I try to spend a bit of time in Tucson, Arizona, annually, but last year, due to extenuating circumstances, we couldn鈥檛 make it down there. For 2018, we moved the 国产吃瓜黑料 Bike Test back to the Old Pueblo, and, upon arrival in early January, I felt a warm, Hallmark glow for this town. As bike editor for 国产吃瓜黑料, I have ridden the world over, and if there is a better place for cyclists to winter, I do not know it. The temperate, dry weather makes it blessedly comfortable to ride here, there鈥檚 tons of terrain for pedaling, the town is blossoming with breweries and hip restaurants, and there鈥檚 a killer cycling culture.
Want a winter training camp or just a quick getaway from the cold?聽You will do no better than this poky, endearing town in southern Arizona.
#1. It's Warm
You know what feels amazeballs? In the middle of winter, ditching your puffer from your cold, dark home and exposing your lily-white skin to the desert sun. Over the course of a month in Tucson, we had exactly two days of light rain鈥攐therwise, the sun was out and daytime temps hung in the mid-70s. As with the rest of the Southwest, this winter is particularly warm and dry, to the point that I was worrying over hydration and whether testers would be able to keep up the pace in the heat. But even on 鈥渃old鈥 years, which we鈥檝e had one or two of in the decade we鈥檝e been testing in Tucson, you鈥檙e talking about a day or two where you might need arm and knee warmers. The only problem with getting so comfortable? It feels that much colder when you have to return home, which is why, every year, at least one or two in our group talks about investing in a Tucson property.
#2. There's So Much Riding!
I鈥檝e spent a lot of years biking in Tucson, and I鈥檝e still yet to see all the city鈥檚 rides and trails. Thanks to Mt. Lemmon (see #3), the place has a reputation as a haven for roadies, and the mountain isn鈥檛 even half of the story. There鈥檚 excellent riding in both branches of Saguaro National Park, which bookend the city, and the 10-mile, closed-circuit rollercoaster loop in the eastern section of the park might be the finest road lap anywhere. The gravel and dirt roads outside the city provide endless options if you鈥檙e willing to explore, and the city also hosts one of the largest and fastest group rides, the Shootout, throughout . And while Tucson doesn鈥檛 have a reputation for mountain biking like, say, Sedona or Moab, I think that鈥檚 partly because the riding here is so spread out and varied that it鈥檚 simply difficult to tie it all up in a neat little package. From the fast and flat flow trails at the in-town to the chunky, bedded-rock loops of Robles and Starr Pass in to the granite playground north and west of , the terrain is so diverse and interesting that every day can bring not just new trails, but totally different styles of riding.
#3. Altitude Training
Pro Tour teams such as Sky, Astana, and Trek love to tout their altitude camps in the as the key to winning seasons, but we Americans can skip the long flights and head for Mt. Lemmon, which climbs from the 2,389-foot Tucson city limit to over 9,000 feet at the summit. The pavement is glassy, and it鈥檚 one of the most approachable long climbs you can do, with moderate grades of 5 and 6 percent the majority of the way. (It鈥檚 perfect for intervals, if you鈥檙e into that sort of thing.) 国产吃瓜黑料 of say, Hawaii, I don鈥檛 think there鈥檚 many other places in the country where you can get so much climbing in the middle of the winter. And for those who need extra motivation (or structure), the runs training camps here in the cool months.
#4. The Arizona Trail
I鈥檒l admit that I鈥檓 biased from years of riding and racing on it, but , an 800-mile purpose-built trail that traverses the state from Mexico to Utah, has to be one of the coolest resources for cyclists anywhere in the country. And Tucson is the jumping-off point for some of the finest stretches of the trail. During testing this year, we pedaled a 35-mile stretch south of town between Kentucky Camp and Colossal Cave, and everyone was blown away by the range of riding, from perfect ribbons of single track through broad, grassy meadows to brutal, rocky rollers that seemed so remote and never-ending that it felt like we were days away from civilization. On the north side of town, the passage between Oracle and Freeman Tank is rugged country where water is scarce and Gila monsters and rattlesnakes are common, while the stretch thereafter, called The Boulders, is so fast and swoopy that you can鈥檛 help but whoop and laugh out loud. The AZT is great for single-day out-and-backs, and there鈥檚 also excellent potential for multiday bikepacking trips, especially now that Homegrown is offering bespoke .
#5. Epic Rides
While Moab has rightly won great acclaim for the Whole Enchilada, an epic, 27-mile descent, Tucson鈥檚 is longer (31 miles), loses almost 50 percent more elevation (12,462 feet of descending on the day), and is continuously more technical. This big-mountain descent, which starts at the radio towers atop Mt. Lemmon Ski Valley and wends its way down the peak鈥檚 southern flanks back to town, is a burly day out and takes in some of the trickiest and wildest trails here, including the exposed Incinerator Ridge and the rocky canyon drop down La Milagrosa. It shouldn鈥檛 be underestimated, though the fact that it intersects the General Hitchcock Highway at multiple spots means there鈥檚 always a bailout. Two other trails, (CDO) and , plunge off the north side of Lemmon, as well, meaning that Tucson has three marquee backcountry descents for mountain bikers. And while you used to either have to earn those turns with a backbreaking hill climb or spend an inordinate amount of time coordinating drop-offs and pickups, now that is offering shuttles, it鈥檚 a breeze to undertake one of these epics.