Take the Long Way Home

This past Friday provided me an opportunity to make the most of my day. I needed to make up a couple hours at work, but we were down a car. So, I convinced K to drop me off a bit earlier than she would have liked. Of course this meant I'd have my bike and all me gear, ready to roll when the clock struck 9a.

I've only done one biking commute in the 8 years I've worked here, mostly due to time. On a direct route it's about 27 miles one-way. I had no intention of getting home by noon.

Phoenix is blessed with ample trail systems spread throughout the valley. One aspect that my get overlooked by some is the wide array of canals paths & bikeways that can be easily connected without the need to ride alongside traffic.

I had a little over 9 hours of available daylight, let's use it all. I spliced a few tracks together, drew in a couple of connections and I was off around 9:15a.

First up? Some real mountain bike trails at South Mountain, a pseudo Teacher of Terror loop of sorts. (Javelina-Mormon Loop-National-Telegraph Pass-Desert Classic) It's really not a terrifying route, but that's what it was dubbed back in 'the day' by Cosmic Ray and his trail book so many of us toted around.

Added bonus: overcast skies all day!!

The famous towers of South Mountain.

I love the middle section of National trail, empty per usual.

Since it was early on a Friday, the trails were mostly clear of hiker/biker traffic. I passed a fellow rider on my HAB down Telegraph, he was HAB'ing up. 'Great day for a hike, huh?' I asked. 'Yep!'

As I pedaled east on Desert Classic I was already starting to get hungry for lunch. At least DC doesn't require a ton of energy to blast through. I thought I'd grab a bite to eat down on Mill Ave, but after rolling through Guadalupe I opted for a Subway in south Tempe.

Showing DC some love.

Mural photo op.

Nice bike path in 'The Guad'.

All fueled up I rolled through the bustling Mill Ave just before 1pm. I had one more bit of trail to knock out before the long haul on flat greenbelts & canals. Papago Park, here I come.

It was nice cruising down Mill Ave faster than the cars.

Hunt's Tomb pyramid beyond the canal.

South Mountain already looking far away behind the Phoenix Zoo.

Fantastic view of Papago & Camelback Mtn. from Hunt's Tomb.

Uptown & downtown Phoenix in the dust.

Quite the contrast in terrain.

I made quick work of Papago then headed back south to Tempe Town Lake which would link me into the Scottsdale greenbelt. The Wedge along the greenbelt used to be one of my early AZ stomping grounds for flatland freestyle riding and inline skating. I was good to ride through there once again, it's been years!!

How the times have changed near Sun Devil stadium.

Scottsdale greenbelt.

The greenbelt would take me to my farthest point north on this ride. I then turned east on the Arizona Canal for a bit more greenbelt, then the Salt River Indian Res after crossing Pima rd.

Smooth dirt riding.

San Tan Mtns way off on the horizon. That's about where I need to go.

The dirt gave way to old asphalt, some washboarding, but otherwise ok.

It took a while to cross AZ87 on a busy Friday afternoon.

Nearing Red Mtn and another canal junction.

McDowell Mtns. starting to fade into the distance.

Sun soaked Red Mtn.

It was sometime around 4pm when I neared Red Mtn. K was calling to see how things were going. I thought I could make it home before sunset, perhaps under the 9 hour mark, but I had to keep a solid pace going the rest of the way. It gave me something to aim for, so I went for it.

My final canal home looked like this. One too many 'No Trespassing' signs for my liking, so I rode around to the next entrance.

There are still a few orange groves in east Mesa.

Looks like the Arizona Rattlers practice here.

This roadrunner wouldn't turn sideways for a better shot!!

One last snack break for the final push.

San Tan Mtns. finally looking close.

Bummed it came out blurry, but this is the final greenbelt next to our neighborhood. I had 5 minutes to make it home from here - almost a mile away.

Finished!! Still light outside and just under the 9 hour wire at 8:59:36!!

In the end my legs were pretty cooked. I don't usually hammer for that long or ever really, but I'm really glad I took the long way home today. Thanks Supertramp!!

AZT: 15a-b - Boulders-Ripsey

I was looking for a good ride to do, Jeff was looking to eject from 24hr town and proposed a Ripsey ride. I'm not one to ever turn down a Ripsey invite. We opted for a few more miles and started at the Freeman rd trailhead, which is closer to 24hr town. Ray also said he was game. That was short-lived when he couldn't break free from slumberland...weak. As punishment, Jeff and I sent him pics of the ride during the day.

I actually arrived early giving me time for a snack and to get things situated for the day before Nancy dropped Jeff off. She was heading back to 24hr town to wait for her turn at spinning laps. We were starting out on our one lap of the day.

Right away I could tell something was different about the Boulders segment. It usually rides fast and carefree, but the first 5 miles or so kept you on edge. The trail had become a bit rutted from the rains and more sandy than I remembered. It's still an easy spin, but you better pay attention.

Perfect morning to be out in no man's land.

Layers came off early.

Almost on queue, the trail conditions improved once we passed through the counter-balanced gate. We made really good time through the Boulders segment as we reached the powerline connector in a smidge over an hour.

A short stint on jeep road leads back to seldom used singletrack. This section is fun, but even with a GPS and prior knowledge of the trail we still missed turns!! They were all easy enough to figure out, but I bet this area could be really confusing at night.

A few miles of jeep road linked us back to singletrack for the drop down into Ripsey Wash. The infamous 'green 'gate (it's actually silver, always has been) at the top of the wash marks the signature
stretch of this ride.

Fun contouring to start.

We were shocked & pleased to see the rock chasm is now rideable!!

We kept waiting for the catclaw to rear its ugly head, but there was none to be found. Only the occasional yucca encroached on the trail. We were halfway down the wash and not one dismount due to poor trail conditions.

Spring fed tank was flowing and hardly any bees!

We both joked about our clean rides so far, but knew the eroded jeep road climb was fast approaching. To our surprise, we both rode right up it. A first for each of us.

The Big Hill coming into focus.

We made the final pitch into the wash and guess what? That too was completely rideable!! It was as if the wash was dredged free of sand. There were some vehicle tracks, but the overall composition of the surface was more crushed rock than sand. We ended up making a full gate-to-gate ride without so much as a dab. Inconceivable!! *For the record, the second gate is also NOT green, both are silver. Although the second one looked to be new, albeit the same design.*

Again, to our surprise the trail was in better condition than anticipated. Sure, the initial climbing was tough, but mostly rideable. We reached the base of the Big Hill and found the lower switchbacks had also been cleaned up. Most of the loose baseball sized rubble was gone!! Hooray! As an added bonus, the wildflowers were beginning to show.

The upper 6 switchbacks as seen from the top.

Jeff taking flight onto the Ripsey ridgeline.

Jeff finally has that KOM feeling. (He's a Strava hater!!)

We stumbled onto some trail flagging for a possible future reroute due to local mining activities. The draft EIS report can be viewed at the link.

Down, down, down into the Gila River valley we go.

Where's Waldo moment on the switchback attack section.

New shade structure at the Kelvin TH provided enough relief.

Poppies were going off at the trailhead.

Neither one of us was overly motivated to get moving from the Kelvin TH, we knew what was waiting. The slog up the Florence-Kelvin Hwy. 4 1/2 miles of grinding. At least the road surface is always in fine shape.

The climb wasn't too horrible although we did hit some warm stagnant air making us sweat pretty good. At the top I had a slightly different return route planned. We'd stay on the F-K Hwy a few miles longer than we typically do turning south on Tecolote Ranch rd. I had been on this road once before and it was quite sandy in sections, but not on this ride. Eventually, we came to Ripsey Ranch and the remnants of the large shade tree.

A bit of deep sand near Ripsey Ranch.

This was such a cool rest area on past rides.

We were now back on the AZT for a return ride up the Boulders section. These 10 miles ride great in either direction making a nice 20 mile out-n-back from Freeman rd.

Antelope Peak on the far left horizon & Mt. Lemmon on the right. The 24hr course is behind the near mountain on the right.

Coolest gate on the AZT...auto closing thanks to a counter balanced weight.

We cranked out the final miles making it back to Freeman rd in just under 9 hours. Great day to be out on the bike!!