Featured Rideout Speedy And Sandi T. Celebrate International Female Ride Day!

Yesterday was the 14th Annual "International Female Ride Day" and my Speed Triple RS and I carried the torch for Tucson. IFRD is a globally synchronized ride started by a Canadian woman who produces an online motorcycle magazine called "Motoress". Typically the ride is the first weekend in May but this year it was postponed to a later date due to (you guessed it) COVID-19. I've done this ride several times before and have always enlisted multiple women riding buddies to join in the fun. This year I rode solo but still felt the "soul" of the day come through. Plus this was my first solo ride since I began riding again. It felt great to be out doing my own thing....much as I love Mr. Sandi and my other riding buddies.





I decided to head to the northwest part of town and ride into Catalina State Park and then around an area called Rancho Vistoso. The day was hot at 97ºF but a bit cooler than it has been for the past month. Of course it didn't help that I didn't get my butt out the door until noon. For those of you who've read some of my other rideout threads, you'll see a couple of areas I've posted about before on either side of today's route--Mt. Lemmon and Saguaro National Park.


I took this photo on a small road that climbs north from where we live to an area in the Catalina Mountains called Pima Canyon which is a spectacular canyon that goes deep into the mountainside. Many areas of the Catalina Mountains burned in The Bighorn Fire a couple of months ago when 120,000 acres were ravaged. Because it's so incredibly dry here right now it was tough to tell which areas were burned and which were simply ravaged by draught. But the mountains remain beautiful in my eyes.


The entrance to Catalina State Park is about 11 miles from our house. Most of the ride there is through the city so it's amazing to turn onto the road that leads to the ranger station. All of a sudden you feel like you're far away from civilization and immersed in nature. There are tons of hiking trails in the park and access is primarily by foot. There is a parking lot for cars and trucks just past the ranger station and past that you are expected to hoof it.


When I got to the ranger station I stopped for a bit in a parking lot that's outside the actual park boundary. It felt lovely to take off my helmet and jacket and just pause and relax under the shade of an old mesquite tree for awhile. There was a cyclist doing the same and we chatted for a bit. Turns out he used to ride motorcycles and said he has a 2002 Yamaha FZ1 which he hasn't ridden in some time. I refrained from suggesting he was on the wrong kind of two-wheels at 1pm in the afternoon on a nearly-100º day. He seemed enamored with my Speed Triple and gave it the once, twice, and thrice-over while asking me lot of questions about it. Of course, don't we all love it when people ooh and ahh over our bikes?





I didn't feel a drop of rain on today's ride but you could see, sense, and smell the rain coming down on the north side of the mountain range. There are such big views and big skies in Tucson that it's not unusual to you see rainstorms in the distance while you're dry as a bone and standing in sunshine.


I've hit my 10 photo limit for this post so will continue my IFRD story in the next post. I had such fun snapping photos today that it was challenging to decide which to share! One of the beauties of riding solo....

 

From Catalina State Park I continued into an area known as Rancho Vistoso which is a "masterplanned" suburban community. The nice thing about this area for riding is, first of all, it's really beautiful with spectacular views of the mountains and, secondly, the road conditions are pristine. We joke that the asphalt is as high as the curbs because they repave the roads so often that they're half a foot taller than they were when first built. There's a nice loop around the perimeter of Rancho Vistoso and I rode this loop many (many!) times when I first started riding motorcycles. Little traffic, slower speed limits, two lanes each direction with a nice landscaped median. I didn't get many photos here because there aren't really places to pull off the roadway. But as you can see from these two photos, even though this is a residential community, there are areas that remain open and undeveloped--purposefully.




By this time I was feeling desperately thirsty. So even though it would entail going "the long way home", I decided to keep heading west and go to the Harley-Davidson dealership to get some water or a soda to quench my thirst. Any excuse for a longer ride. Especially when it includes hitting a motorcycle dealership. It's always fun to ride my Triumph to THD (Tucson Harley-Davidson). All the staff there know me and every one of them loves my Speed Triple.


After getting a HUGE icy drink of water, I checked out the showroom which was fairly quiet for a Saturday afternoon. But when I wandered back to the service department, it was packed with lots of people having their bikes serviced or customized. And much to my surprise--and joy!--the first bike that caught my attention was the Road Glide Special that I traded just three months ago. I was surprised at my reaction....I was so happy to see my old bike looking, well, so happy! Someone asked me if I was sure that it was the one I used to own. Duh. Such a silly question. Anyway, the new owners had the bike in to get some big a*s ape hangers installed. They also added a custom two-up seat (since I kept my custom seat and put the stock thing on when I traded it). But otherwise they didn't change a thing which I take as a compliment on my "decorating" skills.


All in all it was a lovely even if different International Female Ride Day. I am hopeful that next May IFRD will once again be an event where riders can come together as in the past. And I'll be back at it organizing my Tucson group. Those of you out there with wives and girlfriends and daughters and women friends who ride, please pass along information about IFRD. It really is a great event that's low key but drives home how cool it is that women ride! I'd say something about female solidarity and all that but would probably get kicked in the arse for that from you lot.

 

Yes, @MyEvilTwin, Tucson is great! I prefer it over Phoenix for a number of reasons which I’d be happy to talk with you about via PM. It kind of depends on your lifestyle preferences and interests but Tucson is good if you love to do outdoors things like motorcycling, cycling, rock climbing, hiking, and running. The mountains are more accessible than those in Phoenix and the desert here is a bit more natural and inviting. But Phoenix does offer pro sports, bigger concerts, etc. I also like Tucson’s proximity to the border and the influence of Hispanic and Native American culture. While Phoenix has that as well, I’d say it’s more pronounced in Tucson. In many (good) ways, Tucson feels like a big small town. Glad you enjoyed my posts!

 

I checked out YouTube this morning to see if there were any reports and videos on this year's International Female Ride Day. My search turned up this video done by the creator of the event, Vicki Gray. She stated that riders from more than 120 countries participated which I find very exciting!

 

That's exciting that your daughter bought her first bike, @JtC! It's especially cool that she's only 36 so will have many years--decades--of riding ahead of her hopefully. What did she buy? I'd love to see a photo! Please wish her well from one woman rider to another. And, yes, please let her know about IFRD. As I think I mentioned, it's normally in May which is Women Riders Month. Your daughter may enjoy this website if she doesn't already know about it.

https://www.womenridersnow.com/pages/may-is-women-riders-month.aspx

 

Thanks, Billy! Yep, the sun does always shine here. Well, almost always... I actually decided to check that out and found this table depicting the average percent of yearly sunshine in the four major cities in Arizona. Tucson has just enough cloudy days to actually enjoy them.

Yes, my riding is coming along although I've yet to ride my H-D touring bike. I'm giving my arm and elbow a few more weeks to get a bit more "bendy" as well as stronger before I venture out on the "big boy". In the meantime, I'm enjoying the heck out of riding my Speed Triple again! Riding is the best therapy.

 

Thanks for the photo, JtC! That V-Star is a GREAT choice! Several of my women riding buddies started out with a similar choice-- a Honda Rebel 250. My first bike wasn't a Ninja 600 but was a Harley Dyna with a 1580cc motor. Probably not a great choice although it all worked out ok. I hope your daughter enjoys that bike and comes to love riding.

 

Thanks, Ken! Oops on the license plate. I guess I attached the original photo and not the doctored one. Good call on catching that. I’ll be more careful next time. Not that it probably really matters. But I commend you on your observational skills!

 

Thanks, Don! As someone who has spent time in Tucson, I thought you’d enjoy seeing the desert and mountains again. Mr. Sandi and I live about 13 miles northwest of Davis Monthan. I used to drive past it quite regularly when I worked in my previous school district. I still enjoy driving or riding past The Boneyard.

 

Thanks, @B with Speed! Glad you enjoyed the story and photos. You’re the second person that commented on my Triumph belt buckle. I was trying to remember where I got it actually. I think it was an eBay purchase years ago.

Yes, all of us here in Tucson are grateful that the entire Catalina Mountain range wasn’t ravaged. The last really horrific fire was up on Mt. Lemmon in 2003 and remnants of that fire that are quite visible. How are you doing up there in Denver with the fires in your area??