Featured Rideout First Group Ride In Months! I "rode" My Mustang.

I did my first group motorcycle ride in five months yesterday morning--in my Ford Mustang! Mr. Sandi had organized a small group ride up Mt. Lemmon and suggested that I "ride" along in my car. Of course I said YEEESSSS! Even though I was in a car and not on one of my bikes, it's not just "any" car as some of you know. Plus I followed the group and sort of felt like I was part of the moto pack. It is as close as I've come to doing a group ride since my bicycle crash back in January.



The sun was shining, the sky was a rich deep blue and, being mid-week, traffic on the mountain was light. And although the temperatures on the desert floor were rather toasty (understatement), at the top of the mountain they were in the mid-70ºsF. We enjoyed the sound of the wind in the trees, the magnificent vistas, and some socially distanced conversation. There were five motorcycles in the group--one BMW, two Harleys, and two Triumphs. One of the Triumphs included my Speed Triple ridden by Mr. Sandi. The other Triumph was a 2008 Thruxton. Mr. Sandi loves my Speedy and raves about how fun it is to ride. But (fortunately for me) not enough that he wants to ride it ALL the time! The ergos are a little tight for him and he said his wrists start to hurt rather quickly. In spite of that, I've been trying to convince him to get his own Speed Triple for short jaunts now that there's an empty space in our garage. I commented how cool it would be if we both had H-D Street Glides and we both had Triumph Speed Triples. He's not having it. Truthfully I suspect he thinks that would be too "matchy-matchy".



Mt. Lemmon is at the eastern end the Santa Catalinas, of one of Tucson's four mountain ranges. At the base--literally Milepost 0--the altitude is 2500 feet. The parking lot where we parked is at about 9000 feet. The road from bottom to top is 25 miles of smooth, wide, and glorious pavement and you pass through five biological life zones on the trip. Lemmon is a true desert gem.

Here's a photo of our group on the way up the mountain nearing the summit. Yes, I took the riding photos in this thread while driving. I'll excuse that by saying that I know this road like the back of my hand so knew good places to snap photos. I know--a rather weak argument. But I will estimate that between cycling and motorcycling (and the rare car drive), I've been up Mt. Lemmon well over 1,000 times.



We were hoping that the Iron Door restaurant across from Sky Valley would be open this morning as they have a big patio where we'd have been able to spread out and have a cup of coffee. But, alas, it was closed. That didn't lessen the sheer enjoyment of finally being in a beautiful place with good friends again even under quite different circumstances and restraints than when last we were together. So we just hung out in the parking lot for about a half an hour or so soaking in the comaraderie along with the cool fresh air and the mountain's sounds, scents, and views.







Here are some photos on the trip down that illustrate some of the five life zones found on "Catalina Highway", the 25 mile road up Mt. Lemmon. The first photo with the Geology Vista sign is at Milepost 16. Those wild rock formations are called HooDoos. Mt. Lemmon is not only known far and wide by cyclists and bikers but also by rock climbers.





The sign off to the left in this photo says "Leaving Coronado National Forest". The Tucson area is blessed with many national parks, forests, and monuments most all of which are readily accessible by motorcycles.

 

Meanwhile back on the desert floor....



Several in the group decided to go to a breakfast spot that has outdoor seating. I elected to drive home to make sure that Annie the Boxer was doing ok. This morning was the longest that she'd been without Mr. Sandi and me since the pandemic lock-downs began. Note: Annie was fine and told me it's the first time she'd been able to nap uninterrupted in way too long.

As measured by my Mustang, we went from those nice mid-70ºs temps at the top of Lemmon back to substantially hotter temps. It's always quite jarring to descend from the summit of Lemmon in the summertime. The true waves of heat seem to consistently hit with a vengeance right about five miles from the base. From the base of Mt. Lemmon back to our garage 17 miles. I guess the silver lining in driving my Mustang and not riding a motorcycle is that I had my AC system cranking away and only really knew it was hot because my car told me so.



Ouch!! Wow, I am VERY glad that my car is such a blast to drive! And that--at least for the time being--that gas is cheap. Ok, I admit that there's a slight possibility that this mpg reading may be related to how I was driving. But I'd rather blame the heat and altitude and.... Whatever the reason for this atrocious gas mileage, IT WAS WORTH IT! Besides, my bikes get such great mileage that it all balances out...right??

 

Thanks, @TEZ 217! We are lucky and I know it full well. It was a glorious rideout and, you know, I appreciate all of it--the friends, the mountain, the car/bikes, my health and strong(er) body--all the more these days for so many reasons. I never want to take any of these things for granted again.

I appreciate your sentiments on not being too quick to get back on the bike. Some folks push and, believe me, none of them wants me back riding more than I do! But I couldn't bear to go backwards so will continue to (try) to be patient. In the meantime I can drive my Mustang to get my "fix"!

 

"Four wheels good, two wheels better".....I like that, Smilinjack! For me I might edit it just a bit to read "Four wheels on a Mustang great, two wheels on a motorcycle (vs. a blasted bicycle) best!"

 

Thanks, Dilli! Yes, it was a great day. It just felt so darned good to get out again and do something that felt quite normal. Even better than normal since it wasn't a work day and I wasn't cleaning the house. It was funny, though....all the rest of the day felt like a Sunday to me as our usual group rides are always on a Sunday morning.

 

Thanks, Nikki! Yes, I do know how very lucky we are to have such terrific roads and nature right in our back yard. For those who ride dirt bikes ADV bikes it's doubly nice because there's a road on the back side of Mt. Lemmon, too, that is dirt/gravel. People in Jeeps also like that road and there are plenty of other off road areas in southern Arizona too.

Holy moly! I can't believe that a 5 liter Mustang goes for $128,500 in the Netherlands! I certainly wouldn't have been driving mine up Mt. Lemmon a couple of days ago if that were the case in the U.S.

 

Yes, Billy, I am very glad that I can drive the Mustang. It does take a bit of the sting out of not yet being able to ride. Plus that AC system is nice to have this time of the year. Summer in the desert isn't the most enjoyable riding weather so by the time I can ride the temps may be starting to cool down a bit. I have to say that the stereo system in my car is quite a nice feature, too. And I don't have to wear a helmet while driving...another plus.

 

At least gas was a "little" cheaper back then. Your post got me to wondering how much gas was back in the mi-70s so I did a bit of checking. Wow, I could drive my gas guzzling Bullit for a song at these prices! Even the inflation adjustment cost isn't horrible compared to some prices we've seen in the past few years.

 

Thanks, Ken! Our Harley rider buddies that were on this ride always make me a bit nervous with their lack of riding gear. Over the years as a bicycle racer, I saw too many cyclists go down and incur horrible road rash.

Actually we've figured out a few ways to deal with the heat while still wearing proper riding gear. One of the keys is to use a cooling vest under a mesh riding jacket. You soak the vest for a few minutes then squeeze it out. When you're moving it's like what we here in the desert call a "swamp cooler" which some use to cool their homes. Air flows over the vest and creates a cooling effect. It works quite well other than at stop lights in the city. The vests stay damp enough to be effective for about an hour or so by which point we're usually ready to stop for some water and a bit of a stretch break anyway. Haven't found a great solution for the bottom half, though. I don't think I'd like to try the same method with my underwear. Although when it's that hot it sort of naturally works out that way anyway.

 

Yes, I agree, OsteKuste. "SPG" And in that case I'm getting the best gas mileage I've gotten from any car I've ever owned!