The U of A's Oracle Road Race Route

The Galiuro Mountains in the distance, still grey as the sun has not risen enough to expose the beautiful colors.  This morning I drove 25 miles north to the small town of Oracle and park at.....

…..AZ Zipline Adventure.  Not been here before but what a neat place with a restaurant that I hear is very good.  I joined a small group to ride the U of A's Oracle Road Race route, an event they hosted in early February.  We depart, rolling for a couple of miles then plunging 6 miles to the town of San Manuel via Webb Road.  Been to San Manuel a few times but never ventured farther on Redington Road which cuts through the town while paralleling the San Pedro River. I always thought the road turned to dirt a mile or two distant but.....

….gosh was I wrong.  After 4 miles of flat riding, we descend another 3 miles and then keep rolling until at mile 23, we finally do reach the end of the pavement.  Later, I looked on a map and saw there are other, small communities such as Redington, Cascabel and the road cuts over the mountains and drops into the east end of Tucson.

Our group of 9 regroup and then, with the wind at our back, enjoy the return to the base of the first climb where I stop and.....

….of course snap a few images. Although not shown here, an abundance of different wild flowers are in bloom, one of the best displays ever.

The belt of green running through the middle of the image shows where the San Pedro River is flowing. I also should note the pavement is superb.  Reaching San Manuel, part of the group continues on Redington Road out to #79, an extra 10 mile round trip segment but some of us declined that option and headed up the 6 mile Webb Road climb....ugh.  Finished with 45 miles and 2450' of climbing.  Another beautiful day.