Tucson, Arizona

About Tucson

Tucson sits on an alluvial plain in the Sonoran Desert, about 60 miles north of the Mexican border, with the Santa Catalina Mountains to the north and the Santa Ritas to the south. It began as a Spanish fort in 1775, was the territorial capital from 1867 to 1877, and is home to the University of Arizona and Davis-Monthan Air Force Base.

The city is known for its food. UNESCO named it the first City of Gastronomy in the United States in 2015. Downtown, Fourth Avenue and the Mercado San Agustin district west of the river hold most of the restaurants and small hotels a visiting rider will use, and the Tucson Convention Center, where El Tour starts, sits at the south end of downtown.

Summers are hot, with average highs near 100 F from June through August. The rest of the year is mild and dry, which is why the cycling calendar runs from fall through spring.

Riding in Tucson

Pima County's Chuck Huckelberry Loop is about 131-140 miles of paved, car-free shared-use path linking river parks and washes through Tucson, South Tucson, Marana and Oro Valley, open sunrise to sunset with about 50 parking lots along it. Visit Tucson calls the city one of the top cycling cities in the U.S. and lists a TUGO bike-share system for getting around downtown.

For climbing, the Catalina Highway up Mount Lemmon is the standard: about 25 miles and 5,300 feet of gain from the desert floor to pine forest. El Tour's 102-mile route heads out Old Spanish Trail past Saguaro National Park East and Colossal Cave before looping through Vail, Sahuarita and Green Valley. Mountain bikers have trails on Lemmon (Bug Springs, Molino Basin) and around town.

Getting to Tucson

Tucson International Airport (TUS) is eight miles south of downtown with nonstop service to about two dozen cities on Southwest, American, Delta, United and Alaska. Phoenix Sky Harbor is about 112 miles and under two hours up I-10 and often cheaper to fly into. Downtown is walkable and the fare-free Sun Link streetcar links the convention center, Fourth Avenue, the university and the Mercado district, but you will want a car or a bike for Mount Lemmon and most of the Loop.