Cirque de SoMo
I needed a long ride. My last ditch effort to prepare for the AES Tor de 50 this Saturday. Good thing I took the bike out for a beatdown. I blew a tire at four miles in and broke a spoke at 6 miles in. A slime tube took care of the tire, I’d just have to be careful on the rear wheel spinning on only 27 spokes. I wasn’t calling it due to a spoke…
The rest of the ride was uneventful mechanical wise. As for adventure…west SoMo is nothing but adventure. The twisty singletrack of Bees, light tech on the northwest corner of SoMo, a few jeep road climbs… coyotes howling…then the Highline canal flats. This is where you crank up the tunes and hammer till your legs are on fire. I topped off the ride with the East Loop back to Pima and logged 33 miles around South Mountain.
This ride didn’t hurt much. I guess it wasn’t really good enough prep for the Tortolitas. I’ll find out Saturday…
LOL. Every mountain biker should ride Bajada once. One trail you will never miss.
I rode Bajada this last weekend. I shall now refer to it as “The trail which name we do not spreak of”. It sucked!
Justin, Sounds like an epic ride…
Bajada eastbound will be a beast. I’ve only ridden it once. And that was enough! It’s slow going, chunky in spots, up and down through washes. Fun in its own right, but it will beat you down.
Bottom of Bees to San Juan is rough, rugged singletrack and doubletrack. Not much climbing but enough to keep you warm. Good luck preparing for the whiskey!
I’m looking to do a similiar ride training for the Whiskey except I’d depart from your route by taking the trail parallel/South of San Juan Rd (Called Bajada?) go east bound, then jump on the summit rd all the way to Buena Vista look out to replicate the forest service road in the Whiskey, then bomb down National/Mormon, finish off DC to my staring point (War Paint). I think that will be running 30 miles +.
Hows the leg from bottom of Gila/Bees Knees to San Juan Rd? I have not ridden that yet.
That ride on Saturday looks awesome. Too bad I’m not in town…