Southwest - Seeking bike-friendly AZ snowbird spot

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indianatrails
09-09-08, 09:35 PM
My snowbird parents are looking for a suitable area in Arizona in which to spend Jan-April. They are hard-core cyclists both for recreation and transportation and of course want someplace warm. The hard part is that they don't want anything with a suburban feel. They want urban or town with bike-friendly access to natural areas. Does any place like this exist? If they would get on a plane, I think I'd just send them to the southern Mediterannean region.


zonatandem
09-09-08, 10:49 PM
Tucson!
Over 440 miles of striped bike lanes and several MUPs (Rillito River Trail).
Active cycling community. Local bike club (Greater AZ Bicycling Ass'n/GABA) holds several rides a week . . . and lotsa snowbirds!

RockyMtnMerlin
09-09-08, 11:24 PM
Tucson!
Over 440 miles of striped bike lanes and several MUPs (Rillito River Trail).
Active cycling community. Local bike club (Greater AZ Bicycling Ass'n/GABA) holds several rides a week . . . and lotsa snowbirds!
And IMHO one of the finest Mexican restaurants (not just northern Mexican/border cuisine - which is great but Mexico offers so much more) around - Cafe Cosa Poca downtown.


indianatrails
09-10-08, 09:53 AM
Thanks, guys, sounds really promising (and yummy). Tucson is what I keep thinking. I've been to some of the outlying Phoenix suburbs and they can be really drab & depressing. I'm just afraid they will get stuck in some nondescript condo (I dunno, maybe "Saguaro Ridge") next to a strip mall ("Saguaro Center").

Any particular areas of Tucson you would recommend?

imartin26
09-10-08, 09:33 PM
Don't know about cycling but there is always Sendona, snowbird heaven and I know they do a few charity rides up there a year so it must have some good cycling.

flagguy
09-10-08, 09:56 PM
Sedona has some fantastic mountain biking! Small enough town that they could pretty much get anywhere on a bike. Beautiful country to look at, but it is pretty pricey. Good weather, although they'll typically get a few days of snow every winter. But lots of sunshine so that the snow will be gone by the next day almost always.

flagguy