Okay you warm residents of Phoenix. My wife and I are coming to Phoenix in Mid March to ride on Friday and Saturday and then doing a 1/2 marathon in Tucson on Sunday. I need some good bike ride routes. We arrive early Friday morning and I’m looking for somewhere to ride - within a 1/2 hour drive from the airport. We were thinking the IMAZ course. How is traffic? Any other suggestions. As for Saturday, our choices are unlimited. We were thinking of a loop that starts in Superior. I noticed the Phoenix Bicycling Club is doing a 96 mile loop through mining country. It looks interesting! We could also do a ride anywhere between Phoenix to Tucson on Saturday. Any good scenic routes with friendly roads would be greatly appreciated!
The Ironaman route is okay, not the most inspiring scenery but pretty good roads. You can make it longer by continuing past McDowell Mtn park. Another way to stretch it is…as you start out, keep going down Rio Salado into Mesa, you will have to hitch north a couple of block eventually onto McKellips or McDowell (most major roads have bike lanes), but the general idea is keep going east until you get to Power Road (takes about 1 hour), then turn left and go past Saguaro Lake and you will come out about 10 miles north of Fountain Hills on the 87, and it is all downhill!. This is a more scenic/longer option, and you will be on the IMAZ course most of the way back, plus you avoid the long uphill/upwind grind along 87 out to Shea. The traffic around Saguaro Lake can be less than ideal but okay for experienced riders.
The best scenery is probably to keep going down Brown through Mesa until it becomes Apache Trail in Apache Junction, and then follow that out to Tortilla Flat. Great riding but make sure you time it so traffic is minimal (weekday mornings are probably best).
There is an 8 mile climb up South Moutain park that’s pretty good.
I just moved back to Scottsdale after a six-year hiatus and have yet to get a good handle on all the bike options. One suggestion is to check with the Phoenix Triathlon Club. I just joined and they seem to be a great bunch of people. They do weekend rides that you could join in on and if that’s not an option they should at least be able to give you some good suggestions on where to ride. You can find them at www.phoenixtriathlonclub.org.
Also, in an earlier post about the IMAZ course someone suggested starting out on Rio Salado and heading straight down that (it turns into 8th St. in Mesa) to the Beeline (Hwy. 87), then take that up toward Fountain Hills. I actually think this is a beautiful route with lots of dramatic desert vistas.
After living in both cities, skip PHX,the riding is about as good as having to sleep in a sleeping bag filled w/ shit when compared to Tucson. Go to tucson, ride up gates pass turn Rt when you have to (you’ll know), take a L at McCains Loop ride around that, turn L when you have to ride down mile wide to Sandario, Sandario to Red rocks back over the mtns to Silverbell turn Rt on Silverbell and head back to tucson. The next day go to Mt. lemmon and climb as high as possible, they have snow there so maybe go skiing as well? Ride to at least Windy Point, that insures you get the steep stuff. If you want the really steep stuff ride to the ski resort, go past that and ride to the observation tower. If you really want a awesome climb drive out Ajo to three points, park at the convience store ride to the top of Kitt Peak (12 mile climb) and back, thats 56 miles RT. One of my favorite loops is Ajo turn right on Sandario turn Rt on Mile Wide turn Rt on Mccains loop which I do twice just for fun, climb the backside of Gates pass b/c everyone loves the 12-14% pitch near the top, follow that down and bear Rt onto Anklam, turn Rt into Starr Pass, L onto Greasewood, Rt onto St. Mary’s then back through the University to scope chicks and then home. Tucson has about 20 miles of bike lanes for every mile of bike lanes in PHX. Cars are nicer and the climbs are better. I do like the descent at S. Mtn though and if you insist on riding in phx and wat to climb it let me know, I live relatively close to it and can meet you.
Desert Dude! Thanks but I live in Colorado and all I ride from my house is hills and more hills. Thus, I’ll check out your rides but I aint looking for 10,000 feet of climbing in one day! I have to run a 1/2 marathon on Sunday! Its only March! Thanks again.