Jeff Corwin’s Top Mountain Biking Trails in North America.

National makes the list. Can you guess who the National rider is? I was contacted a few months ago and asked to provide some footage of National. I gave them tons of stuff including helmet cam footage and these two clips are what they used: the steps and upper waterfall.

The clip was featured on Race to the Moment, a family reality game show in the outdoors hosted by Animal Planet’s Jeff Corwin. Cool. More exposure for mountain biking in Arizona!

My clips don’t hardly do National justice. But this video sure does. Enjoy:

South Mountain Widow Maker from SOMO on Vimeo.

From Woods Canyon-Carr Lake

View Woods Canyon Lake in a larger map

The Woods Canyon Lake trail system is a beautiful place to enjoy the Mogollon Rim. The trail that follows the shoreline offers the hiker and mountain biker beautiful lake views as well as challenging rugged terrain.

Four mountain biking I would recommend riding counter clockwise. The north west end of the system is technical and a bit chunky is spots. By no means is this a beginner trail. Take the kiddies on the paved Meadow trail. Then head out around teh Lake to get the tech, roots and exposure you wanted (especially on the west side of the lake). The perimeter loop is about 4 miles total. Since it is so short, I also recommend hooking up with General Crook and seeing some of the Carr Lake System.

Woods Canyon Lake to Carr Lake at EveryTrail

This morning’s ride in pics, vids and GPS…

From Bees Knees Gila Loop

From Bees Knees Gila Loop

From Bees Knees Gila Loop

From Bees Knees Gila Loop

From Bees Knees Gila Loop

From Bees Knees Gila Loop

Bees Knees Gila Loop

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Hawes All

20 miles all on Hawes. A great way to spend the mid morning. 64 degrees at 9:30 am on May 24. Three hours to cover 20 miles and it was only 74 when I finished. Unbelievably cool weather for this time of year.

Riding these miles was good for me. It reminded me how much fun it is to Mountain Bike. Lately I’ve been so obsessed with exploring, climbing, and pushing myself past my limits… today was all about the ride. No camera, no helmet cam, just me and the bike (GPS is still standard equipment).

I saw a singlespeed 29er guy out there and was a little jealous of his ride. I stopped on a down to let him climb past me and couldn’t help thinking how simplistic his riding looked. Two big wheels and one gear. That’s really all you need out there.

From 620 Ridge

620 Ridgeline at EveryTrail

For lack of knowing its official name (if it even has one yet), this trail, the 620 Ridgline, shall be know as the Bees Knees. Why, because there is a huge beehive you have to pass on the climb up. I didn’t see a swarm or anything but those bees sure were buzzin’ by fast b-lining it for the hive. The gracious trail builder’s have put up a sign warning there are bees in the area. Thank you. The sign should keep the bees from swarming.

Seriously, the trail is awesome. It’s a monster climb on brand new singletrack. Kubota cut and hand groomed it’s as smooth as can be, but it makes up for buff in steep. The kind of steep that you can ride if you have the legs and lungs. The new trail has been getting enough foot and tire traffic to pack it down enough for descent traction. It will only get better with more riding, a little rain wouldn’t hurt either.

If you can make the 2 mile climb you will be rewarded with buff steep singletrack all the way to where it meets the existing Gila trail. Decision time. Head east and ride up the rugged west side of Gila or head west and meet National? I opted to climb right back up the Bees Knees.

The descent down the East side towards the 620 trailhead You may want to turn your computer volume way down. The wind in the mic is LOUD.

The descent down the West side towards Gila and the National connection
]]> http://mtbikeaz.com/2010/04/20/620-ridgeline/feed/ 4 http://mtbikeaz.com/2010/04/05/vids-for-the-day/ http://mtbikeaz.com/2010/04/05/vids-for-the-day/#comments Mon, 05 Apr 2010 17:03:48 +0000 Mike http://mtbikeaz.com/?p=1339

No better way to start the day than a early morning road spin, breakfast, virtual mountain biking at South Mountain, then virtually insane dream skiing. Awesome videos for a Monday morning.

Thanks RidingRiot for the sweet SoMo action.

Thanks FeedTheHabit for posting up this vid from Candide Kamera

Gila View-National-Mine Drop at EveryTrail

Another exploratory ride out in West South Mountain. I just really love that place. I rode up the new Gila View Trail (I’m not even sure it’s called the Gila View trail, that’s just what I’ve heard) from 17 Ave. There’s no lot or parking yet, just a dead end. The climb is steep with tight switchbacks. When the switchbacks I didn’t make grossly outweighed the ones I did, I just stopped counting. The trail though is really fun if you like steep climbs and the most challenging switchbacks ever.

Even though there is some HAB, I can see climbing this trail regularly as an alternative option into West National. Instead of the HAB up Telegraph Pass, and then the additional HAB up National, climbing the Gila View Ridgeline offers very sweet views.

Across National. Just can’t get enough of National. Then on down to the infamous and the scary Mine Drop. Yes, it was scary. Super loose, super narrow, and super exposed. I can handle if one of those three is super, two of them tops, but not all three at the same time for the entire trail! No wonder no one ever rides it. Fun for exploratory purposes, but next time I’ll just stay on National and loop back via backside DCX or the new trail they are building.

The trail crew said a couple more weeks till it meets up with National. It’s going to be good to have new stuff to ride out west.

From Gila View Mine Drop Loop

From Gila View Mine Drop Loop

From Gila View Mine Drop Loop

From Gila View Mine Drop Loop

Kiwanis Profile: 400 feet vertical drop in 1 mile.

Kiwanis is the bomb! My inaugural descent into Kiwanis did not disappoint. It’s only one mile long, dropping 400 feet down the north side of South Mountain from Telegraph Pass — but it makes up for length in steep staircase chunk. Kiwanis can be classified in the same genus as Holbert and 24th Street (Mormon).

Kiwanis was built by the Phoenix Kiwanis Club back in 1925. I’m sure they could never have imagined a bicycle riding their trail (and I’m positive the hikers I passed were also thinking the same thing).

Some people feel that Kiwanis makes a good climb. I can tell you for sure that it’s one glorious chunky descent.

Thank you Kiwanis Club for giving us Kiwanis trail. If there was only a club today that could build a trail this sweet in less than a day…

Low angle Helmet cam footage of nearly all of Kiwanis. Missed the first few hundred meters.
Kiwanis I

Kiwanis II

Kiwanis III This section is awesome. Stairmaster for bikes.

Kiwanis IV

Complete.

From East Mesa Epic

East Mesa Epic

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From East Mesa Epic

Yesterday was a triumph for me on the bike. Hawes to Peralta trailhead. 60 miles, sunrise to sunset in the saddle. A direct route would have been about 45, but I wanted to push myself so I added a few trails along the way. Climbing the Mine trail, Moon Rock tail in Usery, and the full Pass Mountain loop.

I’d planned about 10 more miles of singletrack in the Lost Goldmine area, but light was really fading on me so I cut those out. Options are good on a long ride…

Biggest mistake of the day: not drinking enough water in the beginning. At 30 miles, just finishing up Pass Mountain I cramped up and had to take a 20 minute decramping break. After eating and drinking I continued onward at a slower even pace.

Best decision of the day (there were actually two): First. mile 42 I decided to make a 2 mile detour and head to the Ray Ruiz Marina Snack Bar and gift shop. A chocolate shake and a hot dog really hit the spot, not to mention the refill on water as I was out. Second, deciding to skip the Lost Goldmine miles and just head straight to Peralta before dark, achieving my goal even though it was not 70 miles like I wanted.

Biggest time waster of the day: Taking so many pictures. I could have put in more miles if I just didn’t stop so much for the sake of a shot. My pictures aren’t even that good, so next time I’ll do it in the fall when it won’t be so gorgeous and green out.

It’s also amazing I had no mechanicals, no falls, no injuries. Simply, I can’t believe I stayed on the bike all day, especially when the last 15 miles was the most technical of the day. Lost Goldmine West! That trail is tough when I am fresh, throw in 50 miles worth of used up legs and it was even more of a beast. By that point I was close enough that nothing was going to stop me, except the setting sun. But I beat that sunset.

Then I hitched a ride from Peralta to Walgreens with some really nice hikers, and met my family who took me home. Couch, dinner and a movie with my wife: the perfect end to a perfect day.

Some of the better shots:

From East Mesa Epic

From East Mesa Epic

From East Mesa Epic

From East Mesa Epic

From East Mesa Epic

My road buddy was racing the Focus Criterium yesterday so I took my film crew (kids) and headed out to see what these crits are all about… Man, was it cool to watch the cyclists fly by so fast. My buddy did really well. Watch the vid to see some of the action.

Warning: Only watch if you are not offended by Spandex. I’m building up an immunity to it, but it is taking time.