Southwest - Road bike comparison Tucson, Albuquerque, Prescott

Bikeforums.net is a forum about nothing but bikes. Our community can help you find information about hard-to-find and localized information like bicycle tours, specialties like where in your area to have your recumbent bike serviced, or what are the best bicycle tires and seats for the activities you use your bike for.



PDA
Rebscott
10-22-08, 03:31 PM
Road bikers;

I have one week to enjoy the Southwest with my road bike this winter. Can anyone compare Tucson, Prescott and Albuquerque in terms of safety (paved shoulders etc...), traffic, routes, bike acceptance, bike clubs inclusiveness, scenic back roads, etc...

Any suggestions about where to spend my week will be appreciated. Thanks! Rescott

fuzzbox
10-23-08, 09:32 PM
I'm not sure about Prescott or Albuquerque, but Tucson has a bike friendly community with signs on the road to prove it.
wildcat
10-24-08, 06:01 PM
I'm not sure about Prescott or Albuquerque, but Tucson has a bike friendly community with signs on the road to prove it.

This. Plus Tucson's further south and lower, so the weather might be a little more pleasant for riding.

jonestr
10-25-08, 12:50 AM
Still nice here in Albuquerque. Not a lot of country type road riding, but plenty of rides going on right now. Drivers seem ok and the leaves are turning. Pretty underrated riding here and if it gets cold you can just head south a bit to catch some nice weather.
zonatandem
10-25-08, 09:09 PM
Tucson: live and ride in Tucson for 30 years. Bike friendly. Over 400 miles of bike lanes.
Winter weather very nice, but can be cool in early A.M. Opportunities for lotsa climbing: Mt. Lemmon or Kitt Peak 8,000+ ft. Scenic riding up to Saguaro National Park (there's 2 of them). Smaller towns near Tucson like Catalina, Vail, Oracle, Green Valley.
Tucson and surrounding area about 1 million folks, but bike friendly.
Great bike club with lots of rides scheduled.
website; bikegaba.org
Prescott: much smaller town but getting a bit pricey. You can climb Mingus Mountain on your bike, about 7,000 ft. Not much in bike lanes. Much cooler temps, snow.
website: prescottcycling.org
Albuquerque: only ridden a century there once. Some great climbing. Much cooler temps/snow.

Hope this helps!
arie
10-26-08, 02:31 AM
Tucson: Fully agree to Zonatandem, was riding there a week (April 2007).
Albuquerque. Less bicycle-friendly: traffic, askig the way, pretty rude bus drivers in the 'centre'. A long cycle-path along the Rio Grande; OK. And the adobe 'suburb' Corales is nice AND bicycle-friendly (warning: drive slow and see our village, srive fast and see our judge).
Prescott: don't know. At any case the nearby Sedona-area and Oak Creek Cayon is gorgeous.
Choose for Tucson.
huhenio
10-29-08, 11:22 PM
Albuquerque is great.

Nice and dry .. .warms up after the sun comes up.