shona

What is the road riding around Palm Springs? We are looking for 50-60 miles rides.

diphthong

pretty flat. lots of bike lanes. two fave areas in the coachella valley are the la quinta cove area and the old palm springs area hemmed in
east of palm canyon rd (hwy 111), south of tram road, north of ramon rd. and east of the mountain.

Garfield Cat

Back in 2013 the Tour of California had a stage ride that ended in the Palm Springs area known as the Tramway. I found a You Tube clip on that final ascent finish.

One thing is that this route has no switchbacks and practically straight up with % grades in the double digits. This means your rear cog should be like Alberto Contador's, 11-32. Other thing is the Tram Way road is a private road with two lanes and off to the side is a pedestrian walk way. I see some bikes on the pedestrian path which is paved as well. Since the Tram is a tourist attraction for two reasons: the tram ride and the San Jacinto mountains (hiking), you get a lot of traffic after 8 AM in the weekends. It means you need to do that climb earlier. Coming down is fast and you may want to slow down from time to time because of winds and fast moving traffic by visitors going up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K57lft6kMXE

ryanscottdavis

I'm currently planning a tour through that area so I've been looking into this a lot recently. For a nice climb/decent with some great scenery, try Route 74 - Pines to Palms Highway.

This route is 60 round-trip to a visit-point in the mountains: Pines to Palms Highway - A bike ride in Palm Springs, CA

CeeDotA

This reply is a little late, but if you're still looking, head out to Indio/La Quinta. PS has lots of bike lanes, but keep in mind it's a decent sized city so lots of stop lights and pedestrian/car traffic. Out in Indio, heading south towards the Salton Sea, lots of country roads and little traffic to contend with. You can easily rack up 50-60 miles out there.

shona

Thanks CeeDotA. It's not too late but from other responses it sounds like it is always pretty windy there.

Aubergine 

My parents used to have a snowbird place in Palm Desert, and I don't remember dealing with wind when I was ther. I wasn't riding, but I did a lot of hiking in the hills plus walking wherever I went.

CeeDotA

Wind isn't too bad most days. When there's a storm inland, or if you're on the north side of the 10 freeway are typically when the winds at its worst.

davidv39

I've done the tour de palm springs the last 3 years. The ride is typically around mid February and the wind on this ride is brutal for the first several miles. But when you turn east it becomes a tail wind for a big portion of the 50 mile route. At this point it is a ton of fun picking up some speed with the help of the wind pushing you along.