One more Mt. Lemmon

Last day, last ride and climb to Summerhaven and Skivally, Mt. Lemmon. A nice more sunny day than Monday!



Summary of the past 6 days:
   706km (440mi), 9800m (32'200ft) vertical, 26h40.

Saguaro laps and Redigton exploration

Recovery ride. A nice day at Saguaro again and a little exploration of a dirt road climb.

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The long strait road towards Kitt Peak

A 51km ride on one long pretty much strait stretch of road towards Kitt Peak. The first 10 miles not not pleasing, but messy, bumpy and super rough, then gradually improving to a pretty decent surface.



After long 51km with head wind and on a slight incline we finally reached the base of Kitt Peak leaving this long mind boggling road.
A slightly rough and bumpy road leading the only way up (and down) to Kitt Peak where a set of nice observatories can be astonished.

Setting into climbing rhythm we all did our own job up. J. pretty strong ahead today, Py felt a little la-la... from that long haul getting there. After climbing along for a while all sudden some riders showing up from behind at quite some speed -- turned out later it was a Canadian development team. Py could not let them go right away but hooked up to the end of the train of some 8 riders or so -- bumping up his speed from some 14km/h to good 20km/h. Holy.... that get's it going but how long??? Starting to get hard after a couple of turns... and with HR ramping from steady 155bpm to over 177bpm for a while he had to let off and return to his own pace. But fun to try.

Turn by turn approaching the top eventually:

Easy, good day with two more riders and a former RAAM Nat 'Champ -- Gates Pass

Visiting the other side of Tucson making the way to and over Gates Pass and Tour de Cactus.

But first meeting J, K and later picking up one more amazing rider. Then making a long way around Tucson using a nice bike path for miles....



Before finally we approached Gates Pass, just a little climb over a smaller Mountain and descending into a nice valley and one more cacti paradise.

 

Mt. Lemmon -- the classic Tucson must see "road"

Simple day -- just ride up the 6% grade of 28miles to Summerhaven, Ski Valley and to the very top and end of the out and back road. We actually did this twice Monday and to finish up the trip once more Friday.

The Mt. Lemmon range just following the foothills area.

From snow to cacti country -- Tucson, Arizona -- Sunday

Arriving in Tucson just a three days past retuning from snowboarding in the Alps. Assembling the previously shipped bike. Dinner at a great British pub next to the hotel with J. and G.. Then bed time.

Sunday -- first ride in a while, feeling so good back on two wheels in shorts, just ideal weather. Meeting with J and riding towards Saguaro for a very nice and scenic loop in a cacti National Park -- so cool!


Then heading further to Colossoal Cave and back.

Snowboarding -- Davos/Klosters

Yeah, get out of this frozen East Coast to a place where snow is fun!

A few days staying in Seewies im Praettigau, Switzerland with friends, a few awesome days with fresh powder in Davos, Klosters and at Jakobhorn!

Days like this and that:

Klosters/Davos:


And on the other side of the valley at Jakobhorn:


A few impressions:


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