Blame it on the rain

It's early Saturday morning, about 5:15am, and I am just about ready to head out for a long ride. Around 2:00am last night the rain woke me up and I was concerned it might still be raining this morning and we might not be able to ride. But, it looks fairly clear outside and not especially wet either. Should be a good day to ride.

About 5:40am and I call Chris to tell him that I am heading out. The plan is that Chris will ride over to Dan's and I will meet them there. From Dan's we will head south on Houghton to Mary Ann Cleveland, make the left and Head east to Wentworth (Colossal Cave Rd). From there we will head north to Pistol Hill and take Pistol Hill to Old Spanish Trial which will take us west, back towards town. We can then make a right on Freeman, just after Saguaro National Monument Park, and head north again, up and around the northeast side a bit. Eventually, we will emerge on Catalina Hwy where my journey ends at my house and Chris and Dan continue the final 7 or so miles back to their houses. All in all, the route we established is just over 50 miles. It will be the longest ride for all of us and almost twice as long as any ride Chris has done.

My ride takes me down Catalina Hwy to Tanque Verde and south on Houghton to Dan's crib. As usual, it's about a 35 minute trip. When I arrive, Chris and Dan are there waiting. In that first half-hour I had a few sprinkles but no real rain and the overcast sky made for a nice ride.

As the three of us set out, everything looked good. I think everyone was a little worried about riding on Houghton. But, the thought was that riding south early on a Saturday morning would probably be the best time to do this. It was only about 5 minutes into the ride, with Chris leading the team, that the first car going south on Houghton passed us. Just as she got beyond Chris, the car drifted slowly across the lane, across the bike lane, and into the dirt off to the side of the road. The driver slowly corrected and there was no harm done. But, Chris turned to look back as if to say "WTF? Did you see that?". I did indeed. This was weird and a little disconcerting, but we pressed on.

The bike lane on Houghton was surprisingly adequate. At least until we reached the Civano area. It is right here that the Irvington right turn lane merge onto Houghton takes place. Coincidently, this is also the place where there is no bike lane and no road shoulder to speak of. So, of course it was just as we reached this section of Houghton that a full-size truck towing a full-size horse trailer went rambling by us at top speed. Whoa, that was not cool! But, after that point, the bike lane resumed, and we had plenty of room to ride.

As we traveled south on Houghton, it started to sprinkle again. It was not a big concern, as a matter of fact, it was kind of nice. However, as we approached Valencia, that all changed. The rain started to come harder now and I was getting soaked. I had taken the lead position a mile or two back and kept checking on Chris and Dan behind me. As we approached the Fry's shopping center at Rita Rd. I decided it was time to pull off into some shelter and see if we could wait out the rain. We gave it a few minutes, but decided it might just be one of those rainy days. Chris ended up calling his dad to come and pick us up.

Yet another planned long ride which didn't work out. Chris, Dan and I seem to have a hard time getting together for long rides (you might remember the Arivaca debacle). Chris' pop dropped of Dan and then me. I was really disappointed we didn't get to complete today's ride. But, at least I got 15 miles in. Dan and Chris only got about half that.