Tag: Tonto National Forest

preRA: Fountain Hills #4

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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

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preRA: Fountain Hills #3

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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

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preRA: Fountain Hills #2

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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

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preRA: Fountain Hills #1

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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

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