Day 11 distance: 73 miles
Total miles: 587 miles
Elevation Gain: 3813 feet
Map of today's ride:
Today's ride took us 73 miles from our East Tucson campground to Tombstone, Arizona. We are staying at a Tombstone motel tonight. The weather was very good for bicycling today with the sun out and the temperature reaching 75 degrees when we arrived in Tombstone. There was a light wind forecast at 8 mph from the SSE, but throughout the ride it felt like at times we had wind from all directions. Regardless of that, it was light enough to not really bother today's ride. We had our second most challenging day of climbing, with over 3800 feet gained. However, I would rate this day the most difficult to-date as we rode 73 miles whereas the day we climbed slightly more than 4400 feet, we only rode for 32 miles.
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| This photo was taken early in today's ride on E. Sahuarita Drive, about 8 miles south from our campsite in East Tucson . The cactus in the foreground are Prickly Pear. The Prickly Pear fruit is used in many cactus jellies (and milk shakes) and it is also the state cactus of Texas. |
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| A Prickly Pear cactus growing on an abandoned bridge along AZ-82 E. |
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| There was a gradual but steady 20 mile climb on AZ-82 E that increased to a grade of over 7% for the last few miles. This picture was taken as I was approaching the high point which was 5200 feet high. The elevation at last night's campground was a little over 3000 feet. The over 3800 feet of climbing along with the 73 mile ride made today's ride the most taxing to date. |
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| Your blogger as he approaches the top of the 20 mile climb. |
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| I must like this spot as I see I took the same shot last year! |
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| This picture was taken a few miles west of Sonoita. Beautiful high country! We remained at over 4100 feet of elevation all the way to Tombstone. |
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| This is a closer view of part of the mountain? seen in the distance of the previous picture. |
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| The vegetation changed dramatically after passing through the mountains seen in the previous two pictures. There is a lot more "scrub" type brush. This area will be very pretty when the shrubs turns green. |
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| The San Pedro River. This crossing was about 8 miles before reaching Tombstone. |
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| That is Tombstone on the hill ahead. The last 8 miles, starting at the San Pedro River, consists of several rolling hills similar to the one seen in this picture. It was a difficult way to end the 73 mile ride. |
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| This is the view tonight from our room at tonight's motel. |
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| Dinner tonight was delicious and would have been even without riding all day! |
LINK to Day 10 of my 2015 C2C blog.
Seems there's a consensus on this being the toughest day. Good time to end up at a hotel!
ReplyDeleteKay
Wayne, you take the most beautiful pictures! Sue
ReplyDeleteAnd people assume that the Arizona desert is flat!
ReplyDeleteSuch great pictures. We just camped there at the Wells Fargo RV Park a few weeks ago and really enjoyed the ride to and from Tombstone, as well as our visit there. What a tough ride - must be a great sense of accomplishment. We're impressed!!!
ReplyDeleteI took the same picture last year also.
ReplyDeleteWe don't remember, were the cows in the windmill picture there last year? :)
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