Waaay back in 2001 I flew into Tucson with my friend Jen, picked up my mom’s camper van and drove up to Oracle to race the 24 Hours of Old Pueblo Mountain Bike Race. I was on a team with 3 other ladies and we kicked ass! Great memories.
This time there was no race, just Derek and I up riding the trails and exploring. There are new trails since I was here eons ago. Our ride was 23 miles with 1607′ of climbing.
We started our on the actual racecourse riding Junebug and then turned and headed up and around on High Point. Junebug is easy twisty desert riding and High Point is slightly more technical with some rocky sections but neither are hard. Halfway into High Point we realized we missed our planned turn and retraced our ride to the junction with Painter Boy Trail. This is a primitive non-maintained or at least very seldomly maintained trail that needs a bit of work and more riders. It’s rugged as it winds up and down hillsides through fields and fields of cactus. The views on this loop are it’s glory. Unfortunately every picture I wanted to take was directly into the sun.
After Painter Boy we hooked back into the racecourse via a trail called Bones and then another called Gasline Bypass. No surprise in the name there. This trail wasn’t part of the race, we routed along the actual gas line road instead. The trail is super flowy and fast as you work your way towards the Corral. After a few fence crossings we hopped on a trail called Rattlesnake Trail and wound through highspeed desert trail. I saw no snakes. Thankfully. Finally, we finished on His & Hers Trail
These trails are kind of in the middle of nowhere, but worth stopping for if you’re heading past on your way to Tucson. Or, you could primitive camp out here and ride mountain one day and gravel the next. Willow Springs Road that you come in on looks to be great for a gravel ride.
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