Biking my age in miles: The Old Sonoita Highway

December 21, 2021

There’s a direct road from Tucson to Sonoita: Highway 83, the Sonoita Highway, it starts at Vail and cuts through the Santa Rita foothills. On paper this looks like it would be a great ride, short enough that you could bike from downtown Tucson to Sonoita in a day: 53 miles, 3,500’ of climbing. Even better would be to ride it the other direction, flying downhill back to Tucson after a multi-day loop through Green Valley, Tubac, Patagonia and Sonoita. Kelly Iniguez has done something like this loop a few times and documented her rides here.

We’ve considered this a few times ourselves, but the safety reviews on Route 83 always discouraged us against it - and when we drove it last year it didn’t look attractive either. Busy, narrow, shoulderless, rough surface - I doubt we’ll ever bike it unless the road gets upgraded with a decent shoulder someday.

There is a side-road though, the Old Sonoita Highway, that more or less parallels 83 about halfway to Sonoita. I was aware of this road from prior research and thought I might check it out as a possible candidate for my birthday ride this year. I was puzzled though when I couldn’t find the Old Sonoita Highway on the map though; and you won’t either, unless you’re looking at an old map. It looks like its official name now is Charolais Road, although I can’t find any documentation of when or why this happened.

In any case, I was delighted to see that it was a 74.2 mile out and back from our home. Perfect! I’ll just plan on packing in another mile somewhere, and see for the first time an old road I’ve been curious about for awhile. Rachael offers to join me for the first part of the ride and turn back at some point, which I happily take her up on. It will be great to have company at the start to help me keep up a faster pace.

We wait around until 8:30 when it finally warms up to 45, still chilly enough to require our coats. We begin the ride by biking west to the loop and then working our way south along the Santa Cruz and then east up Julian Wash. by the time we’re ten miles from home it’s warmed up enough that we stop and shed a layer.

Southbound up the Santa Cruz, passing beneath A Hill. A perfect day for a ride like this - dry, not too hot, not too windy, with partial cloud cover.

I like a town that has wall art you can appreciate while waiting for the light to turn green.

The ride up Julian Wash through south Tucson is probably my least favorite part of the loop - a bit industrial, on-road stretches, long red lights - but once you finally break out of that it turns really fine. Upper Julian Wash is one of our favorite parts of the loop.

Rachael’s still with me at this point, and I hear her commanding ‘GoPro, find roadrunner!’ behind me, testing out a new aspect of her superpowers. Amazing - a quarter mile later I see one off the side of the path, working its way through the cholla and creosote. Too far off for a good shot, but still very impressive. I wish I had superpowers!

And then, maybe another quarter mile later here comes another one, closer in this time. And, I do mean here she comes. She’s maybe fifty yards off when we first see her and I’m focusing in on her when she looks our way, lifts her tail, and starts coming straight in our direction. Close enough for a good shot.

Amazing. I wish I had a superpower like Rachael’s!

And then she just keeps coming! Eventually she makes her way right onto the bike path and stares up at Rachael, apparently hoping we’d brought breakfast with us. We give back nothing but appreciative stares though, so she moves on.

Sorry, we forgot to pack the crickets today.

That excitement behind us, we continue east up the wash until we come to Rita Road. My plan is to cut over to the Old Vail Road here and continue southeast, making my way eventually to the Old Sonoita Highway. The first two miles of Old Vail Road Have a pretty crappy surface though, and it doesn’t take long before Rachael decides she’s found her reason to turn back.

Thanks, Pard! See you back at the ranch.

In two miles I cross Houghton and the road surface improves considerably. Now Mary Ann Cleveland Way, it has an abundant shoulder and a smooth surface and provides a fine ride all the way to Vail with great views on either side - to the nearby Rincon Range on the left and Santa Rita on the right.

After about five miles I come to Colossal Cave Road and turn south, first passing through Old Vail and then continuing south to the I-10 interchange. Once I cross the Tucson city limits the road instantly turns crappy again and the shoulder disappears, and the last half mile to the intersection are an unpleasant ride.

In Old Vail. This looks like a research project - I wonder how far you can ride in this direction?

Another research project. I assume the old Vail schoolhouse no longer exists, but I’ll check it out.

At the interchange I turn east on the Benson Highway, another old route that’s now just a frontage road along the freeway. Lightly traveled, but not the best surface or the most interesting ride, although the mountain and desert views are still fine. Six miles on I finally come to the Old Sonoita Highway.

Once I’m here, the Old Sonoita Highway comes as something of a disappointment. There’s very little out here - no houses, no ruins, no livestock; just desert and mountains. Nice enough of course, and it’s especially great that it’s a virtually empty road. No complaints, but I’d been picturing this romantic western road with rusty relics and rotting homesteads. Nope.

It is undeniably scenic though, with ranges in the distance every direction you turn. And it’s one of those delightful roads where the desert vegetation grows right up to the road perimeter. It’s overcast now but I’ll bet it’s really beautiful when the low sunlight brings out all the colors.

Looking across the ocotillo flats to the Santa Rita range.

Other than the roadrunners, birding this season have been a disappointment so far. Maybe it’s just been too dry this year? It’s a little too far off, but it’s nice to finally see my first black throated sparrow.

Heading south on the Old Sonoita Highway toward the Santa Rita Foothills.

It’s just a tease. I won’t see a single cow out here today.

The Old Sonoita Highway, aka Charolais Road. So where are all the Charolais?

Finally I come to my turn back spot, the junction with Route 83. There’s a pull off by the junction with a fairly clean pile of trash beside it, and I squat down on a clean enough piece of carpet and eat lunch. It’s the best I’m going to find unless I want to eat standing up or bike all the way back to Vail before eating.

Lunch stop. I’ll need to be careful picking my bike up from out of those dead prickly pear blades. Probably not the wisest spot for a photo op.

And then, the ride back home. Up until now it’s been a gradual uphill for the last 25 miles, rising very gently at about 1% most of the way. I’ve been biking into a headwind ever since we started east on Julian Wash, and it’s gradually picked up strength - for the last ten or fifteen miles I’ve been biking into perhaps a 10-12 mph headwind. Not so much to exhaust me, but enough that I’m really looking forward to the ride back. Downhill and downwind, I’ll fly the whole way home. I’ve already factored that into the ride plan, and know I won’t need as much time getting home. I figure I’ll be there by four if not earlier.

It’s not like that though. It’s still downhill, but the winds have shifted on me. By the time I get back to Vail I’m biking into a headwind again, and don’t make it back home until just before five, not long before sundown. When I pull into the driveway, Rachael’s waiting there with the camera - she’s been tracking me and knows I’m just nearing home.

And, she tells me of her own impressive ride - 54 miles herself today! She could have gone more, but she didn’t bring lunch along and needed to get back before a food crisis occurred. We end the day pleased with ourselves and proud of each other.

Back down the Old Sonoita Highway, for a few miles at least enjoying a tailwind.

I like a town that has wall art you can appreciate while waiting for the light to turn green. The Agave Hamlet?

Great to have a welcoming face greet me when I bike up!

Video sound track: Old Man, by Neil Young

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Ride stats today: Rachael: 54 miles, 1,400’; Scott, 75 miles, 2,400’

Today's ride: 75 miles (121 km)
Total: 836 miles (1,345 km)

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Suzanne GibsonCongrats on the successful birthday ride, "Old Man"!
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2 years ago

Kathleen JonesWell done, birthday boy!
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2 years ago

Bob DistelbergNice!
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2 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Suzanne GibsonThanks, Suzanne. It was a great day, but it really tickled me to think of this song. It came to me early in the ride and I claimed the right to use it for the video. It has a good cadence to cycle through if you’re not in a hurry, and it ran through my head all day.
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2 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Kathleen JonesThanks, Kathleen. It’s nice to get this behind me. The pressure’s off now and I can just cruise through the rest of the year.
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2 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Bob DistelbergIt was nice, and really easier than I’d anticipated. It’s been really good for me to keep cycling around the calendar like this.
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2 years ago

Bruce LellmanWhat a great uplifting entry, Old Man! I will do my best to follow in your tracks.
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2 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Bruce LellmanThanks, Bruce. I’m feeling beyond lucky to still be doing this. I felt really good afterwards though. If my health holds, 80 seems like it might be reasonable from the way I felt today. Stretch goal? 85.
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2 years ago

Jen RahnMaybe we could have CycleBlaze gatherings at the decade finish lines?
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2 years ago

Rich FrasierNice job, Scott!
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2 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Rich FrasierThanks, Rich. Nice to have the pressure off. I can skate through the rest of the year now.
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2 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Jen RahnEvery decade seems overly optimistic. How about every 5 years? And on the actual day, so it would need to be somewhere warm in December. Puglia, southern Spain, Tucson.
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2 years ago

Jen RahnTo Scott AndersonOh .. any of those would be great.

We haven't been to Puglia before .. maybe we could go there first?
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2 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Jen RahnOr after. Start talking it up with Bruce and Andrea so we can get a plan in place. It will be 2026 before we know it!
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2 years ago