I successfully completed! The time was not particularly good as I believe I was lantern rouge for the ride. Those 2 climbs slowed me down! First time we had FLWO on the route. Nice steady climb but the road surface was chip seal with no seal! There were some cracks but not bad. Great bathroom at top of FLWO. And I saw a road runner just as I left the SAG at Elephant Head Rd to start my climb. Always a treat. I wish I had taken a photo. Back to the beginning of the day. I set an alarm to give me 35 minutes to get ready to leave, because I was driving down the morning of the event. A 2 hour drive. Turns out I entered the alarm on the wrong day. Sonja work me up asking "what time are you leaving for Tucson?" After looking at the clock, I replied NOW. A rush job to throw the stuff in the van. Grab some snacks to eat on way down. Good thing I had everything ready to roll. My thoughts were going back 1 week to when Mike and I did the pre-ride and Mike forgot his GPS and Garmin Varia. I was sure I was forgetting something. Got to Tucson with just enough time to stop at Costco and fill-up with gas, bc they would be closed by the time I finished. I arrived at El Con at 720 for a 7:30am start. Just enough to get the bike gear all set and finish dressing but not enough time for a bathroom stop! Oh well. About 14 riders at the start with about 6 of us doing 300 k and rest the 200k. Mike had both routes the same to 50 miles. That was awesome because I got to ride with Lee and Paul F down to 50 miles, where after the SAG we parted ways as they continued on their 200k and I went up FLWO. The wind was a bit squirrely today, coming and going and seemingly from different directions. I pulled Paul from A mtn down the bike trail to catch up to some riders. Then Paul / Lee pulled me the rest of the time to Elephant Head Rd. Paul if very strong, yet he did not think he was ready for the 300k. I disagree. Here at the Elephant Head Rd SAG stop that MIke setup, riders were all chaning out their clothing. I removed my blue woolie, jacket, gloves. No particular sightings of wildlife, but awesome views all day! The temps were cool at the start, upper 30's. it didn't seem to cool of much in the river. Of course, I was the last 300k rider to get up the hills. The Madera climb was a beast. As Mike says it is 12 miles of climbing with each mile getting harder and then 1 mile of a wall! That wall is 12-15%. UGH it always hurts. Yet again I succeeded in cycling all the up around the loop. There was Mike in his usual SAG spot at the bottom of the loop, on a cement table with some partial sun, lots of water, soda's, V8, sandwiches, cips, and snacks. Thank you Mike. It was all I could to to just sit down at the table. Mike offered an egg-salad croissant sandwich and took it, a pack of doritoes cool ranch, a small cup of pretzel bites(with peanut butter), a can of V-8, some water. I know I just stared at it for a few seconds, where time seemed to freeze and I had to talk myself into eating! Very interesting feeling. Once those were gone, I took a banana to go to eat at the Helmet Peak crest. Down the hill. In the past few times, the bike had a lot of shaking on the descent, but these past 2 times (last week and today) that did not happen. Interesting. There are a small number of holes to look out for around mile marker 10 & 9, and 1 spot early inside the park on the descent. Made it to Helmet Peak, where the first miles up to about 2 miles on Mission Rd where full of headwind, at sunset. I stopped and ate the banana and took 2 electrolytes, as some cramping was starting in my feet and hands. The descent to Tucson was very pretty with red sky over my left shoulder, to headwind, and still plenty of light to see the road. Finally as I was doing the zig-zag to get to Mckinney rd, the light was fully gone, I put on my PBP vest and arm warmers. And there on my left was the crescent moon and Venus hanging out together. Cool. Stopped at McDonald's at mile 135, at start of McKinney and got an apple pie Yum. Should have gotten the 2 pack deal! Dang it. Up I went on the 8 mile climb into Tucson Mtn Park heading to Saguaro NP west. Even in the dark I enjoy riding in this area an seeing the plants. I could do with a smoother road though. I finally crested, filled with joy because I knew smooth pavement was in my future. In 1 more mile there it was, smooth as glass pavement on a downhill slope for 11.5 miles. At Picture rocks (mile 151) food stop, I finally put on my orange wind breaker under the PBP vest. I wanted the bright reflection of the vest on the outside. I knew the river trail was coming so wanted to be prepared. Then up to the bike trail that led to Tangerine Rd at 162.2 and over to Marana/I-10 where I couldn't believe what I was seeing! 2 other rando riders were exiting the QT as I was entering, they were chatting and looked a bit confused, so I continued into QT parking lot, per the route and returned to Rillito Village Tr, thinking I would see their flashing taillights. I did not, so now I was confused. They couldn't have gotten that far ahead. After about 1 mile I saw headlights gaining on me, slow coming. It was the 2 KC riders! They got lost coming out of QT. We chatted a bit and rode together some, but they were going a bit faster that I wanted to do, so I let them go. We were together as we approached mile 173 at Ina Rd/Bike Loop trail. My computer was telling me we were off route, which I was ok with since this was a brand new trail and seemed to deviate some between the GPS and real life. I know a couple times it was flashing red lights earlier on the loop trail and in a couple seconds that would resolve to green lights ( trail found). Here at Ina Rd, the Wahoo said trail reloading! It was confused and so was I!. None of the 3 of us knew what to do. I guessed we had to get to the other bank by going up on the road. I mistakenly entered the W bound lanes and went E bound. The traffic was far enough ahead that I was able to get over the bridge before cars came. Now in reviewing the maps, I see the route was using the OLD trail, visible on RWGPS map style, but not Google maps. That was why the GPS crapped out. That was also way there is confusion in routing in this area. That needs to be addressed on the route. The rest of the Loop portion down to Rillito River at 176.2 was ok. From this point to mile 180 was new to me, as I recall being on N bank before. But I was ok with the mapping in this section. From Mile 180 along north bank there were homeless folks hanging out along the trail and some folks walking. But since I was only going about 11-13mph, it was easy to avoid. After Mile 180 I changed to my Ay Up as the self-contained light was on red and fading. Then finally at mile 184.1 upon leaving the river, I rewarded myself by putting on gloves. Ahh warm hands. I never did put the blue woolie back on. That last section of 3 miles from the river trail down to 3rd street always seems so long, especially when going 10 mph. LOL. Great route. Awesome to ride with Paul F and Lee. Thank you Mike for great SAGs and your encouragement.