To Mammoth & Back

Today Todd and I rode to Mammoth. It's fifty miles straight north of Tucson along Oracle Rd. The road rises for the first ~37 miles to Oracle, where you begin a descent down to Mammoth. Both Mammoth and Tucson are at roughly 2300 feet, while Oracle is 4500. The conditions were great; it was already 65 degrees at 10 when we left. Although when we got within 4 or 5 miles of Oracle, winds began to pick up and clouds began to form. The temperature felt like it dropped, and Todd and I were reduced to taking 13mph pulls into the headwind. We fought a head wind all the way down to Mammoth.
The return trip was completely different. We had sun the whole way, and a pretty strong tailwind for the first 10 miles south of Oracle. It was nice to be able to cruise at 37mph. The ride ended up being 5.5 hours, 100 miles, and 3644 calories. The first truly big ride of the season.