Best Mountain Bike Ride 2012 | Hawes Trail Loops, Mesa | Sports & Recreation | Phoenix
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Best Mountain Bike Ride

Hawes Trail Loops, Mesa

South Mountain may be known worldwide as one of the planet's best mountain bike playgrounds, but imagine an alternate mountain bike trail system that combines a bit of everything from that premier park: a good dose of National, add some Desert Classic, a dash of Mormon, a pinch of Javelina, and smidge of Alta. Mash 'em all up and drop the results on the east end of the Valley, and, presto, there lie the Hawes Trail Loops.

It may be a vastly smaller network of single-track than its big brother to the west, but it twists like a rattlesnake ready to strike, with climbs and drops that keep even the most technically capable riders on their toes. Hawes and its accompanying trails take riders up to mine shafts and through a forest of cactus leading to some of the best views in the East Valley. The primary trailhead is on the east side of Power Road (if you start heading downhill to the river valley, you're too far) with a small parking area across Power that holds about 10 cars (otherwise plan on parking at the Walgreen's at Power and Thomas Road, about two miles south). The most ride-able loop is a combination of Hawes, Saddle, Saguaro, and Ridge trails in a counterclockwise direction, for a run of about seven miles. The trails are signed with some old wood-carved placards sitting on posts whenever the tracks intersect. For a sweet payoff, work to the top of Saguaro Trail and discover why that trail is also known as Mine Shaft.

Best Urban Bike Ride

Central Phoenix Mural Tour

The walls of downtown and Central Phoenix have been springing to life over the past few years, thanks to local artists looking to define this community through public art. Three specific areas of CenPho have become the home to a majority of these large-scale wall masterpieces: 16th Street, Roosevelt Row, and Grand Avenue. And there is no better way to take in this massive public museum than by bike. The three areas can be cycled on an easy, flat 10-mile circuit beginning and ending at Barrio Café on 16th Street, home to the Calle 16 Mural Project. With stops at The Hive, Roosevelt Row (be sure to check the alleys!), Phoenix Public Market, and Grand Avenue and Fillmore Street, Phoenix's finest mural artists are on display, with works by Lalo Cota, DOSE, Joerael Elliott, Jenny Ignaszewski, Rose Johnson, El Mac, and Luster Kaboom. Each of the murals speaks to, for, and about Phoenix in a unique, insightful, reflective, and provocative way, and seeing them by bike gives cyclists a chance to really stop and appreciate them as more than just wall decorations, because, after all, this art belongs to all of us.

Best Nighttime Bike Ride

CRAP Ride Tempe

One of the great things about Phoenix-area bike routes is that there is always a nearby ride whenever you get the urge. (You know the urge: the need to ride that just keeps building until you can't hold it any longer and you just have to go, even when it's dark.) And if you have to go at night, you might as well CRAP. CRAP stands for Car Resistance Action Party (which really just sounds like a bad excuse to call it a "CRAP Ride") and historically has been run on Tuesday nights. The ride started in 2006 as a social bike crawl from Tempe Town Lake along the Greenbelt to Old Town Scottsdale, where drinks are had. The ride then either returns along the Greenbelt path or cuts back through Scottsdale along other roads. All in all, it's a low-key 12- to 15-mile ride, and you always feel relieved and relaxed afterwards.

Best Wind Tunnel

Faster

Part bike shop, part athletic training center, Faster is most unique because it is the nation's first shop complete with a cycling-specific wind tunnel. Discreetly tucked in the back of the shop, the tunnel is available to cyclists of any type — be they professional triathletes looking to perfect their aero tuck or weekend warriors wanting a good bike fit so their back stops hurting. They can get in the tunnel and see just how much drag quotient they create while trying to blaze to new levels of speed. This means that cyclists can go in, buy a bike, get it sized, and then get tested in a true wind tunnel to make sure they are riding that machine as fast as their physiology can possibly make it go. But the wind tunnel service does not come cheaply. Hourly rates start at $599, and the folks at Faster make no bones about the service being for athletes looking to optimize every bit of their ability and for manufacturers to test their latest developments. Either way, there's some cool science happening in the back of that shop and it's worth a trip to take a peek.

Best Bike Rack

Bicycle Cellar

Imagine a place that enables people to commute to work or school by bike, saving loads of cash while improving fitness, by supplying the all-needed showers and safe bike haven while said folks work through the day (or night). One such harbor exists in Tempe, at the city's Transportation Center. Started as an initiative by Tempe to encourage bike commuting, operations of Bicycle Cellar were awarded to Valley cycling stalwarts John Romero and Joseph Perez. They since have turned the room that included little more than a couple of rows of two-tiered racks, lockers, and some showers into a full-fledged, full-service cycling center and retail space. Bicycle Cellar is open seven days with staffed hours from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends. Monthly and annual Cellar members have after-hours (4 p.m. to midnight) access to lock up or retreive their bikes and use the facilities, with rates starting at $35 a month for bike storage. Cellar also has a wide array of bikes for rent, and its location near Tempe Town Lake, Papago Park, and ASU means that fast, fun riding is close, no matter which direction you head.

Best Bike Lift

Gnar Gnar Tours

Simple physics dictate that in order to descend, one first must ascend. When it comes to cycling, it's widely known that climbing is not for everyone, although many believe that there is no greater descent than a descent earned. For those who fall into the former category and just go for the downhill bomb, Gnar Gnar Tours is your rescue, providing regular shuttle service up South Mountain every Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. So, if you're one of those huckers bounding down National or Geronimo Trails on one of those burly downhiller rigs, a tow to the top with Gnar Gnar may be just what the doctor ordered. Runs up South Mountain cost $5 a trip or $20 for the day, and the shuttle stops at Scorpion Gulch near the park's main gate, the Heard Scout Camp, and Cactus Bikes in Akwatukee. There's also a shuttle service to Black Canyon Trail and up north to Sunrise Ski Resort, for a total heat escape. Bike rentals also are available for those who want to indulge in the torment of South Mountain but are in need of wheels.

Best Bike Escape

Tucson

Outside magazine recently named it the number-one bike town in America. Bicycling Magazine tabbed it number nine. The Old Pueblo may be regarded as Phoenix's little sibling in terms of Arizona's urban centers, but when it comes to cycling, Tucson has the Valley outclassed across the board. The fact that many pro cyclists and triathletes either live or train there in the off-season is proof positive that Tucson is among the very best cycling destinations in the United States, and it's a mere 90 minutes south of Phoenix. Tucson is home to two full-fledged hors categorie mountains (that's the hardest of the hard) in Mount Lemmon and Kitt Peak. The rolling landscape in and around the Tucson Mountains, including the always leg-straining Gates Pass, beckons roadies for miles of top-level riding.

For those craving the dirt, Starr Pass, Fantasy Island, and Bug Springs rank among the best mountain bike trails in the state. Throw in races such as El Tour de Tucson and 24 Hours in El Pueblo, not to mention one of the biggest and fastest group rides in the country in the Saturday Morning Shootout, and it's easy to see why cyclists such as Lance Armstrong, Greg Lemond, Clara Hughes, Tinker Juarez, and Chrissy Wellington have set up shop in Tucson over the years. Multitudes of spas and resorts make high-end off-the-bike recovery very easy, and the town is littered with good, healthy restaurants to keep the fuel levels optimized. Looking for a more official, organized bike retreat? Carmichael Training Systems, one of the leading cycling and endurance-sport coaching and training centers in the world, has an office at the base of the Catalina Mountains and offers an assortment of weeklong camps.

Best Golf Course

Las Sendas Golf Club

With about 200 courses to choose from, this was a tough one, but being that we are suckers for magnificent views and thoughtful holes where sheer power doesn't always win the day, Las Sendas is this year's winner. This gorgeous desert course winds through the Usery Mountains in east Mesa nearly 1,800 feet above sea level, but unless your golf is as beautiful as the scenery, forget posting a decent score. No kidding, you can pretty much check out the entire Valley from the elevated 18th hole, a classic double dog-leg par-5 with water in play. The price is fair for such a treat of a course — as low as about $30 in the summers and about $100 in prime time, after the snowbirds have arrived. Often rated one of the top 10 courses in Arizona by real golfers, as if that matters.

Best Winter Golf Course

Southern Dunes Golf Club

Located about a half-hour southwest of Sky Harbor, on the other side of South Mountain, this sweet public course provides both a "true test" of golf and one of the best bangs for the buck this side of Augusta. The fairways generally are wide and forgiving, a must for our many wayward drives, though the second shots on the par-4s invariably are dicey, with strategically placed deep bunkers that protect the greens like sentries. And those greens, while expansive, undulate like belly dancers, which make dreaded three-putts loom ever possible. Though it's a bit of a schlep for many, the price at this Troon facility is much lower than at fellow courses in Scottsdale, an hour or so north. When the much-higher winter rates kick in, usually around November 1, it still costs "only" about $100 for a round. We do appreciate that we didn't lose even one ball over the 18, on our way to a comfortable 94. That, non-golfers, is eminently mediocre.

Best Summer Golf Course

Talking Stick Resort

It may not be the Valley's most demanding course (actually two 18-hole courses, North and South), but this well-maintained facility on the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, off Loop 101, is perfect for our scattershot game, especially in the summer, when prices drop from $175 to a cool $40 or so. The North Course has a hole, number 12, dubbed the Red Mountain Gambler, and with good reason — there's no easy way to get there other than to hit two almost perfect shots. That is usually above our pay grade. The perfectly sculpted fairways are wide enough to land an airplane on. And absolutely no worries about blasting the little white ball into someone's home, because there are none out there. After the round, the Wildhorse Grille, which sits inside one of Arizona's sweetest resort hotels, also named Talking Stick, is the perfect place to chill with a cold one and some of the best views around.

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