Ride Report - Mt Lemmon

Living in the American Southwest offers great opportunities for challenging cycling.  From grim, hot desert to mountainous terrain.  

The Greater Arizona Bicycle Association (GABA) sponsored a supported (SAG stations and vehicles) ride up Mt Lemmon, just northeast of Tucson.  Excellent road and mostly good weather in Spring makes for a great one day cycling challenge.

At this point I'm training to enter the Hoodoo 300  in late August of 2016.  I live in a mountainous area in Arizona (Prescott) so I have the perfect training ground for the Hoodoo 300.

The Mt Lemmon ride constitutes about 30 miles of almost non-stop climbing for an approximate total of 6,000 feet.  An average 5.6 degree grade, with a few 12's and 13's thrown in.  

Starting on Friday the 13th, at 7:10AM, I pedaled 25.8 miles and 5,600 feet to the top.  All was going well until I hit the first descent of the climb.  Flying down a short 150 meter hill at 42 mph I heard a loud `pop' and immediately unclipped my feet from the pedals and began feathering the brakes.  I managed to maintain control of the bike and come to a safe and sudden stop just as the hill was tipping up again.  The front tire.  

Popping the wheel from the frame I inspected it very carefully for tire rip.  I pulled the tube and noted a tear.  Matching the tear to the tire location ... nothing.  The tire looked solid.  I concluded that all I needed to do was to put in a new tube, inflate it and get back on the road.  

Not.  When I inflated the tube I checked the tire again and again, disbelieving my first inspection.  And there it was: a small tear just at the wheel rim. 

I usually carry a spare tire when training at home.  But, since this was SAG supported I didn't bother to bring one.  My ride was over.  Descending Mt Lemmon on that tire would certainly have resulted in tragedy.  

Despite the fact that it was Friday the 13th I was extremely lucky to have that tire blowout before I started my way down the mountain.  Descending at 35 - 50 mph on mountain switchbacks ... certain death.  I imagined myself making a sharp descending turn, the tire blows, the bike goes out from under me, I slide into the oncoming lane ... and under the wheels of a car or truck.  

The GABA SAG vehicle, driven by `Bob,' rolled by within 5 minutes.  He put my bike on his rack and shortly I was heading down the mountain to the starting point.  

THIS is a link to a short video that I took at the top of Mt. Lemmon.  It was the `penultimate' SAG stop about 5 flat miles from the end of the ride.  

And THIS is a link to the Ride With GPS metric of the ride.