Featured Last Ride Of The Decade! Happy New Year 2020!

Happy New Year--and New Decade--to all of you at The Triumph Forum. It was a beautiful day to ride here in the Arizona Sonoran Desert. So we hopped on the bikes and rode to breakfast then continued on for a glorious ride through this desert that I love. I'm grateful for the past year and looking forward to the new one. Welcome 2020!


What New Year's Resolutions have you all made? I have a couple that are specifically motorcycle-related. #1 is to ride more! #2 is live to ride--and ride to breakfast. At every opportunity! And that's just what Mr. Sandi and I did today. We rode to breakfast--well, it was brunch by the time we got there. Then we headed westand our first stop was Gates Pass. Then we continued on through Saguaro National Park and Picture Rocks Pass. And we topped it all off with a little detour to DSW (Designer Shoe Warehouse for the uninitiated). Because nothing says "welcome!" to a new year like a new pair of hot shoes.

Brunch was at First Watch, a favorite of ours just down the street a couple of miles from our house. It's a great place to start off with breakfast when it's cold and a good idea to eat first to let the temp warm up a bit.




My nod to the "hip" dish these days--avocado toast. It really is terrifically delicious, especially with two perfect over-medium eggs. Sorry, no bacon today.


When we were ready to gear back up and go riding, I checked my iPhone to see what the temp was. Hmmm, evidently the Tucson weather gods were a bit confused today. Was it 60ºF and partly cloudy? Or was it 35ºF and snowing? Fortunately it was the former. Kinda Twilight Zone-ish.


From First Watch we rode up to the top of Gates Pass, one of my very favorite places in all of Tucson. The first time I saw this area years ago I thought it looked more like a "cactus forest" than a desert! There's a parking area at the top so we stopped for some photos and to gaze out over the desert to the west and back towards town to the east. We met a nice couple from Florida who were visiting Tucson for the first time and they took a nice photo of Mr. Sandi and me.




Last stop--DSW! I so love Mr. Sandi. It was his idea to add in a little shoe shopping detour at the end of our ride. So we took the long way there from Gates Pass which is a beautiful route of about 40 miles or so and includes riding through Saguaro National Park West and over a beautiful pass called Picture Rocks. I did find a very cool pair of black stiletto heeled boots at DSW, BTW.




Happy New Year to all of you at The Triumph Forum. I hope that each of you has a special holiday and a terrific new year. Happy 2020!

 

Thanks, Dartplayer! It was a terrific day all around. I hope you had a good New Year's Eve and are enjoying New Year's Day too.

I took that particular photo as a panned shot so that I'm sure he moved his arm at the moment I panned across him. I try to take that type of pic when there's little movement going on in the frame. You are very observant!

 

Happy New Year to you, too, Don! Glad my photos bring back those happy Tucson memories. Mr. Sandi and I really should have opted to add bacon to our meals. First Watch has terrific bacon that they call "Million Dollar Bacon". Actually, it's only a few dollars but it tastes like a million bucks! They even have a sandwich board outside the restaurant that's bacon-related.

 

Thanks, Billy! Glad you enjoyed the photos and write-up. And aHappy New Year to you, too! If I could bottle up our Tucson weather and send you some I certainly would. Hope you're warm(ish) and dry today. I did sort of feel like the Michelin Man--had on long johns and multiple layers under my motorcycle jacket. But we did strip off a couple of layers at the top of Gates and the rest of the ride was nigh unto perfect. Not a breath of wind even!

 

Daniel / Winglad, I am so sorry to read the your last year was the crappiest of your life and I truly hope that 2020 will be not only a trifle better but a lot better for you.

Cool that you flew a Cessna from Las Cruces to Tucson back in '91. Did you stop in Prescott? We like that town and have taken to stopping there overnight when we ride to Las Vegas in October for Bike Fest.

 

Thanks for the new year and decade wishes Adie! I'm happy to send photos of the Speedy in the Arizona sunshine...especially when the sunshine isn't in 110ºF temps. I'll keep the ride reports coming. Happy New Year and New Decade!

 

Thanks, Joe! I'm always happy to share Steve's and my adventures with my forum friends. I haven't shared my other New Year's resolutions with anyone, including Mr. Sandi (Steve). I figured that my two moto-related resolutions were pretty obvious--ride more and ride to breakfast. No big secret there. I don't think I know any motorcyclists that don't want to ride more or ride to breakfast! Hmm, what kind of motorbike does Santa ride??? I'll eagerly await the answer that was in your Christmas cracker today.

 

Thanks, Bikerman! I'll keep the reports coming as long as you guys continue to enjoy them. Best wishes for a terrific 2020 to you, your bikes, and those you love.

 

I found this YouTube video that someone took while driving the Gates Pass Road part of our route on our New Year's Eve day ride. The photos of Mr. Sandi and me were taken at the top of this pass in the parking lot/visitor area. The video has no sound unfortunately, but it does give you a great feel for what the road is like---very twisty, steep, and gorgeous. And some big drop-offs with no guard rails. I've ridden this road literally hundreds of times on my bicycle and motorcycles. Enjoy the "ride"!

P.S. I definitely enjoy riding this road more on a motorcycle than a bicycle these days!