In December, 2017, my wife Pat and I spent a few days in Tucson, for a winter getaway from Colorado. I was fortunate to ride two of Roger Peskett's 100k perm populaires.
This is the second one I rode: the Mt. Lemmon Hill Climb 104km Permanent Populaire.
The ride starts on the NE edge of Tucson.
The route starts on the NE end of Tucson, at about 2150 ft, climbing to about 8200 ft just before the turnaround. (You can continue on a couple miles to the ski area, at about 9,000 ft., but the route doesn't do that.)
When Susan Plonsky - who founded the AZ: Casa Grande RUSA region - created this perm populaire in 2009, I knew it would be challenging. So it's great that I was able to ride it eight years later.
You climb up from Tucson through the saguaros of the sonoran desert environment.
The Mt. Lemmon road is beautifully engineered and well maintained, with a moderate grade.
This plaque shows the climatic zones you climb through on the way to the summit, from "Sonoran Desert" to "Mixed Conifer Forest." (A similar trip up Mt. Evans or over Trail Ridge Road would top out at "Alpine Tundra.")
The vegetation changes, amid interesting rock formations.
About a third of the way up the climb, you pass through hoodoos jutting up from the landscape.
To me, this was the most scenic section of the climb.
Occasional guardrails provide convenient bike rests for eating a sandwich or a snack.
An extremely quiet road, too, at least at this time of year.
My guess is that this is a good climb for about half the year, before the lower elevations get very toasty. It was comfy in the 50's at the turnaround point. The high in Tucson that day was close to 80º.
Mt. Lemmon is probably a big recreational draw during warmer months, with more traffic.
This may be the first "bear and bear cub" warning sign I've seen.
At the village of Mt. Lemmon, the checkpoint and turnaround point is this general store.
And then it's a gentle, fun descent back down to the desert.
Mt. Lemmon was the high point of my cycling in the Tucson area.
I'm lucky the weather was so good (which, admittedly, it often is in Southern Arizona).
Three days after this ride, they closed the road because of snow.
-jle
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