Time to get ready for the Divide. Time to see if all the stuff is still working. Time to get real.
Did a chilly ride up Mt Lemmon on Friday with the GABA folks. The temperature when I got out of the car was all of 62 but it was cloudy and it just felt cold ( that's ridiculous but true ! ) It did get much colder, down into the high 30's by the time we got to Loma Linda, I got my piece of pie and beat feet it back down the mountain.
Up on Saturday and loaded the bike. Didn't end up leaving until nearly 9 am. Rode about 3 miles and realized that I couldn't shift into my smallest rear ring. Figured that the straps on the front bag were restricting the action and redid it and that solved the problem.
I turned off Mission Road on Helmet Peak, thought I would take Santa Rita road towards Helvetica and then jump over to Box Canyon Road. A good idea in principal, but bad in practice as there was a "Dead End" sign after I had gone downhill a ways. I decided that didn't apply to me ( a mostly ok decision ) and went ahead, lifted the bike over a barbed wire fence, got on it and heard a bang as all of the air in the front tire came out at once. Stans all over the place. Found the hole, got the tire to reinflate ( sometimes tricky for tubeless ), wasted half of my CO2 by having the valve on the inflator adaptor in the wrong position when I screwed the cartridge in, then had the adaptor blow into the weeds when I unscrewed the cartridge that was not empty yet. Had to search the weeds to find that sucker, but retrieved it, and got my tire pumped up. One short hike-a-bike and I was on Box Canyon Road.
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| Sunset |
Stopped in Sonoita, got a prime rib and headed to Las Cienegas Conservation area ( along Cienega Creek ) and camped for the night. Beautiful sunset and sunrise the next morning.
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| I looked for them - didn't see any |
Into Whetstone, stopped at the gas station, had a Don Miguel burrito for breakfast, a quick stop at Fairbanks, and on to Tombstone for breakfast #2.
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| My Son had Tom Swift Books - this in Fairbanks Schoolhouse |
Cruised Allen Street, talked to some folks from Indiana and then out of town and up Middlemarch Rd. Hadn't gone over the Dragoons on Middlemarch before and it was fun, got to a place that you could accurately call the "middle" of Middlemarch. Then took a fast steep downhill to Pearce, AZ.
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| Do You See the Sheep's Head ? |
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| Top of Middlemarch Looking West |
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| Middlemarch Rd going East |
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| Have to go straight some other day |
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| Outskirts of Pearce |
Up Hwy 191 past Sunsites, smelled food and turned in a TJ's Bar and Grill and had a great grilled ham and cheese and fries ( it's all about the food ) and then on up 191 to Dragoon Road.
Rest was pretty uneventful, a ride down I-10 with trucks going by at 75 or 80+ mph as dusk grew and a hotel room in Benson with a ride back home this morning. Think it's about 250 miles for the 3 days and 50 something for Lemmon, so pretty ok.
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| Rattlesnake Ranch - Dragoon Road ( see the DropBox ? ) |
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| End of Dragoon Road, just before I-10 |
Bike and gear seemed great. Will fit new tires before I leave. My new shoes are just fine, just wish the body was 30 years younger. Ready to do this thing.
