Geeky Bob

Today was an okay distance ride; it wasn't one of my best from a speed perspective, but that wasn't really my fault. By way of explanation, I rode with the nice folks from Sabino Cycles again, which is becoming my normal Saturday morning ride. I like going on their rides because my normal courses were getting more than a little repetitive, and I need to continue working on my group riding skills.

That being said, the ride started at the Sabino Cycles shop at 7:30am, which is a much better time for me. I rode the first 30 miles with the group, then 3 miles with another rider, and then the next 12 miles alone. The ride with the group was good; I had done this route with them before, and the ride uphill on Freeman is nowhere near as bad as it was when I first started distance riding. (I still hate riding down Houghton, though; that road will be great when it's repaved, but not soon enough.)

I struck up conversation during the ride with one of the other riders; he's originally from Detroit and loves the Arizona weather. (But who doesn't?) He's retired, and he's only been riding for a few years. Once we were done with the group ride, the two of us went for a short ride around the Tucson Country Club; I hadn't been there in three decades – it was kind of weird.

After we rode back the shop, he and I parted ways; he went home, and I set off on another ride. I followed a route that I had taken before: I rode east on Cloud to Larrea, then north to Canyon Ranch, west on Snyder to Sabino Canyon, north to Sunrise, then south on Kolb and Sabino Canyon to the shop. That being said, I don't think that I'll ride Kolb again; it had no shoulder, so I was forced to ride with traffic, and it was an incredibly rough endeavor since the road was so worn.

Ride Stats:

• Primary Statistics:
  • Start Time: 7:36am
  • Distance: 45.4 miles
  • Duration: 2:52:10
  • Calories Burned: 1429 kcal
  • Altitude Gain: 1631 feet
• Speed:
  • Average Speed: 15.8 mph
  • Peak Speed: 31.8 mph
  • Average Cadence: 68.0 rpm
• Temperature:
  • Average: 51.2 F
  • Minimum: 44.6 F
  • Maximum: 55.4 F
• Heart Rate:
  • Average: 143 bpm
  • Maximum: 171 bpm