I live an hour north of Tucson in Queen Creek, and had family down there until a few years ago. Tucson has gotten bigger and more congested over the successive decades, true, but it's still worlds better than many places from a bicycling perspective. I understand this year Tucson/East Pima County reached Gold status as a Bicycle Friendly Community according to the League of American Bicyclists too. Yeah it gets hot in the summer, but not as hot as it's big neighbor to the north, and the winters offer great bicycling weather. (Example: I started commuting to work on my bike last November.) I'd suggest contacting some of the folks there, like the Tucson chapter of the Greater Arizona Bicycling Association (
http://www.bikegaba.org/ ) for more details.
From a university perspective it was an excellent school when I had friends attending there, but it's been a few years since then...
Those meteorites, though, man they're nothing but trouble. Wear a helmet and sleep with earplugs.
