The Holding Pattern

Tucson turned out to be a pretty cool place. The people there were friendly and it was pretty diverse, thanks to the University of Arizona. Tucson is a good-sized city, so we had multiple oil-change places to pick from, as well as several Discount Tire shops. So we took a day to take care of Taco Negro, as well as treating ourselves to breakfast at the Baja Cafe. If you’re ever in Tucson, this place is amazing. They have about 12 different eggs benedict options, including one with duck confit.

As time went on, we found ourselves still in Tucson and the GABA Bike Swap getting ever closer. We decided that it was worth staying a few more days to see if we could find a replacement wheel for my bike. Now, as I mentioned in my last post, the sites off Reddington Road offered some spectacular views of Tucson, but they also had a lot of trash and broken glass, and they were right on the road, so we had to tie the dogs up. (There was quite a bit off traffic on this road – mostly jeeps and ATVs.)

So we headed south of Tuscon, to Madera Canyon, for the rest of the week. The canyon itself is a fee area. Signs along the road told us that it was a $5 usage fee, even to just use the bathroom. Luckily we turned off just before the canyon to find our free campsite.

There was even a trail at the end of this road. Michael rode it. I ran it, mostly because my bike was out of commission. But I don’t think it would have been a fun ride. For me, anyway. Michael didn’t complain. Anyway, we got those workouts done early in the morning… because it was kinda hot. As in, upper 80’s. The way we had the rig set up, we could find shade at some point throughout the day, but still.

We had a wildlife sighting at that campsite, too. I was sitting in the shade reading when I heard this funny sound, almost like a snuffling. Then Elvis started barking. Michael and I both ran towards the sound, in a little dry wash just past our campsite. Bailey joined in the fun, of course. Between the two dogs, they managed to tree something that looked a bit like a raccoon, but with a long snout, no mask, and a very long tail. It was making that snuffling sound, as well as hissing and snapping its teeth at the dogs.

It was a coatimundi. Never heard of it? Well, me neither. I had to Google it. They are members of the raccoon family, omnivorous, and fairly common in the desert southwest. Here’s a link with a really good picture. Eventually we called the dogs off (that took some effort, believe me – both of them seemed quite proud of themselves) and kept them tied up for a while. We didn’t see another coatimundi.

After a couple of days we went for a supply run in Sahuarita. We found a dog park (Anamax Bark Park), right next to a bigger park with shady trees and baseball diamonds. We set up our big tarp under a tree. It was a Saturday and baseball/softball games were going on all around. We sat with the dogs and read, waiting out the heat of the day.

When we got back to the truck, ready to head back to camp, we met Wally. He saw our bikes and asked where we were riding next. He gave us some great information about Phoenix, Sedona, as well as the bike swap. He’s a blogger too – check out Wally’s Alaska Blog.

Then – finally! – it was Sunday. We were advised to get there early and that there was no free parking. Believe it or not, we were on the road by 7:05am, with coffee in hand and everything. We found a free place to park – with shade. So I guess the whole “get there early” thing was good advice. We headed in to the fray. The GABA Bike Swap is the biggest in the southwest, although I’ve heard the one in the fall is larger (actually, I also heard that the spring one is the biggest, so who knows?). It didn’t look too good at first. Only a few places were selling wheels, and they were all 29ers or 27.5, which is the latest craze in mountain bikes. (My bike has 26″ wheels.) There was a ton of stuff there, though – saddles, bike parts, clothes, tires… even complete bikes, most of which were pretty lusty.

On the last street we turned down – almost our last option – we saw it. Easton EA70XCs, a complete set. Now, I only wanted the front, but the guy obviously didn’t want to split up his set. The Eastons were a much nicer set than the stock rims that came on my bike, and the price was right.

We went for it.

New wheels in hand, we set out for Phoenix, which was only a couple of hours away. We went straight to the Phoenix REI, where their bike shop swapped out my wheels for just $20.

I suppose we could have waited for a bike shop in Sedona (our next destination), but I wanted to be able to ride pretty much as soon as we got to a trail.

Next post: Sedona, Arizona. (AKA The good, the bad, and the ugly.)