Comments for MountainBikeAZ.com

Comment on Holbert Trail – South Mountain by Adam Dowell

Adam Dowell — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 22:00:41 +0000

im new to this state and it would be alot nicer if you guys had better diroctions, on how to get to thease trails

Comment on Mormon/National Trails – South Mountain Park by Stephen

Stephen — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 01:45:37 +0000

I should have read the above description first! Just rode this loop; started at 24th, hike-a-biked to the top of Mormon Loop, came down to the junction of National, then back up. By the time I started up National I was pretty beat, so couldn’t put the best effort into the technical climbs, turning the ride into a great workout with some fun trail riding instead of a fun (but hard) technical climb with a Mormon loop downhill payoff by starting at the Pima Canyon parking lot as suggested.

Comment on Cave Creek Regional Park Trail Reviews by Stephen

Stephen — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 05:01:54 +0000

I rode Go John clockwise and got the rocky section out of the way first, then absolute killer rolling sections to a huge downhill back to start. Still plenty of energy, I went back up to the pass and counterclockwise around the other loop. No hikers at all, but that was Sunday afternoon in May so hot…

Comment on Trail 100 Review – Phoenix Mountain Preserve by Stephen

Stephen — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 04:53:53 +0000

Well described, and still hard to believe how cool it is this trail is in the middle of a city of four million people. Great, great variety, some areas a little busy, but a must do if you are in the area.

Comment on McDowell Mountain Regional Park by Stephen

Stephen — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 04:50:58 +0000

Forgot to mention that I don’t do Gateway Pass because I’ve done two OTBs on that short piece…I’m still cranky about that.

Comment on McDowell Mountain Regional Park by Stephen

Stephen — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 04:48:35 +0000

Great ride at Gateway Park – Bell Pass to Windgate Pass, back by way of Desert Park, about four hours, two passes, some hike a bike, but great technical sections and plenty of real fun. Free parking, nice facilities at the trailhead, pick up a map to see the loop, then head out a few miles of singletrack to the south (also part of the shorter Gateway Pass Loop). Take a right at Bell Pass trail and start to slowly climb through the wash a few times, finally getting to hike a bike at the foot of Bell Pass. Stronger riders can ride but I hike the 3/4 mile of switchbacks, catch my breath and the views in both directions at Bell Pass, then singletrack down and counterclockwise up through a gradual climb to Windgate Pass. Another rest, then killer downhill to join with Tom’s Thumb trail briefly before taking a right onto Desert Park, which after a short climb is nearly all downhill on a joyride, ending up on a level section that joins back up at the trailhead.

I do Desert Park because the trail back to the start (Tom’s Thumb, joining the final counterclockwise loop leg of Gateway Pass) is a severe rock garden and not as fun as the slightly longer Desert Trail.

Want a serious (~7 hour) ride? Don’t take the left onto Windgate Pass but keep going to East End, something like 1200 feet gain over .9 miles of switchback to Tom’s Thumb, then a serious crazy set of switchbacks for a couple of miles down back to the trailhead.

Others do Gateway Pass, a much shorter loop with some pretty rocky sections and very cool technical drops on the south section.

Comment on Alta Trail – South Mountain Park by Stephen

Stephen — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 04:27:55 +0000

I hiked this trail in ’10 and remembered the majority of the trail was along the ridge, so I thought, okay, that should be fun to ride. Hiked the bike up to the ridge, and found the trail nearly unbikeable the entire length (4.5 miles). I went counterclockwise, and at the end of the ridge I could see the entire descent to the west trailhead, and thought ‘okay, now I can ride down’ but huge exposure, singletrack, serious bunny hopping opportunities (I am not that good).
In the end, I hiked 4.3 of the 4.5 miles, so great workout – also, some of the oldest rocks on the planet (I believe over 1.5 billion years old), so interesting but not for mountain bikes unless you’re looking for seriously crazy.

Comment on Spruce Mountain Trail 307 – Prescott, AZ by Mike

Mike — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 01:20:27 +0000

I hit this trail around noon today. It was a bit of a haul during the beginning uphill climb. But the 6 Mile decent is very worth the effort. It was a fairly soft trail minus maybe 5 or 6 mildly technical rocky/rough areas. There’s a fire lookout and picnic area awaiting you at the top. If you’re not used to the altitude, you will be huffin and puffin for the bulk of the ride. . . If you were to ride this a few times, and get to know the trail, this has the potential to be a very fast downhill.

Comment on Trail 100 – Phoenix Mountain Preserve Mountain Bike Ride by Bradley C. Roberson

Bradley C. Roberson — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 18:55:34 +0000

This sounds like an awesome ride. I’m going to be in Phoenix in August. I’ll be coming from Anchorage, AK though and want to know what local shops/ride-guides I should be getting in touch with?

Comment on Spruce Mountain Trail 307 – Prescott, AZ by mattoid

mattoid — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 05:42:35 +0000

4/5/2011 Rode this trail for the first time today. I think the climb is much more technical than the downhill, and it was worth it. The downhill was fun, but I think I was expecting faster smooth sections and more technical hard sections. I also don’t know why they cut so many trees down here and didn’t bother to haul them out and use them for fuel or something.