Arizona Roll Call

[Monarch]

I should have mentioned I can also ride on some week-days and possibly Sunday. The traffic tends to be worse during the week so I try to start by 6:30 now that it's staying dark later. Would love to connect for some riding in this part of North Scottsdale.

[pink_panther]

Hi everyone,

I live in Sedona and have been riding a road bike for a little over a year now. Yesterday I felt brave enough to post my first comment on Team Estrogen!

It looks like there are a lot of group rides in the Phoenix area... which unfortunately is a little far for me. Are there still any rides in Flagstaff, or has it gotten too cold? Anyway, I just thought I would speak up and add my name to the list of Northern Arizona girls who like to ride bikes!

- Meredith

[Cactus Flower]

Hi Monarch,

Nice to meet you! I, too, live in the Troon area and wanted to make you aware of a group ride that happens early Saturday mornings. It's a breakfast ride up to Carefree and back. We start from Pinnacle Peak Cyclery (in AJ's parking lot) at 6:30 on the dot. Ride is about 15 mph, and Jack, the owner of the bike shop, stays at the back of the group with the slowest riders. Terrific group of people and it's very casual. You might want to call the shop and make sure they're leaving at 6:30 tomorrow. I'll probably be there.

I also ride the Indian Bend Wash trail, which starts at Mustang Library and goes down to Tempe Town Lake. Since most of it is paved bike trail, it's terrific and safe! I'll be out of town for the next couple of weeks but always welcome another rider -perhaps we can connect and set something up.

Cheers!
Michele

[Cactus Flower]

Hi Pink Bike: You know, I really appreciate your honest portrayal of tackling things like tour dscottsdale. I'm still at the stage that I find a big race like that intimidating (just for endurance), and your story reminds me that everyone has their own "personal best" they always strive for. Sorry to hear that it didn't go so well - good luck with the next one!

Meredith: Welcome to the site! I'll keep my eyes peeled for any Flagstaff/Sedona info I can find. If I head up that way, I'll contact you for a ride!

[TracyinMesa]

Hi ladies!

I just wanted to check in. I signed up for the PV ride. It looks like the weather is going to be nice, not much wind.

Pink Bike will you be there? I saw you go by at the start of the TdS but did not ever get to say hello. That would be because I finished about an hour after you. (4:53).

I will be with my riding buddy, Mike on Sunday. I ride a silver and black Giant OCR3. I am almost 6' tall with reddish hair.

Idak/Amy I will look for the pink cheetah print helmet.
Pink Bike is hard to miss, hope you are there Laurie.

F/H sorry you won't be riding on Sunday. Lets plan on riding next week end. Give me a call.

Tracy

[PinkBike]

michele, i was scared to death on my first "real" ride, the tour de phoenix a couple years ago. i didnt know if i could even finish. i went by myself. i did the shorter version, rode within my capabilities, finished it, and it was just awesome! you should just decide which one you want to try for your first and go for it! el tour de tucson is in november and has lots of different distances to ride.

tracy, already got the registration and check filled out for palo verde, we'll try to go off right at 8, but we both still have a little tickle in our throats and are hoping another day will be enough to recuperate from this bug.

[mtkitchn]

Hi Laurie,

I did the metric option at Tumacacori and it was a great ride. Fabulous support and great weather.

I just returned from a terribly long four day trip. We were in Santa Ana on the 24th, and I took a camera to get pics of the fires, but the smoke was so thick you couldn't see anything. Everyone on the ramp had smoke masks on. What a disaster.

Hope you all have a great Palo Verde ride!

CactusFlower, if I get a Saturday off, I'd love to come up to do that Carefree ride!

Sue

[Cactus Flower]

PinkBike: Thanks so much for the encouragement! I'm on the road with biz travel WAY too much these days, but I'm making a century ride a goal for early 2008. I know I can do it, and may even cross paths with you as you whiz by me. :-)

By the way - had my very first flat yesterday on the group ride - the REAR wheel!! But I fixed it - not in record time, but just felt proud of the accomplishment. I was amazed at the number of female riders who rode by and asked if I needed help.

Monarch - We'd love to have you on the breakfast ride to Carefree. Absolutely no need to feel intimidated. There are NO drops in this ride - as Jack, our leaders says, "I just wanna ride, not race." The ride now starts at 7am on Saturdays.

Sue - we'd love to have you, too!! Yesterday, we did a few extra miles around Legend Trail which is beautiful.

I hear that McDowell Mountain Park (out by Rio Verde) is just completing a bike path - it's paved (rough asphalt) but I guess it will be really nice. I think I'm going to have to buy a mountain bike!!

Cheers,
Michele

[Monarch]

The Carefree ride sounds great Cactus Flower. I like to ride from my house up to and around Legend Trail. I just discovered the knee that balked at the hills in the Teton Valley in August is definitely not happy. It feels like a torn meniscus ... I sure hope not! Anyway, I'm going to stick to level routes for about a month and just see if movement without straining it will clear things up. I'll be riding the city bike trail 2-3 times a week if you want to connect there.

[FH Cyclist]

Hi guys, I just took a look at the site and it's great to see so many folks. Just a heads up to everyone. I went out to ride the McDowell Mountain Road route this past Sunday- which was just referenced by Catus Flower - and the road is currently closed to non-motorized traffic. That surprised me but also made sense. With the cuts in the shoulder and a drop of about 4 inches, riders are almost in the middle of the road and I guess the County decided to close it for a while.

I wanted to let you all know so you don't plan a ride out here only to be disappointed. Obviously McDowell Mountain Park is still open for the mountain bikers.

Just an FYI for those of you who do ride out in this neck of the woods. Since I couldn't ride between Fountain Hills and Rio Verde, I went through the Fort McDowell Indian Community. The roads are nice and there's very little traffic so if you want to extend a ride, that's a nice way to do it.

Tracy, I'd love to ride this weekend but it needs to be Sunday. Now that the cooler weather is here, The Fountain Hills McDowell Mountain Conservancy is back building hiking trails in our part of the McDowell Mountains (we don't have the money Scottsdale does - we build our own trails with volunteers - Scottsdale hires the trail builders). I try to go every other Saturday and this Saturday is it. This Saturday we are widening one of the trails for future mountain bikers (mountain bikers are not currently allowed on our trails).

If you can go on Sunday, let me know. Since the McDowell Mountain Road is closed, maybe I can come to you. Let me know if Sunday will work for you. If it works for others, just let us know.

How did things go in the PV? I'm really interested in hearing - I'm guessing it was windy. I hope you had a good ride.

[PinkBike]

palo verde was good, well, until we turned around to come back. into the wind!! 1st 50 miles < 3 hours, last 50 miles close to 4 hours!

didnt do my sore throat any good either, but since we're registered for the silverbell century in tucson this coming weekend i'm talking it easy til then.

bed rest these last 2 days and i'm hoping for the best! anybody else doing the silverbell? it's a great warmup for el tour de tucson two weeks later. el tour's the granddaddy - more than 10,000 riders expected - cant wait!

[Cactus Flower]

FH: Thanks for the update on the McDowell bike path. I had heard about it but not been out there myself. If I hear of an update, I'll let everyone know.

Monarch: I'm heading out of town on business this week, but when I return, will catch up with you about riding on level terrain/city bike paths. Would be fun!

Have a great week, everyone!

Michele

[FH Cyclist]

McDowell Moutain Road Update: the bike path is open!!!! and they have taken down the sign that says No non-motorized vehicles. I rode on it earlier this week and it is very nice. All of the rumbles are gone. I'm not sure it is wide enough to ride side by side but a big improvement safety wise. Also the striping is not yet done.

I hope some of you take the time to enjoy it. If you do try it this weekend of the 9th, 10th and 11th, please be aware that the Ftn Hills Arts and Crafts Fair is this weekend. Don't go near Saguaro Blvd. You'll lose too much riding time.

[TracyinMesa]

That is good news about the bike lane. I think it is a great ride. I hope to get out to try it with you next weekend. I will give you a call next week.

I did the Palo Verde ride a few weeks ago. Only 50mile loop, it just to windy for anything more! It was a nice ride.

[FH Cyclist]

Hi folks, I wanted to let you know of another place to ride that I hadn't tried before. Yesterday I went on the multi-use path in Scottsdale. I started out near the hospital on Shea and the 101 and went 10 miles south to below McDowell. It was nice ride and the best part about it is the few road crossings that you do. In the 10 miles, I remember just 3 red light and 3 road crossings.

It isn't challenging, from a hill perspective, but just right if you want to get in an easy ride and don't want to have to stop for a lot of red lights.

On the way back, at one of the red lights, I met a Bicycle owner who regularly rides from his shop on Scottsdale and Curry to his home in Scottsdale ranch. He said the path goes all the way down to ASU.

I decided to try it after a work colleague of mine, who has won a gold medal in the team trial, in the Senior Olympics, told me I might need to keep my heart rate a lot lower than I have been to really improve.

So if you are interested here is a link that might be of interest. One is showing the Scottsdale multi-path route and the other is to the article that was sent to me by my colleague.

http://www.scottsdaleaz.gov/traffic/.../PrintMaps.asp

Have a great Thanksgiving - hope each of you gets lots of riding in this weekend.