RATS Recon
Odin, Lee and I spent the day exploring the Santa Ritas. It turned out to be one of the more ridiculous rides I have ventured on in some time. But it was a worthy adventure and valuable knowledge was gained.
Post ride analysis of the GPS track indicates that we were hiking our bikes for 3 hours. That’s 3 hours of thick brush and endless catclaw. All of us got shredded alive. But we pushed on, and made it over to Temporal Gulch, where a nice singletrack awaited us.
Things did not go as we had hoped, but now we know that the route is not feasible for the Ride Around The Santa ritas. It took a few hours longer than we expected, plus we hit a wrong turn. So we ended up in Patagonia with about 40 minutes of daylight. Lee’s sister came to our rescue, giving us a ride to within a few miles of our vehicle. I was inclined to put my head down and try to ride it out, but we would have been riding through the dark for some time before we got out of there. I still cannot believe I didn’t bring a light. Brilliant.
I knew Lee was a solid rider, but I had no idea his tolerance for hike-a-bike was so high. Such riders are very rare. I can only think of one other person (besides my two brothers), that I’ve met with such a willingness to suffer by pushing a bike through endless brush or up deadly steep hills.
We enjoyed some quality grub at Wisdom’s, then were off to deep sleep back in Tucson. The only real bummer was that Lee lost his tights and glasses during the hike-a-bike. It seems the oaks conspired to open his backpack, then steal both items from him. The chance of ever finding them (even with GPS) is very low.
The scheming continues for the RATS ride. One possibility is out, but another has presented itself.
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