2019_04_20 Carbon River Entrance of Mt. Rainier Ride

Author:  Mike Hassur

We ended up having eleven guys on this ride:  Dwaine Trummert, Mike Richards (1st time), Gary Hoff (1st time), Kyle Dirks, Scott Wagar, John Winter, Adam Abrams, Leon Matz, Martin Katzberg, Lannie Moore and Mike Hassur.

The plan was to be on our bikes leaving Orting at 7:30 AM.

We ended up leaving the parking lot in Orting at 7:40 AM...

From Orting, we headed to South Prairie on the Foothlls Trail and, then, on to Wilkeson via Tubbs Road.

Wilkeson City Hall...

Stopping in Wilkeson for quick bathroom break, food, and fluid...

After our brief stop in Wilkeson, it was on past Carbonado heading toward the Fairfax Bridge (one of my favorite sections of road - winding, tree lined, mountains on the left and deep Carbon River Valley on the right):

We made our way past the Fairfax Bridge (250' above the Carbon River below, will be 100 years old in 2021) and on to the Carbon River Entrance to Mt. Rainier:

Traditional group photo on the Carbon River Bridge...

 On the way back, we opted to detour through the Lower Burnett Road Valley.  Some of our group had not seen it before:

Small waterfall near the south end of the valley...

The road into the valley is narrow, winding, and steep...

At the bottom of the steep descent into the valley is a right hand turn onto a small bridge - be careful...

After exiting the valley, it was on to South Prairie.  Somehow, most of us ended up back on the Foothills Trail leaving South Prairie; and Leon ended up taking the highway:

The Foothills Trail follows the Carbon River as you head back toward Orting:

Back in Orting and finished (I was a little late with the photos here, so some of the guys had already departed)... great to be riding together again...!!

Can't wait for our next ride...!!

2019_04_09 Leon Matz Week in Arizona (Tuscon)_ Tuesday

Author:  Leon Matz

After Monday’s long and hard ride to the ski resort, we decided to take it a little easier. After some discussion, we decided to ride until we had 5,000 feet of elevation gain!

We started at about 64 degrees at 7:00 AM. Our ride took us to one mile past Windy Point.  At first, there were 15-20 cyclists on the climb at the early hour! By the time we arrived at our turnaround, the weather was in the high 60’s at 7,700 feet!  On the way down to our car, we saw over 100 cyclists on a Tuesday morning! We know some of these riders are people here on vacation like us trying to take advantage of the warm temperatures and head up the mountain. Some must be locals that are either retired or have shift work that allows them to ride on a weekday!

Heavy wind 30-50 mph were forecasted for Wednesday in Tucson and Tempe!  Our plan was to get up early to try and get to South Mountain before the big winds arrived!

2019_04_08 Monday_Leon Matz Week in Arizona (Tuscon) - Mt. Lemmon Encore

Author: Leon Matz

The weather has been nice the first three days (70-80 degrees). Today the forecast is for low 90’s in Tucson.  Mike Smith is jumping for joy! He loves climbing in warm weather, and he was excited about going all the way to the ski resort at just over 9,000 feet. As you might guess, I was a lot less excited for this kind of heat.

We were up fairly early and drove to the cyclists meeting place Le Buzz. It is a restaurant and coffee place in a nice big parking lot! It is 4.5 miles from the start of the climb! We were on our bikes by 7:15 and headed out for Mt Lemmon! We thought that because it was a Monday that there would be a lot less riders than there were over the weekend! Both days there were about 150 riders!

Mike Smith on the road up Mt. Lemmon...

Mike had ridden real hard Sunday, so we talked about not riding to hard. The segment to the climb went quickly,

Leon on Mt. Lemmon...

and it was already warming into the low 70’s . Part way up the first mile, we caught up with a 40 year old gravel road rider from Minnesota who is here on vacation!  I asked him about what he did for work, and he kind of shocked us by saying he was retired and has been for 5 years! Wow, what did you do?, I asked!  He was a financial investment counselor!  He was a heck of a nice guy! He is trying to convince his wife to move here! The riding pace was not a TT but clearly harder than I or Mike had intended! The talking continued, and that helped the miles and climbing feet flow by! The conversation was terrific, and the views were even better! 

The saguaro cactus are so big and beautiful! They dominate the first 5-7 miles with mountain shrubs the taking over followed by the Hoodoos and then the pine forest!



It didn’t seem long and we were at the steepest section so far. It is a about a 3.5 mile segment to Windy Point. Not sure why but both Mike and I were feeling frisky, and we decided to see how we could do on this segment. We surged forward losing our new friend Rick!

"Hoodoos" and the road up Mt. Lemmon...

When we arrived at the Windy Point Rest Area, we stopped and had a break! We sat in the sun and enjoyed the 65 degree temperature and the incredible views!

Tuscon as seen from Mt. Lemmon...

After a wonderful rest at Windy Point, we headed up the road. The terrain changes some now with slight descents mixed in with longer climbing segments... beauty everywhere though! A few times I had to force myself to watch the road and not get carried away enjoying the views! 

Mike made a request that we stop for lunch at Summerland. It is a small town in the ski area. We had a wonderful lunch on their patio at 7,800 feet in 68 degrees! It was wonderful! Although getting back on the bike and climbing another 1,300 feet to the end of the road past the ski area was hard and painful... partially because of the extended rest and partially because the last two miles were at 10-13%. I was exhausted at the top!

After a quick rest we headed back! At Windy Point, we decided to make a quick stop! The quick stop turned into 15 min laying on the warm rocks soaking in wonderful weather. It felt so good to lay around at 6,800 feet in 75 degrees. I almost took a nap! 


The descent over the next 14 miles went quickly! I greatly enjoyed seeing the 125 or so cyclists ‍♀️ that we’re going up and down the Mt Lemmon climb. Even though we had already ridden 60 miles and climbed 7,580 feet, I was energized.  Mike and I raced back to our van keeping the speed above 20 miles an hour! When we finally arrived at the van we checked the temperature and it was 92 at 2:00.

An incredible day! Wish all of you could have been here with us! 

2019_04_07 Sunday_ Leon Matz Week in Arizona - Kitt Peak

Author:  Leon Matz

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 ‍♀️ headed to Kitt Peak! On Monday I talked to a couple who had visited Kitt Peak in that afternoon and reported they saw a ton of cyclists!

2019_04_06 Saturday_Leon Matz Week in Arizona - Mt. Lemmon - Tuscon, AZ

Author:  Leon Matz

After a warmup ride on Friday part way up Mt Lemmon, I decided to test my fitness and Timetrial up the first 20 miles of the climb. 5,000 feet of climbing. Nothing too steep but 5-7%mostly. I set up a goal to try and make the top 25 in my age group! Typically my goals for climbs are more aggressive and higher than top 25 but Mt Lemmon is the most climbed route in all the USA. Mike didn’t want to TT or ride early so he stayed at the hotel and road the 5 miles to the start of the ride. It was great of him to allow be to drive the van to a closer spot!
I started out just after 7:00 and warmed up with 3 miles of riding before the start of the climb. The climb starts at just under 3,000 feet. I set into a good aggressive rhythm hoping that it wasn’t too strong. Past one group of 3 local and younger riders but didn’t seem many riders at first. I was using my Garmin 520 and had stared the Mt Lemmon Official Strava segment and once I hit the start of the climb fellow Cyclopath Brent Moody name showed up as the person they were going to compare me to. Wow what a tough guy to try and keep up to. I had set a goal of 2:26 but his time was 2:43. In 2011 as part of my 100 climbs I did it in 2:49. The 2:49 did include a 5 minute stop and I went all the way to the top but can I do it 23 minutes faster.

The climb starts in the desert plain but quickly the Saguaro cacti soon take over the landscape to an elevation of 4,000 ft. They are so big and beautiful! I would have loved to include some pictures but this attempt was focused on no stops on the way up!

In about 5 miles to the ride I was only 1 minute ahead of Brent’s time . I was thinking my goal was unrealistic!  Then just past the toll both I jumped ahead of Brent’s time by 5 minutes! Oh so that means Brent stopped somewhere close to here! So maybe I can get under 2:30. 

Temperature was in the mid 50’s almost perfect climbing temperature! Soon the cacti disappeared and mountain shrubs took over the landscape. My climbing speed seemed to be good but can I keep it up was the big question! 

Soon the massive rock towers of granite (hoodoos) take over the landscape! The formations are incredibly beautiful! Tomorrow we plan to ride up again and I plan to enjoy the terrain! Soon my time jumped ahead of Brent’s by more than 12 minutes because of another stop that he must have made!

Then come the pine forest which then continues to all the way to the top 9,100 top of the Mt Lemmon road.  The hardest section of the climb for most is the 3 miles leading to Windy Pointe! I really struggled hear! Brent’s time started to catch up towards me!

The 6,500 elevation was clearly having an effect on me! My power output was clearly dropping and I was getting real tired! With about 40 minutes of riding left I wanted to grab a guy but the temperature was dropping to the low 40’s and my hands were getting real cold and my fingers couldn’t grab my zipper to get out a gu so I just kept riding. I anxiously watched my Garmin as it counted down the distance left in the segment! The last little hill I tried to sprint but it was pretty feeble!

Well I met my goal with a 2:24.

I stopped at the visitor center and warmed up and then headed down! 20 miles of downhill was more than my neck wanted but... I was grateful to run into Mike and ride some up hill with him before we turned around!
We saw over 100 cyclists going up and down the climb! It was if there was an event but it was just many cyclists getting in some training!