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 Post subject: Tucson - 50 Year Trail
PostPosted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 1:07 pm 
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Tucson's 50 Year Trail came highly recommended for both beautiful scenery and fun, challenging singletrack. A local offered to give us a tour on Monday morning, and being that its a 30min drive on the way out of town it was a perfect choice. The 50 Year Trail itself is around a 12mi ride with some fast smooth sections as well as some tougher, rocky climbs. But there also are a ton of offshoots and optional stuff on the upper 50 Year section that really make this place a gem.

We met up with our guide Duncan at 9am and set off toward the rock slabs you can see on the far hill.
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We didn't actually start on 50 Year, I think this is the equestrian loop or some kind of connector
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This is chutes, a side loop that has berms and of course chutes, that you can rocket through.
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fast corner
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It is a short climb back up to the top of chutes where we will continue on
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The climbing gets steeper and more technical here. Its all rideable, even Robo could have climbed some of it (had he not pussied out on the trip :lol: )
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More types of cactus appear
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Kreechan sets up to try a double step up feature
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hard to get a pic of it, you had an 18" step up on a smooth, round rock, with a 45 degree turn required at the same time all while dodging rocks on either side of the trail.
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Once up the first step you had 2 pedal strokes to set up for the next one.
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The hardest part now past, we continue on up
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We are now on 50 Year trail
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Duncan points to where we will be going, straight up the rock slabs
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It was steep, but had slickrock grip
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Almost there, just one more steep grade to climb
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Yes, it is as steep as it looks. And yes, they did ride up it...animals! (I opted to hike)
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We get a fun descent down this rock slab
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Very scenic
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This place would be off the charts when it is green
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Duncan checks out the line on the first big trail feature, a long off camber spine
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He has obviously done this before


The runout is nasty...very off camber and shoots you right into the rocks
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Kreechan tries


And tries, narrowly escaping death and/or cactus. I didn't bother, my fragile carbon fiber bike is not the one to try this stuff on


We continue on
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This was a fun roller, tricky to get up on but very smooth
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And led right in to this next one
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Kreechan rolls the left side. Note the drop to the right of the bush, a small gap jump.
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Duncan hits it cleanly
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Did he make it? The deep sand at the bottom says no!

Unfortunately I forgot I was filming and hit the shutter button as if I was taking a picture. Kreechan wiped out in the sand and landed hard...

Interesting cactus
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A fun roll to rock wall


Another steep rock face, this time with an abrupt transition at the bottom that requires careful speed control
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I go


And Duncan again


View from below, its pretty long and really steep
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Riding back. Kreechan finished the ride despite being bunged up. If only everyone were this tough, eh Rob? (I know karma is going to get me for that one...:lol:)
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Down a fun chute
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Kreechan still going. Even with only one good hand he had little trouble keeping up
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This was a perfect loop for the amount of time we had, trying to get out of town by 1pm SD time. After dropping Kreechan off I was unloading the truck back at my place by 8pm, which is pretty much a world record for road trips as far as I can recall.

Tucson is a great place to ride. Nothing is too far away from town, there is endless opportunity for flow and chunk, and the people are very friendly. Lots of good places to ride, too. I think there would be little problem finding a weeks worth of riding there. And it is only slightly further than driving to Phoenix! Big thanks to Duncan for the tour today and to everyone else who gave us tips and info. And thanks to Kreechan and Robo for coming out. OK, Robo only gets thanked for leaving his bike for me to ride and his Stone IPA which we drank! (and for taking all the jokes like a man...an old, crippled man, but a man :lol: )


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The following 18 users would like to thank evdog for his or her post:
bajamtnbkr, boone29er, Brian, Canaan, Chadster, Christ D., Dustin, Gman, K2Brandon, kreechan, OhNooo, Ray Dolor, Red Hot Sloth, rob240z, Robo, Scarbery Rdr, sierragoldens, tfitz
PostPosted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 1:55 pm 
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I'm so sorry this crippled old man couldn't be there. Clearly it was not for the best, as I can see you young punks were hopeless without some seasoned guidance on how to ride up and down those features! :lol:


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evdog
PostPosted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 10:09 pm 
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That place looks so fun. i gotta get in on the next one of these.

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evdog
PostPosted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 10:16 pm 
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You DID capture the stupid steepness and craziness of those rollers Evan, so scratch that trail off my list of trails to do.....unless they come up with AM shorts that will handle an all-mountain sized shiting of the pants.

Great pic...great riding :thumbsup:

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What make and model of bike was Duncan (the stud rider that was schooling you guys) riding Evan?


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evdog
PostPosted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 11:08 pm 
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Great TR and photos. One of the hardest things about trail photography is capturing a true representation of how steep the trails can be. Your photos and vids did a great job of it - truly some of the best I've seen in that regard. Great stuff!!!

If you had only one day to ride in Tucson, where would it be? I will be there soon but won't have much time to ride.


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The following user would like to thank Chadster for his or her post:
evdog
PostPosted: Fri Jan 21, 2011 1:37 pm 
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Chadster wrote:
If you had only one day to ride in Tucson, where would it be? I will be there soon but won't have much time to ride.

There are lots of options in or near town depending how much time you have, and whether you have transportation and a guide.

50 Year was a ton of fun and you could spend a full day easily, but you would want a guide to help find the fun stuff (much is not marked). And its 30min N of town.

Starr Pass / Brown / Robles at Tucson Mtn Park is very close to town - would have been riding distance from the motel6. And supposedly has some fun stuff.

The Bugs-Molina-Milagrosa ride we did is a great one if you like technical, but you need a way to shuttle it, and I wouldn't ride it alone or on a hot day.

Fantasy Island like Erik said is cool but I wouldn't sacrifice something better to ride there. It is perfect if you just have a couple hours though.

One of the first three would be my choice if given only one day


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PostPosted: Fri Jan 21, 2011 10:07 pm 
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It's funny--I was born in Tuscon, and did some growing up there, but since I was only into BMX racing at the time, I had no idea about the cool trails in the area.

Need to plan a trip there some time. It's too bad that the most scenic time of year (during or just after the monsoon) also happens to be hot.

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