Anyone know any good mtb rides in Tucson?

[the walrus]

Anyone know any good mountain bike rides in Tuscon AZ area?

[Bill Bove]

Leave the mountain bike at home! Tuscon is a road riders paradise! But if you must check into Fairwheel Bicycles for the local information. The Saturday morning shootout is a great, fast local road ride. Lot's of pro's are living in the area giving the rides an added spark. www.fairwheelbikes.com

[the walrus]

Yes, it is a road riders paradise, but my 9 year old wants to ride mountain bikes and I want to ride with him. I keep reminding him that he has to get started on winning Paris-Roubaix, but...alas, wall rides and downhilling twinkle in his eyes. thanks for the info.

[Zard]

Stick to your mountain bike. I had the pleasure of living in Tucson and I never get over the mistaken impression that it is a road rider's paradise. It's about the worst place I have ever lived for road biking. Lots of traffic, little or no shoulder on one lane rough roads..and I lived in the nice area of town up in the Catalina Foothills. There were two unfortunate fatal accidents while I was there - one on Mt Lemmon and another in my area. The riding is good if you can get well out of the city area.

If you call having to ride at 5:00 a.m. to avoid heat stroke, paradise, well then, you can have it....

[Charley]

A few years ago I was in Tucson in a similar situation as you are. Didn't have a bike with me, so ended up taking a guided MTB tour from Way-Out-West Tours.

It was run by a local guy who was great. We rode up in the Oracle area. He spent a little time figuring out how strong/skilled people were and then "customized" the route based on that. Had a great time and he pointed out many things I never would have seen on my own. Evidence of old indian dwellings, animals, plants, etc.

Their web site is:

http://www.wowtnt.com/home.html

I am not affiliated in any way, just a satisfied past customer.

Good luck, and enjoy riding with your son.

Charley

[hooverone]

I live in Tucson, one of my favorite mtn bike ride is Fantasy Island, there is also 50 mile trail, if you call over to Sabino Cycles 520-885-3666 there are a few ppl there that know some really good trails.

Also at Broadway Bicycles they sell a book with a lot of local mountain bike trails.


Here is a link to some trail info http://www.mountainbikeaz.com/trails/tucson.shtml

But Fantasy Island is my favorite.


By the way the road riding is great, and the nice thing about getting up at 5 is being done early


Jim :banana: :banana:

[hooverone]

Here is the other link I wanted wanted to post http://www.sdmb.org/

and trails here http://www.sdmb.org/maps_descriptions.html



Jim

[mso]

I don't get the "Road Riders Paradise" either. We were thinking about moving to Tucson and spent 2 weeeks exploring the area. We found the roads to be poorly mainintained, few bike paths and lots of traffic. Maybe it has to do with what you're comparing the area too. Maybe to some it is a bikers paradise, but not to us. I'll take Prescott, very nice !

[the walrus]

Thanks! very helpfull. (Tucson kicks the "a" word in comparison with Boston streets and drivers...I have recently taken to kicking cars that get too close. Just a little tap seems to send the right message...I bite!) Haven't had to do that yet here.

[CalfeeFly]

I had just read Tucson ranked number 2 after Portland for bike friendliness. This was the city of course. It was stated that they have over 400 miles of bike lanes in the city. Plus a former Tucson person on this or the Calfee forum said how nice it is to ride.

Is it because some of you are riding on secondary roads that are crap just about everywhere? Also could it be because you are in the "burbs." I say that because I find the "burbs" much less bike friendly in whatever city in which I ride.

Any other opinions on Tucson? Any other great places to visit and road bike?

Thanks. Happy Holidays!

[Ray]

I had just read Tucson ranked number 2 after Portland for bike friendliness. This was the city of course. It was stated that they have over 400 miles of bike lanes in the city. Plus a former Tucson person on this or the Calfee forum said how nice it is to ride.

Is it because some of you are riding on secondary roads that are crap just about everywhere? Also could it be because you are in the "burbs." I say that because I find the "burbs" much less bike friendly in whatever city in which I ride.

Any other opinions on Tucson? Any other great places to visit and road bike?

Thanks. Happy Holidays!
Well, I grew up there and get back to visit friends from time to time. With the exception of downtown, some areas near the University, and parts of the barrio in South Tucson, Tucson IS the burbs. The whole damn city is built around a "superblock" grid system with blocks that are 1/2 mile in length on high speed arterials that are filled with strip mall schlock. These blocks are big enough that the interior portions of them are filled with residential neighborhoods, mostly at suburban densities. There is very little of Tucson that is urban in any meaningful sense.

But their system of bike lanes is nothing short of amazing. Philly (near where I live now) also has great bike lanes, but it's mostly pretty bikeable with or without bike lanes. Tucson was a cycling disaster when I was growing up (about '70-'80 were my teen years spent there). All of those major streets were just about impossible to ride and it was tough to find a route through the interior of the "blocks" that you could connect to actually get anywhere. Now they've got bike lanes everywhere, including the widest, highest speed arterials. Two of the biggies are Speedway (I kid you not - that's the name of the main road through town) and Broadway. These are six to eight lane roads and dead straight. Cars haul some serious *** on those roads. I wouldn't have thought of riding a bicycle on them when I last lived there in the early '80s. Now they have bike lanes everywhere and they're used pretty heavily from what I could tell.

Tucson is a great example of what's possible in terms of bicycle transportation, even in heavily suburban areas. In my job, I frequently try to sell suburban communities on bicycling facilities. I often use Tucson as an example of how well it can work.

-Ray