Today we rode from Tuscon to Sierra Vista. The weather was beautiful, a blue sky throughout the day. All roads were paved roads, some with busy traffic some quit.
Riding statistics: on Thursday May 9, 2024, the 1st day on the Western Wildlands Route route, it took 11:27h (07:52h moving time), between 08:33 and 20:24, to cover 131 km (82 miles), including 1209 m (3967 ft) elevation gain, with an average speed of 17 km/h (10 mph). During today's ride the average temperature was 29 °C (88 °F) with a minimum of 22 °C (74 °F) and a maximum of 37 °C (104 °F).
Totals: So far, it took 0 days, 7 hours, 52 minutes and 42 seconds of cycling time to cover 131 km (82 miles), including 1209 m (3967 ft) elevation gain, with an average speed of 16.7 km/h (10.4 mph).
We did not set an alarm because we were expecting an early wakup due to the jetlag. Indeed at 5.30 we got up and started to prepare the bikes and bags. That took a while, and I even had an issue with the valve of my front wheel. The core had broken and I did not succeed in getting it all out. Therefore I decisws to leave it in and visit a bike shop in Sierra Vista. After a typical mote breakfast we left around 8am. The temperature was great but would soon be hot. First we rode out of Tucson on a busy road but it had a wide shoulder, so no issue at all. About 30 minutes out we got on a nice bike path (The Loop) which we could follow for another half hour. At that point we could detour for 3km back and another 3km back to visit a supermarket. We decided to visit the next one, which was about 20 minutes cycling but it was on-route.
After our first groceries we got back on track and not much later we were on on older road into the mountains. We did not expect that we really had to climb but we did. Quite a lot for such a hot first day. When we got near the tops of these mountains, a cool breeze cooled us down. We could use that. However, at the top there was quite a strong wind, a headwind. We had to fight the headwind for about 2 hours until we arrived at a very small ‘town’ Sonoita. We now had ridden about 80km.
Sonoita had a Shell gas station with a cousy mercantile. Time for many cold calories, which I could appreciate. We took a break for 45 minus before we continued. Now we turned in an eastern direction, and now had the wi d for the most part from behind. The boosted motivation. Speed went up a lot, and for certain sections I even did not have to pedal. 35km flew by. Then we had to take a road in a southern direction and the wind came from front/right. Sometimes blowing us away. After 120km in total we reached Sierra Vista.
In Sierra Vista we cycled another 10km to visit the bike shop, grocery store, and outdoor store for a gas canister and insect repellent. Big shout out for M&M Cycling, the were able to get the valve core out (to their own surprise). So, no valve replacement. I asked to also replace the read valve core, and fine tune my shifting. It took them about 10 minutes and they not charge me anything, even after persisting.
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