2

Yet another loaded conditioning ride, same route as my previous ride to Fountain Hills.  I battled some steady 18 mph NE winds out to Saguaro Lake and up to the Beeline – a bunch of work. Jesse and I met at the fountain.  We decided that the breakfast prices in Fountain Hills are not a very good value, and so this time we both brought our own food and drink, and sat and watched the kids, ducks, and fountain for a good 75 minutes or so, discussing our upcoming tour. While we sat, my bike spontaneously toppled over.  When I

Continue reading

preRA: Fountain Hills #1

Originally I had a multiday ride scheduled for this weekend, one over in California.  Postponed due to 2 factors:  1) medium winds are forecast for the area (Salton Sea) for all three days of riding, and 2) no one will go on it with me <grin>. This ride was a nice surrogate.  Jesse and I both loaded down our bikes and took off from our respective homes towards Fountain Hills.   Both our routes took us about 35 miles, mine up around Saguaro Lake, his up around Dynamite and Rio Verde and down McDowell Mtn Rd. At the junction of Bush

Continue reading

Scottsdale Trial Ride

I suppose a one-day training ride hardly deserves a blog entry here. But this ride deserves it for several reasons: 1. It symbolizes the first concrete step of our training for a cross country trip next summer. Well, perhaps we shouldn’t call it training so far in advance, but an exercise to see what it would feel like. 2. It was Jesse’s first all-day ride on a fully loaded (70+ lb) touring bike. 3. We took some pictures and this was the best use of them. I spent the previous night pulling out my packing list from the Dakota Tour

Continue reading