We’re back in the Southwest for the winter and loving the warm temperatures and sunshine. The last few weeks have been full of bike rides (both mountain and road), and family time.
We rode our old favorite Honeybee to Ridgeline mountain bike loop. It’s one of our favorites in Tucson because it’s remote and technical with good climbs and views. Tucson had some phenomenal monsoons this summer and everything is growing like crazy so we got a bit scratched up on the ridgeline loop. We did this ride as an out and back instead of the full ridgeline loop this time and the ride was 27 miles with 2308′ of climbing.
Starr Pass and Yetman is another one of go to riding areas because there are a lot of different options for routes. We rode a figure eight route that was 18.6 miles with 1186′ of climbing. I like the Sarasota Loop where it swoops around the backside of Starr Pass. Again, we could see how the monsoons reshaped the trail with all the loose rock on Explorer Trail. Tucson received 12.78 inches of rain in 2021!
I found a nice quick road loop that climbs up into the foothills before winding through Sabino Canyon and along River Road. I’ve ridden that and another variation of it quite a few times now and it’s nice to get out and see some sights. Our other go to is riding The Loop. The Loop has about 137 miles of paved pathways and bike lanes with additional trails to come. If you do just the loop it’s almost 54 miles but there are endless opportunities to shortcut or add to that.
One day we drove to Vail, AZ to ride Hohokum Trail and the McKenzie Ranch Mountain Bike Competition Loops. our ride was 16.7 miles with 1207′ of climbing. McKenzie Ranch Trails Park is a 1,700-acre natural open space park with, according to the sign, a high-speed mountain bike track that is used for competition purposes by mountain bikers. I took that to heart and had a blast at high speed.
The park is named for Asa McKenzie, a native of Virginia, who established the ranch about 1860 at the age of 20. McKenzie was the only settler on the Butterfield Trail line between New Mexico and Tucson, and survived an
Indian attack that burned his ranch house to the ground. The park is situated in the foothills of the southern Rincon
Mountains, and is located in a transition zone between the Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts.
The mountain bike track is two loops; Lozen Loop and Dahteste Loop. Both are one direction trails so you’re able to go as fast as you want and not have to pull over for riders coming the other way. Both loops have great views of the Rincons and wind through cacti. I liked the Dahteste Loop the best because it has some great fast sections and good flow. These aren’t very technical trails but very fast and fun. I’d definitely do loops of these again.
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