24 hours in the Old Pueblo

February 9 was a beautiful day. Look at that sky. That was before winter came back.


Thursday, 2/12, we parked out at Mo Udall Park and then rode out to Saguaro East. It's just beautiful out there. See the snow on the mountains.

There's a big hill at the beginning of the ride. It was a terrific day. We were on a social pace so we were able to look around and enjoy the view. It's one of the best places to ride in Tucson.


It's a 8 mile loop through a national park with very little traffic and good paved roads, and swoopy up and down turns. Just lovely.


Jim bought a swimming noodle to pad the bedroom slide out. The edges are sharp and his head is tender.

Friday the 13th, about 16 of us went to dinner at La Fuente. They make guacamole at the table and it is really really good. I think I ate my weight in chips, salsa and guacamole. They have mariachis. They're very good, but it's a small space for such large instruments.


After dinner out come the hats. That's Imo next to Jim. She's from Kansas City and is out here to escape winter.


Saturday was 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo. It's a mountain bike race. We volunteered to work the race from 11:30 to 6:00. It's north of here and is about 1200 feet higher than Tucson. We were idiots when we got dressed to go up there. We should have been wearing jeans and long sleeved fleece jackets. But no, we under-dressed the weather. It was cold up there! After an hour on paved roads, there was a 9 mile dirt road to get to the race venue. It's state trust land, there are cows there.


The desert is different there, we don't have these plants where we are now. I don't know what they are, but there are a lot of them.


So, finally we arrived. Many people were camping there. They are much tougher than me. First, they're going to race for 24 hours straight, and they are going to sleep in tents when they're resting.



There were a number of vendors selling stuff. I personally bought two extra-large chemical foot warmers to put in my pockets.


This guy was the most popular. Smoked tri-tip sammies. Gooooooooood.


Fairwheel Bike Shop of Tucson is one of the sponsoring businesses.

This is the start arch. Riders would be coming in off the course and funneled in to the tent where Jim and I were working.

When the racers came to register their teams, they were given a "baton". It's a 4 inch piece of dowel. The instructions are for the racer to come through the funnel above, walk to the appropriate table (based on their team's number), meet up with the racer who will do the next lap, give the volunteer the baton, and the volunteer gives it to the next racer, who then leaves. Simple, eh? Many racers had great difficulty following these instructions. Lost batons cost 5 minutes of time penalty. Putting the baton where you couldn't quickly retrieve it cost time. Not passing the baton in the tent cost time and sometimes laps. Sometimes, just getting them to use the great wide open space of the exit, rather than pushing through the waiting riders was difficult. It was fun. We had the books for the corporate riders, who were not that competitive of a group, so the pressure was not intense at our table. Some of them got a little jumpy when they had to wait in line, but overall they were not too bad. This is our side of the tent. We chose it because there was less wind on this side.

These are riders waiting for their team mates to come in, so they can get the baton and be on their way. Other volunteers marshalled this group.


After all of our people had registered for the start, we went out to watch it. But first we talked to this cutie. He likes to stick his tongue out. It's very pink.


The start is a Le Mans start. Riders run 200 yards to their bikes and then ride on to the course. They do this so that there is a metering effect and you don't get a mass, bunched start. The course is a single track trail, so bunching would be bad.


It got a little frantic with the mix of people running and people who were already on their bicycles.


Look closely, there are two people on a mountain bike tandem. It is beyond me how you do that.


These guys are walking. They're not serious contenders, and they're just out to have fun. Although you have to wonder how riding for 24 hours can be considered fun. Most people do the race as part of a 5 person team. Although some people are part of a 2 person team, and some people do it by themselves.

This is Tinker Juarez. He's riding through the tent which is prohibited, but since he's a famous mtn bike pro he gets to do it. He seems to be specializing in 24 hour mtb races. He has won this race before, but not this year. He came in 3rd. Apparently he travels with an entourage, and some of his people can be demanding. It's nice to have people.

Some people ride in costumes. I could not get good pictures because they were moving and were back lit, but you get the idea.





So, after our shift was over, we were freezing and decided to not walk the course. It was in the high 30's and we wanted to go home and get warm. We were glad to not be racing. It snowed on them last year. Some people dragged their RVs down to provide better accomodations.


The night shift pulling in to start riding.


It's lonely out there.

So that was Saturday.

Sunday we did the breakfast ride to the Rincon Market and up A mountain on the way back. We decided it was too cold to ride and bailed on the idea of Gates Pass. Laundry and grocery shopping seemed to be sensible ways to spend a cold overcast day in the desert.

Cold and rainy in Tucson

Isn't he cuuuuuuuuuute? It's dry here, both of us have cracked fingers and really dry hands. Whoever is washing dishes has to wear the pink gloves.


Saturday was hiking. We went up a new trail, didn't like it. Too much loose rock and sticky uppy rocks. It's not that scenic, it's on the other side of the bowl from where we have been hiking and it's not nearly as nice looking.



But, there are restrooms!


We saw this leaving the park. There are many entrepreneurial citizens in Tucson. They're out there on Kinney selling walking sticks, hotdogs, yard art, and this. I think this is yard art.


Sunday it was cold, windy and rainy. We want the snowbird refund for bad weather.

Today, Monday, is shaping up to be a blustery day. The wind rattles the slide toppers, it sounds like people with angry feet are on the roof. I think we may deal with administrative matters today and tomorrow. Winter should recede some by Wednesday. Hope you are all well in your respective climates.

More from the desert

Thursday proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that on the inside I am still a pale Northwesterner. The temperature hit 82, which is well out of my personal comfort zone of 68 to 73 degrees. We went for a hike, came back and were just pole axed from the heat. I can only imagine how tough the first summer would be if we lived here full time.
Today was cooler. We did the breakfast ride to the University. This is some mosaic work on arches that are by the rest rooms on the trail we take. It's a nice trail, it goes along the Santa Cruz River.


This is the same retail courtyard as before. Apparently the days are getting long enough that the pigeons are thinking about love. I missed the love shot, but did get these guys taking a bath. They were really into it. Do you know why you never see baby pigeons, or rarely, anyway? It's because they basically stay in the nest until they are adults. Baby pigeons have it good. No terrifying fledging before you're really ready; no, just sit in the nest and wait for your next meal.


After breakfast we did a social ride out east on 3rd, down Wilmot and back on the Aviation Parkway bike trail, which was very nice. It's a good way to get across town without traffic. There are two really cool bridges at the end. This is the Rattlesnake Bridge. It has a motion sensor and when you enter it, you hear a rattlesnake. And there is rattlesnake tail sculpture at one end. Very enjoyable route.

We ended up near downtown, so we went out to lunch and had good pizza al fresco. This is a photo of some downtown retail.


All in all it was an extremely pleasant day in the desert. A front moves in tomorrow and then it will rain on Sunday. Bummer, dude!

Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum

Today was a rest day. Jim was a tad weary after his 20 miles on the mountain bike Saturday, and then the Sunday climbing ride, so we slept in and went to the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum. It's a lovely facility. Look at the picture below, in the upper left quadrant there is a lighter area just below the mountains. That's part of the Central Arizona Project; they bring water down in canals from the Colorado River.


The exhibits are designed to mimic the animals' natural environments. Sometimes you can't see them, but they're happy. This is a fox having a nappy on his ledge.


The absolutely best thing about the museum is the raptor free fly. Raptors are defined as birds of prey with tearing beaks and talons. Today they were flying Harris Hawks. The Harris is named after Mr. Harris who was a friend of Mr. Audubon. Mr. Harris paid for a lot of Audubon's travel expenses, so in exchange he got a hawk named after him. Their eyes are so big that they can't move in their heads. Extra vertebrae in the necks allow them to turn their heads so they can have a wide range of vision. The birds have an unusual survival strategy, they hunt in family groups. There is an alpha female who is pack leader, and 2 or 3 males. Generally the female will only mate with the alpha male. Occasionally there will be two sisters, but not frequently. They hunt cooperatively which helps them eat more, especially during summer when they can only fly very early and at dusk. The coming of ranchers was a boon for the Harris because they brought water for cows, Harris Hawks are not desert adapted and can only thrive with a constant water supply. That's a raptor kit below.


Alpha female and a male.


The significance of this photo is the hawk is standing on a saguaro. It's a learned skill for them to land on the cactus without getting their feet punctured.


This is a juvenile female. She'll be booted out of the family in a few months. Mom won't allow her to stay. The Museum will hook her up with a couple of age appropriate males, and she'll get to be alpha bird of her own family.


This was funny. First, look at what the handler is wearing. Jim and I are out there in shorts and a T shirt, and she's wearing a fleece vest. I think she's a local. Anyway, she's got a pouch full of little meat bits and the hawk wants some. The bird circled her a couple of times demanding food.


At the end of the free fly the handler posed with a hawk. I asked her if they ever get to kill anything, and they do. Sometimes during the show they'll catch something and shred it. One of the things they do is bounce the prey up and down to break the bones of whatever they're eating so it'll go down easier. I suggested providing hamsters, but apparently some of the audience members find the shredding disturbing.


A coyote.

A Mexican Wolf. There are only 50 left in the wild. As a species, they're toast.


A white tailed deer.


Mountain lion. Aren't the enclosures cool? The museum was an early adopter of this type of habitat and the building of huge fake rocks.


See the red rocks? That is petrified mud. The desert was a swamp at one point a long time ago.


This is a Harris Antelope squirrel. This is one of the few desert critters that is active during the heat of a summer day. He spends all of his time looking for food. His internal temperature can reach 107 degrees. When he gets too hot, he'll run into the shade, do a belly flop, and bleed off heat into the cool dirt in the shade. This is the guy with the really cute sproinging gate. The last picture will have graphic depiction of squirrel gonads so if you think you'll be offended, read no further.


Look at the package on this guy!

So, that was the Desert Museum.