I'm down at Ft Huachuca and am planning a group ride, so I thought I'd cross-post this here in case any of the Tucson area peeps wanted to join us. In order to try and get folks from the unit together one more time before the end of the 'comfortable' riding season (it's never really 'offseason' in southern AZ, but lots of folks stop riding when the temps drop into the 50s...), I'm putting together a unit safety ride for the health center. However, since the safety guy at the MTF (military treatment facility) sent my flyer and directions to the post safety office, and they apparently sent it to God and everyone on post... I might have a few more bikes than I originally expected. I got an email from some random guy over at NETCOM who was wondering if his 535 Virago might be up to it. I told him I have a friend who rode from KY to CA mostly via Route 66 on a Rebel 450, so his Virago's probably going to be fine. I think he was more worried about his own distance limit, so we'll see if he shows up. I hope he does anyway.

So enough rambling, here's what's what:
0800- Kickstands up from the Shell station at the corner of AZ 90 and AZ 82. We'll be taking the back route through Sonoita so as to avoid I-10.

Which will put us at the Circle K at Houghton and Speedway around

0930 - Fuel stop + quick refresher brief on mountain road etiquette. - This would be the best link-up point for anyone in Tucson who wants to go along.

0945 - Kickstands up from Circle K - off toward the mountain.

1045/11ish - arrive at the Cookie Cabin in Summerhaven. Eat.

12ish - Depart Summerhaven toward the Circle K again.

1ish - Depart Circle K for parts south.

I'll be employing the 'flights' model developed over the last couple of years at one of the BeginnerBikers.org rallys I attend, assuming I've got enough people who know where the hell we're going. I would really, really prefer to ride sweep the whole way, but that'll only work if I've got someone who's familiar enough with the route through Vail that avoids most of Houghton and I-10 entirely. We'll see. I'll be sure to bring along multiple copies of the directions just in case.

Since this is a safety run, the comments may be redundant, but you and your group should be aware of a few items.  Mt Lemmon is often patrolled more heavily on the weekends, and there will be a strong likelyhood of bicyclists going up and down the mountain as well as auto/tourist traffic.  I'm sure you know, but you may want to remind your casual riders that it will be somewhat cooler at the top than in Tucson.

Have fun.