A February Meander around the City

A lovely clear day in the 50's Took a quick spin across the Northern part of the city - across Lake - out Falls to Old Pimlico - down Greenspring to Druid Hill - then once around the reservoir - across 33rd and once around Montebello before heading home. 223 Miles to date

First Providence

Sunday 3 February 2008 Providence Road 33 Steve and I met up on a lovely February Sunday afternoon for my first ride out of the Providence Road Park and Ride for 2008. This is where Bart, Kelly, and I usually meet up to drive to other rides an hour or more away - so it's always a treat actually start a ride from here... A nice little 33 mile loop out past the reservoir, Dulaney to Manor, Carrol Manor to Sweet Air - out and back on Green Road one of my favorites - then back through Long Green Valley where it always seems to be windy. A fun little ride that I did a couple times last year with Bart and Kelly. 33 Miles - 195 miles total to date

Winter in the desert

SUNDAY 22 JANUARY 2008 [link to map - http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/az/tucson/665145153 ] I was invited to the University of Arizona at Tucson for the weekend to review their students portfolios - I was quite impressed by not only the work of the students, but also by the poise with which most of them where able to present their portfolios. With any luck this will prove to be a valuable new connection for recruiting staff and interns for the theater. Thanks to a generous donation from owners Jeff and Chuck the University was able to put us up at the Royal Elizabeth Inn - a fantastic bed and breakfast that occupies one of the oldest houses in Arizona. A beautiful well appointed inn located right downtown within easy walking distance of shops, restaurants, theaters, and other attractions. Best of all - Jeff and Chuck make a different fabulous breakfast each day. So long as I was out there it seemed obvious to rent a bike and take advantage of the milder winter weather and explore the desert. The folks at Cycle Tucson brought me a great Cannondale... ...it was well tuned and a lot of fun to ride. This was my first long road ride on an aluminum frame - it had the slightly jittery feel I would expect, but I was surprised how much more power a rigid aluminum frame would deliver compared to my usual steel ride. Tucson is a very bike friendly city with lots of well marked paths and lanes - which made it easy to get from downtown to the desert. It wasn't long before I was treated to long views of the surrounding mountains and desert... ...as I left downtown the road began to rise slowly towards my first major goal of the day - Gates Pass. It wasn't long before I noticed that I'd already climbed a bit when I looked back towards downtown... ...just a little further and the houses fell away to be replaced by the saguaro cactus I would be surrounded by most of the day... ...once on I linked up with Speedway, the road that would take me over the pass, things continued to steepen... Once I got to the top I was treated to a great view of valley where I would spend the rest of the day meandering in and out of Saguaro National Park... the backside of Gates Pass was much steeper and I was able to get a lot of momentum to carry me through the first few miles in the park my original plan had been to ride to 20 miles or so and then double back, but the scenery and the beautiful day distracted me - I was at mile 25 before I looked a the odometer and turned around. Then not far down the road I saw a street sign I could resist - Picture Rocks Road - and swung left to see where it would take me. After a few miles of climbing I came to another pass back into Tucson From here I looped back into the park - this time around I to the McCain Loop which had less traffic and rolled in and out of several washes... Once back on the main road I made a pit stop at Old Tucson Studios before beginning the long way back into town. All told my '40 mile ride' wound up being more like 65 miles - it eventually got to 70 degrees - a great break from the short winter rides at home. Once back at the Royal Elizabeth I had a nice long soak in the hot tub... 65 miles - 2200 feet of climbing - 163 miles to date for 2008