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.

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!

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.

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?

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.

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