DAY 5: Our longer ride today gives us many opportunities for sightseeing. Our first stop is the artist colony of Tubac with its galleries, working artist studios and espresso cafés. You can also choose to visit the Tubac Presidio, a fort established here in 1752. Its second commander, Juan Bautista de Anza II, led an overland expedition to the Pacific that resulted in the founding of San Francisco.

Your next stop can be at the Tumacacori National Historical Park — the oldest mission site in the state. Then stop for lunch in Patagonia — try the Velvet Elvis for pizza or the Gathering Grounds for coffee — before continuing on through the vast high desert. You’ll feel as if you’re biking through the set of an old western movie before arriving in Sonoita. We’ll overnight in the heart of an old ranching community. 45 or 58 miles.

DAY 6: Today’s ride takes us to Tombstone for a glimpse of life in an old mining town from the 1880s. Once a boomtown for the mining of silver and gold, Tombstone nearly died when rising underground waters forced the mining operations to close. During WWI, it became a major producer of manganese and during WWII, lead.

Today, “the town too tough to die” relies on the historic preservation of its century old buildings to attract visitors. Visit a saloon and watch the live gunfight show before our last dinner together. 31 or 50 miles.

DAY 7: We end our tour with a bike ride to Kartchner Caverns State Park. Listed as one of the top ten caves in the world, these caverns were opened to the public twenty years ago and remain virtually pristine. Few people are allowed to visit each day in order to preserve the more than 13,000 feet of passageways.

After a picnic lunch and a viewing of the magnificent cave, we shuttle back to Tucson, arriving at the Tucson airport, train station or our starting hotel by 3:30pm to say our good-byes. 29 miles.

Saguaro waits with outstretched arms welcoming us to the desert Southwest. We’ve revised this tour to include more cycling around bicycle-friendly Tucson and the Sonora desert, the only place in the world that the saguaro cactus grows naturally. The dry, sunny weather and the variety of routes make the region a perfect place to extend your cycling season. With the daily options, you can choose to bike as little or as much as you’d like.

DAY 1: We meet in Tucson for a rental bike fitting at 3:00pm, orientation at 5:30pm and dinner at 6:30pm. The League of American Bicyclists awarded Tucson as a “Silver Bicycle-Friendly Community”. Its streets are lined with bike lanes and bicyclists, and fittingly, our starting hotel is right on a bike path. Feel free to stretch your cycling legs before our dinner together after your hard day of traveling. 0 miles.

DAY 2: We begin our cycling on the bike path to help get us out of the city and into the desert to the world-renowned Arizona Sonora Desert Museum. Back on our itinerary by popular demand, the fascinating outdoor museum is a zoo, natural history museum and botanical garden all in one. See a Greater Roadrunner up close, learn about the six species of rattlesnakes that call Arizona home, and walk through a cactus garden. Spend as little or as much time as you like, grab some lunch, and then we’ll head back to town by bicycle. 41 miles.

DAY 3: After breakfast, we leave Tucson via two separate bike paths and bicycle to the San Xavier Del Bac Mission. Built in the late 1700s by Jesuit missionaries, it rises brilliantly white from the desert floor. Its ornate interior is full of brightly-colored mosaics and painted sculptures.

From there, we bike further into the desert and past several mines. Arizona is the country’s largest copper producer. After stopping for a picnic lunch, we’ll bike through the town of Green Valley where golf carts share our bike paths. We’ll continue on to our oasis, the Amado Territory Ranch Inn where we’ll spend the next two nights. We’ll welcome the relaxing refuge from our long day in the sun. 46 or 57 miles.

DAY 4: After a leisurely breakfast, we’ll bike over a quiet desert road to the small town of Arivaca. We’ll bike past prickly pear and cholla cacti, ocotillo, sage-brush and tumbleweed. This ride is a favorite among local cyclists for its beauty and serenity. 23 or 46 miles.