Coast 2 Coast Day 11: The Long Climb To Tombstone

Ouch!  A perfect description of today’s ride.  73 miles with lots of climbing.  A slight headwind and hot temps (well into the 80’s) all combined to beat us up on the bike. Oh, we knew it was coming, but it didn’t make it hurt any less.

Here are the stats, aided by a long downhill after our climb…
Start city: East Tucson , AZ
End city: Tombstone, AZ
Miles: 73
Total miles to date: 582
Pedaling time: 5 hours, 8 minutes
Avg. speed: 14.3 mph
Feet climbed: 3830
Fatigue factor: 8.5 (out of 10)
Wind: SE, 5 mph, shifting to NE, 5 mph
Road condition: 5 out of 5
Temperature extremes: 55 at ride start, 86 at ride finish

There’s been a change in terrain.

We’ve left the Sonoran and are seeing more grassland now that we are in Eastern Arizona.

Everything looks so dry and crackly – sort of like my skin!

The views are still spectacular, but we have left the saguaro behind.

We feel like they could be filming westerns all around us.

As we approach Tombstone we can see the town is up on a hill…we almost want to cry, but we moan and groan and push ourselves to finish the drill!

There are no tourist traps here…

We are very excited to be in our first hotel of the trip and sleep on an actual bed instead of an air mattress. Here’s the view from our room. 

Wanted, dead or alive, our dinner. 

Tomorrow:  we visit the infamous “downtown” Tombstone as we skeedaddle out of town.

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19 thoughts on “Coast 2 Coast Day 11: The Long Climb To Tombstone”

  4. You two are way faster better cyclist than i. I remember tombstone . Climb, climb down hill stop and turn at bottom wait there’s another 3? Mile hill. Hotel entrance on steep hill. I live at 1200 ft (?) there is no place in my state to train for 4,000 feet.

  6. I am following your ride,reliving my Coast to Coast ride in 16 ,I remember that climb into Tombstone,especially after climbing to the parking lot and facing what may be the steepest climb for the whole ride the hotel parking lot.

  8. I remember picking up a bike in Tombstone , however it was easy when you have a throtle & engine
    Happy Y’all had a couple days with Stacie
    K-B

  10. Yeah, there’s something about those 7 false summits you face getting to Sonoita… that make it so “memorable”. Too bad the crosswind shifted against you, presumably just in time for the runout to Tombstone. Hope you got the beauty rest you were hoping for!

  13. I hope today was easier. Nothing like a real bed after all these nights in a tent. Cycle on….❤️🚴🏼‍♀️🚴🏼‍♀️🚴🏼‍♀️🚴🏼‍♀️

  16. I read your post this morning as I contemplated riding my bike to work in the dense fog. Your post spurred me on and I decided to go for it. Even with the fog I made it in 32 minutes while wiping the water off my glasses every few minutes and trying to be cautious because of rather low visibility. The ride home was hot with a slight headwind, but glorious.
    Thanks so much for sharing. I love the beautiful pictures. It is a gorgeous country that we live in.

  17. Talk about extremes…
    While you were climbing and suffering we were in the throes of a blizzard. 18+” and loss of power. Our high’s are in the 20s and lows with wind chills in the negatives. I bet Gary would like to know his fatigue factor while he tried to get things back to normal.
    Hope Tombstone was better than the Pizza…

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