hit(t) kitt peak climb on wednesday am. twelve miles uphill. twelve miles downhill. no flats. a bit of guard rail construction between miles 6-9.
road recently got all the cracks tar sealed. rode slightly less than halfway up (and down) last year around this time and road was in worse shape.
visually, road looks like an absolute mess. no issues heading up and some road chatter on the way down but (again) descending entire length waay better than
descending less than half last go round. mean, if this road got entirely repaved, it would be a monster hc desto, alas, state budgets/priorities...

roughly an hour drive from oro valley north of tucson. good sized hard dirt parking area at the base (az state hwy 86/386 intersection). road is supposedly not open till 9am
but have ridden it twice w/o drones, 'packing' observatory personnel or air cav turning me around/back. if starting in the early morning, realize that you could be in the shade for the first 7-8 miles
given the height of the mountain and how closely the road is cut into the slope. super chilly if hitting it late fall-mid spring. scenery really starts to pick up around mile 8. mile 9 and after is worth all the slogging.
fairly consistent slope up to mile 10. flattens out a little bit for the last 2.5 miles but the altitude starts to bite so things even out. not sure the road on the first half of mile 11 ever sees direct sun.

again, if this road were a tad smoother, this would be a ripping descent and there would be more than a few riders able to negotiate it without using their brakes the entire descent.

wasn't in shape to ride this as i've ridden only a handful of times in 2025. after having to pull the plug last year (10 degrees colder at the start for this reptile) with time constraints, wasn't about to turn around this time
with no "be back by x" mandate. felt suspiciously good first 5.5 miles. galumphed through the next 4.5 miles and made a few lengthy "picture stops" in the last two miles because the altitude said hello.
this epic hc climb was definitely worth riding once. if a majority/all of it got repaved in the next decade, would definitely make the pilgrimage to ride again. otherwise, will look to hit mount lemmon again or even
attempt mount graham (which seems to be a longer drive from tucson).

https://www.strava.com/activities/13548830094