Mckenzie Ranch

Sunday morning, it was time to head back to the big city after our SSAZ20 weekend. We scarfed down another delicious breakfast then bid farewell to Shannon & Beto and thanked them for their hospitality. Arturo and I hit the road early enough so we'd have time for a short ride near Tucson as we passed through.

I've been meaning to check out the Mckenzie Ranch trails just off the AZT east of Vail. They were purpose built for mountain biking and holding local races, so I knew they'd be singlespeed friendly.

We pulled into the parking area, only one other car there, and noticed how windy it was. Hmmm. Didn't really matter, we were riding no matter what.

We parked at the red circle on the left of the Hohokam trail. That trail has two-way traffic to the unidirectional race loops.

Cool entrance cattle guard.

Lots of buff singletrack.

I'm guessing this is the main parking lot, the start of the competition loops.

Arturo standing and mashing the easy grades.

As we found out, it's a lot of gentle uphills followed by long downhill cruisers. Repeat.

Ride the snake.

After all the pushing down in Bisbee, it was nice to let 'er rip.

Rincon Mtns. provide a nice backdrop.

These trails weave in/out, up/down a series of finger-like drainages.

We kept a swift pace and had time to knock out both loops.

It was such a fun ride, we didn't even notice the wind!!

Voodoo approved!!

If you like smooth, flowy singletrack, give it a whirl. If you're looking for technical rocky trails, this isn't it, it's a race track more or less. Thanks to all of those involved in getting these trails built. I know I'll be back for a few more laps.

Route: