Spinning my wheels in Tucson

[ERT - Mike Breiding]

Greetings from SE AZ.
When the weather here started to climb into the 90s and then into the triple digits I decided to shift from hiking to biking.

I seldom bike out here in the Tucson area but The Loop is a good place to pedal for non road riders like me. In the last 8 days I enjoyed about 135 miles on the Loop. I always ride the same section: from the Silver Lake trailhead to the turn around point at Sunset Road.
It is paved, 20 miles out and back with 1000' of elevation gain. 
Here is the route.

I have been starting at 6:30 am and the trail is pretty quiet during the week. On weekends, as I found out, it is very busy. I saw a pacelines of 20+ riders, dog walkers, stumbling homeless, runners, large people on large motorized bicycles (aka eBikes) and lots of casual riders like me.

I have a few photos here. Some are repeats.
The Tiger Rattlesnake was not on the trail, but seen yesterday by a hiking pal. She saw three rattlers on a 3 mile walk up Tumamoc Hill. Starting now, and throughout the summer, one must be very careful when stepping off the trail.

The tree with the copious yellow flowers is a Palo Verde. There are many thousands of them in bloom and more are coming on. We have never seen this before, they are at least 3 weeks early and have been pushed into flower by the temps that have been 25 degrees above normal.

Today was my last ride. I return to Morgantown on Wednesday and I hope to continue the cycling momentum I have achieved.
I love it out here, but I cannot tell you how much I am looking forward to cycling through the forested river corridor along the Mon.

See you...
-Mike