Questions about riding in Phoenix AZ

PB Forum :: USA - West
Questions about riding in Phoenix AZ
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flag 12421421
O+
Posted: Dec 6, 2018 at 6:53 Quote
Hello,

I will be visiting Phoenix in January for around three weeks. I will be staying in the North Mountain Village neighborhood.

I am not sure yet if I should bring my own bike from Europe, so I was wondering if you could help me with some questions:

- Is there any good riding close by? What would you recommend for an advanced rider?
- Do I need a car to get to the trails? Or is there public transportation that I can use that will also take my bike?
- Are there any good rental places that rent solid enduro bikes?

My own bike is a Rocky Mountain Altitude. I am torn between bringing my own bike and renting a car ($$$) or using Uber or public transportation and just renting a bike close by the trails (probably a bit cheaper).

Thanks for any hints and recommendations!
flag LawrenceLCase
Posted: Jan 10, 2019 at 5:43 Quote
It's been a while but south mountain was great about 10 years ago
flag jfloren
Posted: Jan 17, 2019 at 2:47 Quote
Rode there in October. Lots of bike shops serve tourists and quality bikes can be rented for $80 per day. Rented a new Stumpjumper with good components for a couple days.

Day 1 I rode the McDowell Mountains East of Scottsdale (forget the name of the park). Massively difficult climb from the East. No good climbing route from this side (the descent was fun though). There’s a large and excellent trail system on the West, rural side of McDowell Mountains but it’s a bit of a drive to get there. Avoid lower elevation flat trails, they are boring, but things get very interesting and rocky once you get some elevation.

Day 2 I rode South Mountain, which is terrific. Hard work and great reward. National trail is the bomb. Lots of rocks and very grippy soil.
flag NCKingsting
Posted: Feb 1, 2019 at 18:30 Quote
Any locals from the PHX area that can recommend some trails? I’m a high blue / low black rider from NC that will be bringing my bike out for a business meeting in mid March. I will have about a day and a half to play before my meetings start and am planning for two technically challenging rides of about 10 - 15 miles orientated towards DH rather than climbing. That having been said I’ll be 1,000 miles from home with out of network health care coverage and have no interest in touring the local hospitals. I’ve been looking at Trail Forks and other sites and am considering a ride at Browns Ranch incorporating the Diablo trails and a second at the Hawes trail system incorporating Saguaro and Twisted Sister trails. Looking to get a good feel for what the area has to offer and be challenged without getting hurt. Any opinions on the two rides I’m considering? If you have another suggestion I’d appreciate hearing about that as well.
Thanks!
Jeff
flag jray152
Posted: Feb 4, 2019 at 1:37 Quote
NCKingsting wrote:
Any locals from the PHX area that can recommend some trails? I’m a high blue / low black rider from NC that will be bringing my bike out for a business meeting in mid March. I will have about a day and a half to play before my meetings start and am planning for two technically challenging rides of about 10 - 15 miles orientated towards DH rather than climbing. That having been said I’ll be 1,000 miles from home with out of network health care coverage and have no interest in touring the local hospitals. I’ve been looking at Trail Forks and other sites and am considering a ride at Browns Ranch incorporating the Diablo trails and a second at the Hawes trail system incorporating Saguaro and Twisted Sister trails. Looking to get a good feel for what the area has to offer and be challenged without getting hurt. Any opinions on the two rides I’m considering? If you have another suggestion I’d appreciate hearing about that as well.
Thanks!
Jeff

and anyone else planning to ride in arizona, only speaking about what i have actually ridden.

south mountain - base has great xc riding. mormon and national trail have moderately steep and some difficult technical features (waterfall). everything here is undulating. theres no easy ride up for a fun ride down. you really have to earn your turns. from 32nd st parking lot on Baseline rd theres ''beverly canyon'' which conveniently has an easy rte and hard rte. and ''javelina'' which is more fun going down than up. parking at the pima parking lot is great. undulating fire road up will take you to the start/bottom of most of the trails. if you like to get a little rowdy i recommend ''national trail''. if you want to pedal a lot and cruise xc style i recommend ''desert classic'' which runs the entire length of the mountain along the base and ''warpaint''. trail forks is very accurate on this mtn. you can ride national all the way to the Lookout Point and back. technical climb but the top half of national is effing RAD.

we regularly ride up the fire road from the pima lot, up mormon then down national trail in the mornings before work. about 45 minutes if you just enjoy it. 30 minutes if you haul ass up and down.

sedona - everything in sedona is undulating and pretty flat aside from hiline, hangover, and whiteline. a bike with more than 150 in the rear is completely unnecessary in sedona, but i wouldnt ride a hardtail either.

hawes - much smaller than the previous mentioned. mostly flat. anything that points down starts back uphill again just as you start getting momentum. very XC oriented.

ive been to sedona in march for the MTB festival and it was SICK. arizona riding weather is best october - april. then we starting heading up 2 hours north to flagstaff.

check out Action Ride Shop in Gilbert on Gilbert Rd and the 60 (ask for josh or tyler) or Bike Masters on Ray and 48th (ask for Brian) these 2 shops can get you diiiialed. The dudes at Action Rideshop regularly plan MASSIVE group rides. Check them out on instagram!

have fun. and pump them tires up to about 27-30 psi... the entire mtn is full of sharp rocks
flag BrentZombie
O+
Posted: Feb 27, 2019 at 8:55 Quote
South mountain is great. Up Mormon and down National is a must do... and, its relatively close. keep in mind there is no loam in Zona. Its rocky AF. It's the only time of year i wear elbow and knee pads.

I also really like gold canyon. There are some nice sections. There isn't crazy amounts of elevation but it has some great bits in the middle (k trail).

If you're an avid rider and plan on getting more than 3 or 4 rides in, i recommend bringing your own bike for a couple reasons: Price, and the enjoyment & familiarity of having your own gear). I bought a travel bag for about 320 (which was a great deal from chain reaction cycles) and it has paid for itself after a couple visits. The problem with renting there is you have to book it and pick it up and return in during business hours. Also, its a bit more expensive than you'd expected. Its usually about $60 USD a day (incrementally less when you rent for multiple days). to me, $60 USD is like 90 CAD so that adds up.

Sedona is bomb. not many prolonged climbs but super fun tech all the time. I also recommend prescott. it has some more "traditional" mountain biking.
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