aka ‘The Lemmon Drop’.
Finally!!!  after a snowed-out attempt 2 years ago, after 4 yrs covetting!

technically, the Lemmon Drop includes a few more miles higher up Mt. Lemmon in Tucson, but nearly 5000 vf elevation delta was good enough according to James. Since he’s morphed into a dirt roadie and climbed Catalina Highway many times, this is validation aplenty for me.

YES LEMMON DROP!!!!!!

7000 vf descending, 2.5 climbing, 4.5 hrs moving over 7 hrs, no blood for either of us, one bonk, and one clusterfuck attempt to fix a sliced tire. Hors and gnar to keep us balanced.

so verklempt to be wearing kneepads, fresh off his AZT 300 attempt

I am so hard I  shall ride 20 of the hardest downhill miles in AZ, with only cookies for sustenance!

for about the first time ever we’ve ridden together, I had the SLR. I owe a lot of profile pics!

VSLF: Shouldn’t he be wearing pads more often?
Me: that depends
VSLF: on?
Me: on how conservatively you ride
VSLF:  he’s a wuss
Me: he’s training for distance, on a 29er, he’s core
VSLF:  he’s  a wuss
Me: its complicated
VSLF: he’s a wuss

Pro tip:  if you slice a tire, just put in a tube.

Don’t pump it up and hope the sealant works, several times. Don’t put in more sealant, don’t jam in a plug, don’t beg with an old patched spare, don’t do a rain dance of doubt and remorse. You will reek of ammonia and latex and old sex that’s been in your camelback for 2 years. Sealant moneyshotting out my sliced tire, santorum so noxious James smelled me 2 switchbacks above.    Roasting  for an hour at 1pm on a west-facing ridgeline, while i flailed fixing my flat in the midst of a beatdown ride. James was sanguine, staring down 2 more hours of gnar and heat. He lobbed me a new 29er tire and set off downclimbing Molino Basin, a mop-boy in a filipino sex-room, sponging up my shame.

you can catch VD just looking

I took an extra minute before finally slinking off, to get my mind in a happy place. Molino has been in my head since I flew off an intimidating slot 6 yrs ago, and i would not let tired and hot and frustrated and rancid distract me after working all day to get here. I rolled it, fuck yeah i rolled it all, and hit the waterfall with a tiny dab. Porntastic.

There was still an hour more of burly nobs and jagged slag.

How to convey just how awesome  and scabrous is this ride? All these rugged isolated views mean 50% of the climbing is straight-up HAB, the trail is narrow and  gnarly and maintainance is just a few helper rocks, the opportunities to crash go on for hours, and if the snow doesn’t get you at the top the sun at the bottom will.