El Tour de Tucson Dual Training 65 and 102 miles C-C+/40-70/3

This week’s El Tour de Tucson raining rides for the Metric Century and the Century are being combined into one ride. This ride includes some of the roads you will ride on El Tour on both the Metric and the Century. This is a good opportunity to preview parts of the course.

Those training for the Metric Century will do the first loop and ride back to the start at Kolb and Escalante. Those training for the Century will do both loops. Riders doing the Metric Century are welcome to do the full ride if they wish.

Please review the ride description and review the route prior to the ride as we may get spread out along the way. If you are unable to download the ride to a device, please stay ride with someone who does

Because this is a combined training ride, we may need a sweep, as well as someone to lead a group of riders if necessary. Please message me if you can help in either capacity.

Ride description:
Find the 40 mile route here
Find the 70 mile route here.

The ride will start at the Golf Links Wilmot Plaza at the southeast corner of Golf Link and Wilmot. We’ll head south on Wilmot and follow the turns until we are on Escalante. Once on Escalante, we’ll ride to Pantano Road where we’ll turn. We’ll ride up to Irvington and turn left.

From there we will ride down to Houghton and turn right. From there we’ll ride up to Valencia and turn left at the light. Immediately after that we will turn into the Speedway store for a brief rest break and regroup.

Setting your own pace head east on Valencia towards Pistol Hill. Continue straight through the stop light where Valencia turns into Old Spanish Trail and continue to Pistol Hill. Turn right onto Pistol Hill Road, ride up the hill and descend down the other side until you reach the stop light in Vail. Pass through the stop light and, at mile 23.4, turn left into the parking lot for our second rest stop and regroup at the Safeway Grocery store

We cross Mary Cleveland and turn right towards Houghton. At Houghton we will turn right and continue north to Valencia where we will turn left. At the crossing light turn right onto the Harrison Greenway. When we reach Irvington, we will turn left and ride to Kolb Road. At Kolb we will turn right and ride down to Escalante.

At Escalante we will turn right and regroup at Chelsea Kaye Lane. Riders doing the first loop will cross Escalante and go left to ride back to the start. Those doing the second loop will go left on Escalante and follow the same route as we did on the first loop until we reach Valencia.

At Valencia we will continue straight down Houghton and until we reach the Shoppes At Rita Ranch shopping center. There we will have our third rest break before continuing down Houghton over I 10 to mile 52.5. There we will turn right onto Dawn Road and then right onto Harrison where Dawn Road ends. Harrison becomes Rita Road and we will follow that to the Julian Wash Greenway.

We will turn left at the Greenway and ride on the Loop to Wilmot with a rest stop at the Roy Schoonover Trailhead. At Wilmot we will turn right and continue to Littletown road where we will turn right. When we arrive at Kolb Road we will turn left and ride to Escalante. After turning left onto Escalante, we will ride back to the start.

Wheels rolling at the start time listed above. Please arrive 15 minutes beforehand to sign the ride waiver.

You must be current with your GABA membership. Click here to become a member.

What to Bring:

• No ear buds! This is a safety requirement, not a request.
• Food & fluids for 2 hours - 2 24oz Bottles or Hydration Pack.
• Bring a tube/patch kit and a way to inflate your tires.
• Be sure your bike is in good mechanical condition.
• CPSC approved helmets must always be worn while riding.

If you are riding, I ask that you agree that:

• You will obey traffic laws. Drive your bike as you would your car.
• You are a representative of the greater cycling community and will therefore conduct yourself appropriately.
• You will represent GABA well.
• While riding, you will respect others. You will take care when passing pedestrians and other cyclists: ring your bell or call out "Passing" or "Good morning!" before passing.
• If any of these standards are unclear, you can ask for clarification.
• Route subject to change based upon, weather, road conditions, group requests, and or the ride leader getting lost or forgetting his helmet.