GREAT OUTDOORS: Free spirit finds cycling again

Artists might be the most free-spirited folks we have in our society. An artist on two wheels certainly accentuates that assertion.

That might be why Tubac copper craftsman Lee Blackwell is a perfect example of some of the free-riding cyclists we’re blessed with in the valley.

They keep the sport alive and inspire others to get off the couch and enjoy the Sonoran desert, while getting their health back and making a contribution toward reducing our carbon footprint.

Blackwell is a guy who asks “Why not?” a lot, especially in his assessment of what can be in the Santa Cruz Valley.

Now, he’s putting his own effort out there to back up his ideas about the future of cycling in this area as an outspoken advocate and a board member of the Santa Cruz Bicycle Advocates Committee that met with the Arizona Department of Transportation recently to promote improvements in cycling opportunities along the I-19 corridor.

On the board of the Sonoran Desert Mountain Bike Club in Tucson, he met with congressional staff in Washington, D.C. last winter — especially concerned about the Tumacacori wilderness proposal that he says may threaten bike routes here.

“Working on making bike routes in Santa Cruz County, we need to get past so much concern about safety and liability,” he strongly asserted. “There need to be places where the spirit is free. Yes, maybe an accident could happen on a dirt trail, but better that possibility than slow death by diabetes, poor fitness and drugs.

“The county wants no liability, so no paths unless it is controlled and costs a million dollars a mile to build,” he continued. “Nogales, Tubac, Patagonia could be an incredible bike Mecca — could change the whole economy. Teachers and professionals would desire to live there instead of commuting from Tucson. The border could be considered a great asset as the border culture is very interesting ... nothing like it anywhere. There are thousands of people of all ages in northern places who would love to find a good winter place to ride and live. Look at Flagstaff, jammed with bikers and runners.”

Blackwell, 55, a highly regarded copper artist in Tubac, shares his time here with his native Colorado, where cycling has become almost a way of life.

Born and raised in Denver, he rode his bike to school even in the dead of winter.

“I remember riding the ruts of ice made by the cars. Even tried to make chains for the bike,” he recalled.

He took a 70-mile ride with a friend when he was only 14, but once he got his license and found motorcycles, he left his bike behind, as many of us did, in favor of the stereotypical American young man’s dreams.

After moving to Tubac in 1982 to continue a copper fountains business he started in Las Cruces, N.M., Blackwell found that his neck and back were starting to give him problems, so he got back onto a bicycle with the encouragement of friend Randy Williams, who was into mountain biking.

After having his and his wife’s bikes stolen twice, he went to a motorcycle, but eventually got back to cycling in 1995 and hasn’t stopped riding since.

He did better than he expected when he entered the Leadville, Colo., Trail 100 bike race in 1998, so when in Tubac, he began riding with friend Greg Jondrow three times a week on deserted trails in the Tumacacori Mountains.

“We owned the Tumacacori’s trails,” he said. “Nobody ever went there.”

He and friend Scott Morris rode the Arizona trail together from Mexico to Utah, covering 900 miles in 23 days, carrying their bikes across the Grand Canyon, and is already planning a ride from Phoenix to Albuquerque on the Grand Enchantment Trail.

“It crosses some rugged country. We call it bike packing,” he says.

He visualizes a mountain-bike event of epic proportions for this area that he calls the Border Express — a multi-stage race along the border from New Mexico to California.

“The roads are good and the country’s safe,” he says.

Now an avid mountain, trail, and road cyclist, Blackwell obviously has developed a passion to see this area developed more for that kind of riding, as many others would, too.

“Some of the greatest moments of my life have been while riding a bicycle.”

Mike Touzeau is a freelance writer for the Green Valley News.