After a long discussion, Mike Smith and I decided to split up for Sunday’s rides. He decided to stay in Tucson and ride from the hotel and do some riding on Mt. Lemmon, and I decided to go ride Kitt Peak.
As usual I was up early and ready to leave for my hour drive west of Tucson to the beginning of the climb! The drive there and back was filled with a huge variety of wild flowers and cacti!
I was my bike riding by 6:30 with the sun just warming up the route. The pitch the first couple miles was only 2-3% and the surface was fairly new chipseal. The climb is only 12 miles and gains 3,500 feet. Since I had ridden real hard on Saturday, my goal for Sunday was to take it relatively easy but make decent progress. In my trip up and down I am saw only 3 cars and no other cyclists. It was almost like being at The Climb except for a totally different environment! After the first two easy miles, the climb pitch changed to 6-7 %. The climb was filled with valley views which was very enjoyable!
Even though I didn’t want to work to hard, the last three miles were pretty darn hard! As I approached 5,000 feet, the wInd picked up and the pitch became steeper! I kept wishing I had a rear cassette with a 34 or a 36 instead of my 32 which meant that my cadence dropped, and I had to stand a fair amount! Not only was I expending more energy than I wanted to, but I also was worried about my left knee which has been troublesome all spring. When I arrived at the top no one was there except for one worker who gave me permission to go into one of the 5 observatory’s and look around. My ride down was quick and uneventful!
After I loaded up my bike and started to head back, I saw 20 or so cyclists
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