You’ve got to take advantage of any cycling opportunities that may come your way.  I had an opportunity this Presidents Day weekend to do some cycling around Scottsdale Arizona. I have ridden there before and there are some fine routes to ride in and around the area. The weather forecast looked great with temps in then upper 70’s and light winds. I haven’t ridden in that kind of weather since last summer!  It was going to be great to be riding in shorts and short sleeves again!  Recent rains have transformed the desert into a wonderland and everything is looking fresh and green!  It is still too early for wildflowers but you can tell that they will be spectacular this year. 

This was not a training weekend, those of you who know me will understand that “training” is not in my vocabularly, it is a bad word.  Training is unpleasant and my view is that a ride doesn’t need to be unpleasant to improve your cycling.  This was going to be a fun weekend of riding, there was no reason to take something fun and ruin it.  Training is a bad word.

Scottsdale-Rio Verde- Fountain Hills loop

This is a route that I have wanted to ride for some time.  Conditions were great on this day and I was ready.  It is a 50+ mile loop which basically circumnavigates the McDowell Mountains and has about 2350 feet of climbing.  It seems to be a popular local route and I saw many bikes out on the road.  There weren’t many services available but this is a distance that most riders can do without support or assistance. I enjoyed the day and the distance!

North Scottsdale-Camelback loop

 This urban loop follows some pretty bike friendly lesser travelled roads within the city.  With traffic controls and some navigation time it was hard to keep a strong pace throughout the entire route but you can press hard for some stretches.  It is an appealing route that is well travelled by local cyclists, I even ran into some friends of friends while out on this day. 35+miles was this loop’s distance.

Paradise Short loop

Here was another short in town route to fill out my weekend. It was basically a cruise through the neighborhoods around the Paradise area.  There was some routefinding required to stay off the busier streets but it was a good ride.  This 28+ mile spin was not the kind of ride to write home about other than the good weather.