Me and about eight other friends will be making a nine day voyage to the great state of AZ from the front range for an all mtn.biking road trip. We'll go through Sedona all the way down to Tucson via PHX, and maybe even cross over into MX. We have quite a few rides planned or in mind at least, but I wanted to get some local feedback on what's good, what I can't miss etc....and I assume Flagstaff will be too cold that time of year, or at least we'd be better serverd weather wise/timewise to be somewhere else?

PS. I personally wanted to try to meet some of y'all for the AZSF '04, but everyone else in the group doesn't wanna mess with the crowds....*******s!

EDIT: We have our intenerary pretty much picked out, we're just looking for "can't miss"type rides of any kind. e.g. if you've never been to Moab, and you're there, Slick Rock and Porcupine Rim should be on the list



Thks,
Kirk

Me and about eight other friends will be making a nine day voyage to the great state of AZ from the front range for an all mtn.biking road trip. We'll go through Sedona all the way down to Tucson via PHX, and maybe even cross over into MX. We have quite a few rides planned or in mind at least, but I wanted to get some local feedback on what's good, what I can't miss etc....and I assume Flagstaff will be too cold that time of year, or at least we'd be better serverd weather wise/timewise to be somewhere else?

PS. I personally wanted to try to meet some of y'all for the AZSF '04, but everyone else in the group doesn't wanna mess with the crowds....*******s!

Thks,
Kirk

A date would be useful. The whole state changes from month to month.

p.

edit: Yes yes yes, now I see the date in the title.

Typical author. Can only read what HE writes :-)

Typical author. Can only read what HE writes :-)

Oh hey. In the title, huh? Who'd think to hide it there?!?

Okay, so mid-March. First off, if you want to avoid the Fling you'd better check on the Fling itinerary. I suspect the crowds won't be crazy (I'm guessing 20-40 people absolute tops this year, but I'm not involved so I'm pulling this out of my ass) but if you want to avoid them, don't go where they are.

Flag will probably be either snowed in or sloppy wet. Sedona will be lovely. Prescott is anyone's guess. Tucson and Phoenix will be great. Globe and the White Mountains will be snowy or sloppy. Payson is usually pretty nice by mid-March.

A specific itinerary depends on what you're looking for, your skill level, and your fitness. Of course, you could do some of this research yourself.

p.

We've done quite a bit of research already. We pretty much have our days filled, but I figured I'd just ask the locals to make sure I didn't miss any "can't miss" type of rides. So far we have things like South Mtn., 50 miles trail, Fantasy Island, etc...

Of the *must* rides in this area:

50-*year* trail... although there is reportedly more than 50 miles of great trail riding of all abilities
Fantasy Island... mostly mellow/flat riding, but almost all singletrack, and some great sections to satisfy all but the sickest minds

For details on all local area rides, go to www.sdmb.org - there's a great link for maps (most of which are GPS'd)

March is about the best time of the year to be here!

Hank

Thks Hank!

50 Year, Chutes, Rollercoaster/Baby Jesus/Deer Camp are all behind the house. We're north of Tucson, proper, along the Santa Catalina Mtns.

We have a gathering of riding "Budz" going on first week with some scheduled rides, tequila sippin', etc. Various groups of people will be in throughout that time, (including a group from Boulder). You could hook-up with us or we could point you in the general direction.

CJ

Escaping frozen New England for some Arizona Sun w/the wife. We've been to Sedona/Flag twice already so I figure we'll check out Southern Arizona this time.

Back to your question: We've got four days to ride. Based on the reasearch I've done (web and guideboks) I want to hit the following:

South Mountain ( PHX area for the first day on Sat so it makes sense to ride there )
50 year trail area and other area trails
La Milagrosa
Fantasy Island
Kentucky Camp

It would be cool to ride Fantasy Island & 50 year trail area the same day. (I get the feeling that F. Island is a small area with some zippy singletracks so it might be doable...)

La Milagrosa sounds awesone, but I'm not confident I'd be able to find my way based on what I've read about the trail.

Ditto for Kentucky Camp and I'm not sure of the amount if singletrack and haven't found a great map of the area. Patagonia sounds like an interesting town to visit though.

I recently ordered Cosmic Ray's guide to Arizona and another guidebook "biking the arizona trail" to go along with my copy of Paul B's excellent trail guide. Hopefully that will shed some light on La Mil. and KC.

Later
T

I recently ordered Cosmic Ray's guide to Arizona and another guidebook "biking the arizona trail" to go along with my copy of Paul B's excellent trail guide. Hopefully that will shed some light on La Mil. and KC.

Later
T

I've got a good map for Kentucky Camp, but there really are NO good maps for Milagrosa. I don't have one. Ray doesn't have one. It's quite tricky to find without a local.

Have you tried contacting SDMB yet? Google SDMB and you'll come up with something. I think CJ could probably hook you up as well, or find someone (Louis?) to help you out.

p.

Hey CJ, I'm part of "the boulder" group coming to your place. I was at your place last year too. It was a blast and look forward to hitting the local trails in your area again and sipping as much tequila as we did last time.

Kirk

Hey CJ, I'm part of "the boulder" group coming to your place. I was at your place last year too. It was a blast and look forward to hitting the local trails in your area again and sipping as much tequila as we did last time.

Kirk

Excellent! Shane coming back, too? Hopefully, you won't have to leave a day early, like last year.

Lot of new stuff to ride…

CJ

Yeah, Shaine's in too, with like 7 others. I've got 9 days of vacation booked this time. Screw work, I wanna ride!!!!!