MTBikeAZ.com

A local rider and reader of my blog named Dave sent me his hand drawn map of the trails inside the Sonoran Preserve. Maps like this are cool. They represent someone with passion, who creates a work of art. That’s what maps are to me. Art meets adventure. It’s so much more than just how to get from here to there. It’s all the visualization - imagination or memories that go through my mind as I picture riding the lines…

He sent it to me because I don’t have much info on my site about these trails. Which is sadly all too true. All I’ve ridden in the Sonoran Preserve are Sunrise, Lost Dog, and Ringtail. And I only rode those because I was already in Scottsdale for something else… Living in the Southeast Valley I’m closer to Casa Grande than the preserve. I bet I’m even closer to Tucson than Cave Creek.

I love to read on the MTBR forum of all the studs who ride the quadruple bypass epic… this winter I declare that I will finish the the quadruple bypass or bonk trying. So next time u2metoo chollaball and waltaz get together with the rest of the gang to ride the infamous quad, invite me to feast on your dust. I’d love to give it a go.

I hit the San Tans this morning for a little singlespeed riding. I haven’t been out on the converted Avalanche since Lost Goldmine at the end of May.

It was a gorgeous sunrise at 5:30 AM. Yesterday afternoon the park was hit with a deluge of rain. While there was no standing water on the trail, you could feel the moisture rising up from the ground. It was as humid as Houston out there. I was practically dripping beads before I even started pedaling!

I opted to take Goldmine to the San Tan loop ccw around Hedgehog then cw up the wash to the southern trails and then back with an out-to-the-saddle-n-back on Malpais before descending Moonlight to the trailhead. It was 10 miles of rigid singlespeed bliss and three miles of “I need stronger legs.” The great part about recent rains in San Tan Park is that the sand washes are rideable. Woo Whoooo!

The trails were in decent shape, washed out and rutted a bit from the rain plus a little sandy in non-wash areas. I’ve ridden in better conditions out there. I talked to Dave the park manager and he’s still hopeful of new trails being cut in the future. A nice ridge trail and some winding singletrack in the foothills at the north end of the park would be nice. It might be ten years but at least there’s a chance. I still love to ride the San Tans. To me the solitude and views are worth the horse tracks and sandy spots.

With the new 202 open from University to Power, Hawes is no longer a 30 minute drive on surface streets. If I can shave 10 minutes off that commute, Hawes will be seeing a lot more of me this summer. Can’t wait to drive there.

I spent last week out in California vacationing with the family at the Beach. Good times. I could get used to living on the beach. I’d have to take up surfing though and that would leave little time for mountain biking. I saw a dude riding to the beach with a makeshift surf rack and board rigged to the side of his mountain bike. That was almost as cool as the guy I saw a few years ago riding a Harley with a custom mountain bike tail rack and his sweet bike hanging off the end.

So I didn’t bring the bike to SoCal, but I did meet up with a riding buddy of mine from college. I brought my pedals, shoes and helmet along just in case we could squeeze an early morning ride in. The stars aligned (negotiated with our wives) and he took me to the San Juan trail in the Cleveland National Forest. He said it was the gem trail of Orange County.

I rode his old Intense since he just got a new 5.5. Loved the bike. We set out early and hit the switchbacks up, up, up. We climbed for just over six miles till we hit the Cocktail Rock rest stop. I counted 33 total switchbacks up. The trail was beautiful. Climbing at 6 AM in the fog and then breaking free into the blue sky a few miles up was amazing. My crummy cell phone pictures do no justice to the views we had that morning. See Mountain Bike Bill’s San Juan Trail ride report for details and better pictures.

The San Juan trail continues up another few miles but we opted to cash in on our climbing stock and hit the descent. Six miles went by in a flash. Trying to keep up with Tony on the downhill is like trying to catch a skydiver. I tried to stay close to him because he is so fun to watch and listen to as he hollers down the mountain. I had a few close calls on some choice corners that kept me in check with the trail and out of his rear view.

I grew up in Southern California but never did any mountain biking. It was all BMX in the mid 80s. I was way impressed with San Juan, and II only rode the lower half. In the words of the Govenator, when it comes to biking in Southern California, I’ll be Back!

Out at Hawes last weekend with my brother-in-law. It was his first time riding the loops. He was demoing a 2008 Fuel EX8. The trails were nice and tacky from the rains on Thursday night, but some sections were a bit chewed up from all the flooding…The great part about Saturday was the canal was running water down through the trail system. It was a cool sight to see Hawes river flowing. We made it through the first crossing up on top, but down below the water was too wide and too fast to cross.

I’d been warned by five or so bikers coming back up that they couldn’t cross…but I still had to check it out for myself…not too often you get to see that much water on your backyard trail. So I went down, scouted for a safe crossing but found nothing.

It was a great day of riding, so many bikes out early. We hit the trail at 5:10 AM. Perfect conditions. No hikers, bikers, or bugs for about an hour. By 6 am the trails were swarmed with group rides, group hikes and large quantities of gnats. Yummy. I saw plenty of sweet bikes out on the trail… lots of Santa Cruz, a Turner, and plenty of Trek. Good times on the Hawes River.

I eased back into summer Arizona riding by hitting the Rim Country over the weekend. Temps in the low 80s up on the rim were perfect for fishing, lounging outside, and riding…

I only had a couple of hours so I bit off a small piece of the Highline Trail. My favorite stretch, the climb from the See Canyon trailhead up, up, up, to the Drew 291 junction. It’s only a short 2+ mile climb. The first mile merely a warm-up to the second mile of 11 percent incline. This short stint on the Highline is beautiful. You surely earn your descent.

The lower segment of the trail was in pretty bad shape. Horse divots and flood debris made the already technical ascent even tougher. Normally I would be trash talking the equestrians who tore up the trail, but instead I blew it off and relished in the extra challenge the hoofed up terrain offered. There was only one downed Ponderosa on this short stretch.

I love this climb because it always challenges. I haven’t cleaned it completely yet and probably never will, but each new root or rock I glide over is a point for me. The Mogollon Rim always puts up a good fight. But I always come back down the trail victorious and ready for the next match. Fourth of July weekend, game on.

Back from Utah. This is the photo that says it all. Well almost all of it. The downhill was so fun that I never stopped long enough to snap any shots. The Google Earth image below is the exact spot we snapped the shot. Amazing likeness. Anytime I need my American Fork trail fix I can spin through my kmz’s and soak in the views.

Riding at 8000 feet sure sucked the wind right out of me. The climbs weren’t tough at all. But even though I was breathing, I couldn’t feel the oxygen. Suffocating in the mountains…as good as it gets.

Now I’m back at 2000 feet, legs and lungs ready to ride, too bad my heart is still on the Ridge Trail…

Utah American Fork Canyon

Tonight riding the Ridge Trail 157 I asked myself “Why did I ever leave Utah?” After 8 years in Arizona I’ve grown to love the desert, so much that I had nearly forgotten the trails of my youth…these are the trails that I rode back in the mid 90s on the Candy Blue GT Karakoram…

A few weeks after I got the Karkakoram I went on my first epic ride. From my apartment in Provo, up Provo Canyon to the Cascade Springs Trail near the Deer Creek dam. Up the fun doubletrack to Cascade Springs, then up the road to the summit. (I’m not sure if the South Fork trail existed back then, if it did I knew nothing about it.) Down the Ridge trail to Tibble Fork. Back down the Alpine Loop to Canyon Road and back to the apartment. It was 56 miles, and took me most of the day. I remember a screaming headache on the last stretch home.

Tonight, my brother, Mark and Stanley hit the ridge trail to Pine Hollow, to the Great Western to the Timpanooke lot. It was a sweet ride. But even sweeter was the South Fork trail down from the summit. Pure bliss on a bike. Roaring speeds through green meadows, quakies and pines. I’m hooked on Utah (again), It’s going to be tough heading back to 112 degrees and cactus.

Gilbert, Arizona
110°F, Clear

Alpine, Utah
85°F, Clear

I’m in Utah this week working out of my brother’s house in Alpine. It’s been 10 years since I’ve ridden anything on the Wasatch Front. The past few days I’ve hit a couple of the local trails that I never knew existed…Hog Hollow to Clarks and Lambert Park.

Fatty’s always talking about his backyard trails up Hog Hollow so I went out exploring. My first night I got a late start so I though I’d just hammer up the Highland Highway. I like to give the roadies someone to look forward to passing on the way up. It makes them feel good. Close to the top of the climb I found a jeep road that led me to the corner canyon trails. Excited to see some singletrack I flew down Clarks trail knowing that I wasn’t going to be able to make it back before the sun set.

Well the sun set as I was finishing the ride, and it was getting dark fast. Enter cell phone. Thanks to my dirt biking brother who picked me up at the Draper Temple construction site.

The next morning I hit up Lambert Park with my riding buddy Mark and his dog Stanley. Mark got me into mountain biking nearly 15 years ago. It’s good to have riding buddies that you can reminisce fifteen years of rides with…We rode up Spring to the Rodeo down. It was sweet riding. So different than Arizona riding.

Both Clarks and Rodeo are fast and flowy with nice berms. Have I ever even seen a berm in Arizona? And not seeing a cactus the whole ride was practically surreal. So if I fall… I’ll land in that little scrub oak or that tall grass over there? Yup.

Tonight, I’ll be riding a classic Wasatch trail up American Fork Canyon, Ridge Trail 157. Back when I used to ride it in the early 90s we called it sheepherders trail. I’ve got a ton of early biking memories up that canyon. Can’t wait to remember them all.

After all the exploring out on Lost Goldmine I thought it was about time to see how the singlespeed rolled through the new loop. Rode From the LG trailhead on Cloudview clockwise to the new singletrack then followed it back to the TH. It was an 8 mile loop of nearly all singletrack (excepting a short jaunt of Jeep road connectors). This trail is ready for early morning summer riding, and would make a great night ride.

I was surprised to find a fresh singletrack connector from the Red Rock Vista trail (the elevation peak at mile 6) to the Apacheland singletrack.

Going clockwise was challenging. The 34:18 setup on the Avalanche was just a bit high for me. I had to walk just a couple of steep spots that I couldn’t grind through. I’ll have to give it a go again ccw. It feels like it would flow better that way.

I highly recommend a tubeless setup with a hefty portion of your sealant of choice. The avalanche is running on tubed Maxxis Crossmarks with nothing but a tire liner to deter flats. That’s just not enough out there. You need a tubeless setup or slime tubes. The trails are still primitive enough to be strewn with spines. I flatted both tires, slow leaks that needed a CO2 shot just to make it back to the TH.

See my MotionBased log for the gps tracks.

What a great weekend. The Pacific Northwest like conditions in late May in Arizona made for some great desert riding.

I spent Friday and Saturday exploring again out near the Superstition Mountains on Lost Goldmine Trail. After finding the awesome trail that shoots off Lost Goldmine last week, I headed back Friday afternoon to find the connector singletrack to Apacheland.

I not only found it, I also found a family of Javelina’s on the trail. At least seven or eight of them went a running and screaming as I approached. They were gone before I could even get the camera out.

Further down the trail I rode into Kevin, the local mountain biker who has been riding and maintaining these local horse trails for years. He took the time to show me around and led me to some sweet singletrack that heads north from Apacheland back to the LG Trailhead. Thanks Kevin!

On Saturday I waited out the rain in the morning then went back to explore some horse paths I spotted in Virtual Earth. It was an awesome day of exploration. The paths I found were pretty rough and primitive, but totally rideable. There were so many paths to explore I couldn’t ride them all…

The find of the day though was the desert tortoise on the trail. Unlike the Javelina’s he was in no hurry to get out of my way. I snapped a few shots.

I’ve mapped out a nice loop just south of Lost Goldmine. As I explore the area more, I’ll update the map. The land south of Lost Goldmine trail is State Trust land. A permit is required to ride in the are. So get your permit and get out and ride!

PDF Map Lost Goldmine Horse Trails

View at MotionBased