I am going to be in Tucson next week for just a morning, but will have time for a 30 or so mile ride. I was looking around my topo software and came across this route from Tucson to Summerhaven (20 miles) then on to Oracle, making it a 50 mile ride. Now I’m not going to attempt this ride on this trip, but if anyone knows if these are good roads to ride let me know. The first 20 miles are straight uphill, 7000 ft of climbing, the toal ride has 9900 ft of climbing. Several portions had 20+% grades.
The name of the road is General Hitchcock Hwy.
Has anyone ridden this that can give me some insight?
Mike
email me if you want, your talking about going up Mt. Lemmon and heading back down the back side on dirt rocky roads. DO NOT do it on a road bike unless you want to replace the rims, forks etc. By this I meant heading down the back side. The road up is about 27 miles and if you want a bit more climbing go up to the ski slope. If your a glutton for punishment go past the gate at the ski slope and climb to the top. If you want more info email me and I’ll give you some other ideas. get_faster@hotmail.com
You can ride up the road you are talking about (Mt. Lemmon Hwy; Catalina Hwy) on your road bike, but the road down the other side to Oracle is dirt. I’ve never ridden up, but I have driven up, and there is no shoulder or bike lane for most of the route. I want to do it one of these days…
If you are in Tucson for an early morning, there are group rides on most days leaving from the University of Arizona “main gate” area (Park and University). I haven’t done these rides, and don’t know the time or schedule, but the Saturday ride (the “Shoot-out”) is supposed to be a very fast ride. Call Full Cycle (an LBS) for more info.
Mike
I just rode up 10k of Lemmon this morning and they have paved parts of the road. There is a big sign saying bikes prohibited M-F due to paving. You’ll need to adjust your riding plans.