November 10
44mi/70km
+2900ft/880m
It was a lovely morning leaving the Tortilla Mountains. The roads were in nice condition and mostly empty, although we did have some short steep climbs up to 15%. As we got closer to rejoining highway 77 we even saw some other cyclists out on the road.
Once we hit 77 it was pretty smooth going. The shoulder was nice and wide and we were heading mostly downhill until we got closer to Oro Valley and left the highway through some neighborhoods to join state trust land to find a spot to camp. Our friend Josh drove out to meet us and cook us dinner for our last night. He made us pesto pasta and roasted vegetables, and it was delicious! A really great last night.
November 11
28mi/45km
+690ft/210m
Well, our last day started with a frustrating misadventure. The plan was to ride on a trail down to the state park, then join the multi-use bike trail system to bring us most of the way home.
Unfortunately, the trail was in rough shape and not always rideable. We pushed off and on, then decided to follow a different route along a power line road. The road quickly became rough as well and we followed it down a steep descent into a sandy wash. We finally could see the highway ahead, and rode up a steep hill to find a locked gate. The fence was robust and tall and we could find no way we would be able to get the bikes under. We had no choice but to turn back.
Fortunately, we only had to go back to the wash and follow it south until it ran into the park. It was sandy but rideable. Our last day was supposed to be smooth sailing and we probably wasted an hour on this little adventure.
From there though, it was smooth sailing. We got on the bike path and rode into town. It was busy like a weekend due to it being Veteran’s Day, so there were plenty of people out on the path. We stopped for coffee before hopping on the surface streets back to the house.
It’s a weird feeling ending a journey like this right at home. In one sense it is a little anticlimactic, but in another it is great to be done and to just be home. Our cat Rufus hid for a couple hours before finally coming out to greet us, we missed him!
We’ve got some thoughts on the journey and what we’d do differently, but for now we’ve got chores to do and settling in, so I’ll get a post up in a week or so with more of those thoughts.