You are in a prime location where you are--no need for a car. Basically, you can ride north up Mill Ave to Galvin Parkway (by the Zoo).. look on the map. It's simple. Take that all the way to Camelback and Mummy Mountains and just wander around. Take your phone and you can't get lost. Lots and lots of random little climbs to go up and down with little traffic. You can see Camelback Mountain from campus at ASU. TONS of cyclists around there.

Go to Strava, explore segments and zoom in around Camelback Mountain.. you'll see where people ride.

Tribe Multisport does a Thursday evening ride that starts about six miles from ASU, and then wanders back around that area during the ride. They also have a SAturday AM ride. Bicycle Haus has groups that ride around south Scottsdale as well, which is right near ASU.

If you want to stay off the road, you can hop on the path around Tempe Town Lake, which heads north and turns into the Scottsdale Greenbelt and is approx. a 20~25mi round trip if you take it all the way north and back. Maybe even longer than that at this point. All paved, all off the street.

Awesome phoenix man. Thank you very much. Good news. Can't wait.

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Geoff from Indy
http://www.tlcendurance.com

Used to live in downtown Tempe.

You can stay urban and ride up through Camelback/Paradise Valley as suggested above. You will have a lot of stops and turns so recommend you map and ride with GPS. Nice area to ride as long as you don't mind the stops, and plenty of bikers on the weekend. Use a map with a cycling heat map and you should find plenty of good routes.

Another option is to ride east to Mesa on Rio Salado (I usually turn N at Alma School) and then NE out of town on the Beeline HWY (87). This is part of the IM route and once you get on the Beeline you will have less stops and a good shoulder. You can stay on it as far as you like, or pull into Fountain Hills and ride up towards Rio Verde, which is a nice ride and was my usual ~3 hour route. Can also turn S on Bush Hwy/Saguaro Lake and back through Mesa. These are the best options for longer rides.

You can also ride from downtown south to Baseline Road and then west to Central, then south into South Mountain park. Great climb up to the towers...in fact this is my top recommendation for a short to mid length ride, and you can ride down to the San Juan lookout for additional miles, or some do multiple climbs. There is a route all the way around South Mountain as well, usually ridden clockwise, using Riggs Road/Dobbins.