Leg Warmers

I'm helping scout out the new 200 km Brevet Course which goes up to Mt. Lemmon. Lots of construction on the old course. Gerry Goode reported this to Susan, as did I a few weeks ago. Susan, RBA for Arizona, sent me a route as suggested by Gerry--which I drove home last week--and rode part of this morning. I did not know most of these roads even existed. For years most of them have been under construction. I must report that the new course is perfect--not much traffic, and it's fast and smooth--and will prove challenging to all riders.


Heading East on Moore Rd. Mt. Lemmon in the background at 7 a.m.--It was quite cold--just below 50 degrees. This was the first day that I had to wear leg warmers, mes amis.


This is La Canada, looking North. I've ridden East on Moore, then headed South down La Canada. This is a great piece of road but until recently, it was dangerous near Moore and Tangerine Rds--and also not easy to ride to get to this point. This is the corner of La Canada and Calle Concordia. I didn't know of this road, and now thanks to Gerry's suggestion, we'll take this route and head East from here.

This is the town of Oro Valley. You'll see the valley and you'll ride right through and over OV via this bridge. It's huge--and for a long time there was nothing here. Most of this road was simply crumbing two-lane hwy and sometimes dirt. Now golf courses and up-scale homes are everywhere.


East on Calle Concordia, and pictured above is Pusch Ridge. Pusch was the name of a ranching family (Mt. Lemmon is behind the ridge here) and the area appears to have some of the old ranch spreads in tact.


This is where the horse people still live. The road isn't so much for a bike lane as for horseback riders. Calle Concordia is paved, but all the neighborhood backstreets are dirt.


Oracle Rd is just up ahead--if you follow my blog or live in Tucson, you know that Oracle Rd is pretty damn fast and congested and a major hwy in this town. You wouldn't know unless you rode through here on a bike that horses out-number cars and people. And the people are laid back and wave as they tend horses for work and for riding lessons. Lots of people out for riding lessons. I saw jumpers and dressage riders, and I saw Mexican and Anglo cowboys riding side by side--but soon the road is newly paved, the houses are McMansions, and the wide street for cowboys to ride on the side of the road is now a bike lane for Yours, Gentle Reader of This Blog.

I decide I won't ride on Oracle this morning--instead I'll turn around and head home, and I'll watch the young women ride English and post and canter. I have today off and there's no need to rush anywhere. The clock isn't running and I'm not trying to make a controle. I still need the leg warmers all the way back to Dog Mtn!

Cheers!