Road Cycling - Mt. Lemmon

Anybody ever gone up this mountain in Tuscon? I go to school at Arizona State up near phoenix and Im thinking about going down there one weekend and riding up. Are the road conditions pretty good? What kind of average gradient is there does anyone know? I heard its something like a 50km climb, the longest climb in my immediate area is around 11-12 km of an average of 5% or so. I figure if I want to be a climber I need to really climb something like that. Thanks in advance.

I have ridden it all the way a couple years ago before all the fires. I think it's closed after MP12 now.

I will try and find out for sure and let you know. It's a good climb up till that with nice smooth roads and a good shoulder. After MP12 the shoulder dissappears and the road goes to hell.

I used to live in Tucson, and that road can get busy sometimes.(lots of snowbirds wanting to see the sites) I would shoot for a early A.M. ride.

i used to live in tucson as well. be REALLY careful of drivers coming down the mountain! it gets scary as hell having cars fly past you on the blind corners. going in the early morning is going to be your best bet. good luck!

I was thinking doing driving down there on a saturday and getting up and doing an early sunday ride. would that work? Or should I wait till the summer and try going on a weekday? Ba-Dg-Er, whats MP-12? A mile marker or something?

I think he meant Mile Post 12. I can't recall where on the road that is though - I haven't ridden up the mountain in a while.

I road up it on my mountain bike pulling a Bob trailer a couple years ago. It took most of the day, but I was pulling up a tent, sleeping bag, food, all the general camping stuff. I camped at the very top; girlfriend drove up and met me up there that night. In the morning I gave her the Bob and the camping stuff and went down unencumbered. A trailer behind me would have been pretty scaring going down.

I went up on a Saturday. Busy. Your best bet is to wait until the snowbirds leave, but before it gets to hot in the lower elevations.

What kind of time do you recommend? May or sometime?

Yeah, May would work. Pretty much anytime after Easter the traffic thins (a little) due to vacationers/snow birds. When it starts getting real hot in the valley, more locals head up on the weekends. Early May is probably your best bet. You'll love it!

Anybody ever gone up this mountain in Tuscon? I go to school at Arizona State up near phoenix and Im thinking about going down there one weekend and riding up. Are the road conditions pretty good? What kind of average gradient is there does anyone know? I heard its something like a 50km climb, the longest climb in my immediate area is around 11-12 km of an average of 5% or so. I figure if I want to be a climber I need to really climb something like that. Thanks in advance.


If you're at ASU why not try South Mountain - I here it's a killer. I'll be giving it a go myself sometime soon.