The bike tour begins

The tour operator for our bike tour assumed that most people booking the tour would fly to Tucson, so transportation was arranged to/from the Tucson airport at the beginning and end of the tour. When I looked into parking near the airport, I discovered that the economy parking at the airport was only $5/day, so our plan was to just leave the car in long term airport parking and meet the group in the terminal for the tour. We arrived early, found the meeting place and settled in to await the arrival of the rest of the group, and our transportation.

The majority of the guests on this tour were from our ski club, so there were plenty of familiar faces as we gathered in the baggage claim area. But there were others as well, and we tried to make a point of introducing ourselves to everyone. Soon enough, we had loaded our luggage into a trailer and boarded the two vans that would transport us to our first hotel and the beginning of our tour.

The first two nights of the tour we stayed at the lovely Tubac Golf Resort and Spa in Tubac, Arizona, about 40 miles south of the airport. After getting settled into our very comfortable accommodations and changing into our riding clothes, we gathered for our introductory ride. As with all of our other bike tours with this company, this first ride was a warm-up, a chance to make sure our bicycle was properly adjusted and correct any issues that might exist. As such, this was a short ride, only about 9 miles, and it wasn't particularly scenic, just a loop out of the resort and across the interstate highway, with the longest stretch being on the frontage road parallel to the interstate to the next road that crossed the highway and then back to the resort, with a loop through the quaint artist colony town of Tubac.

That evening, we had time to wander the grounds of the resort before our group dinner. In addition to the golf course, the resort also had a wedding chapel designed to look like an old Spanish mission, and a lovely pool area. Scattered around the grounds were old wagons and carts and other artifacts that seemed intended to invoke the history of the area.

After dinner, we settled in for the night, ready for a longer ride the next morning.

Bike tour: Day 2 - the ride

The second day of our bike tour was an out-and-back ride, where we rode out to the end of the route and then retraced the same route back to our hotel. On the way out, we rode by the end-point of our morning ride, following the frontage road along the interstate highway for about half the ride before transitioning to a bike trail alongside a different road to the turn around point. I can't say that the scenery was particularly memorable ride, although the desert landscape is considerably different than what we've seen on earlier bike tours. The ride wasn't particularly difficult, so we made good time, which left us lots of time to explore at our stops.

On the way back to the end point of the morning ride, we made a stop at the 

Santa Cruz Chili and Spice Company, just a short distance from the end of the ride. The scent of the spices greeted us even before we walked into the shop, and it was fun exploring the various spices and seasoning mixes they offered. We ended up buying some seasoning and a couple of soup mixes to bring home to enjoy. We then finished the last, short portion of our ride to the Tumacácori National Historical Park, another colonial Spanish mission site. We spent quite a bit of time exploring this site before we mounted our bikes for our shorter afternoon ride back to the resort.

The afternoon ride took us back through the town of Tubac, and this time we stopped to explore the town. We had a light lunch in the deli here before walking around to take a look at the various art galleries and shops that make up the town. Many of these shops included extensive collections of various sculpture work in various styles, much of it influenced by the local Hispanic culture. After we explored the town, we continued our return ride, making a short stop at the cemetery at the edge of town along the way.

 

Bike tour: Day 2 - Tumacácori NHP

The break between the morning and afternoon rides on the second day of the tour was at the Tumacácori National Historical Park. This site preserves the ruins of the colonial Spanish mission of San José de Tumacácori. Built in the 18th century by Spanish missionaries, it served a similar role as the missions in San Antonio...conversion of the indigenous people to Catholicism and teaching them how to become productive subjects of the Spanish empire. This site sits inside the territory acquired by the US in the Gadsden purchase of 1853, and was designated a National Monument by Theodore Roosevelt.

The church interior is a ruin, severely damaged by treasure hunters who believed there was silver hidden here, although the exterior is remarkably well preserved. The mission complex still retains a portion  of its exterior wall, as well as ruins of other buildings on the property and a cemetery, located behind the church. This site also seems to retain some importance to the local tribes, and they apparently gather here from time to time. This was another fascinating look back into the Spanish colonial history of this park of the country.