Planning on being in northern Arizona sometime in February with plenty of spare time on my hands. Looking for suggestions on places to ride.
Thanks in advance

I'm most familiar with the northwest, especially near the Bullhead City, AZ / Laughlin, NV area. I pissed away my ill-spent youth in that area on foot, on bike and on gas-powered off-road vehicles. Just make damn sure you've got enough water and food for a bike ride in the desert. It may be February, but that doesn't mean you won't get hot, hungry and dehydrated. Oh, and make sure you have enough cajones to brave the wildlife. You won't hear them, you won't see them and you won't smell them, but they're out there, Scully. They're out there.

The question is: on or off road? If it's off-road, do not under any circumstances go alone. If this is your first time biking the desert, take someone more experienced with you. Make sure you have at least four extra tubes and two extra folding tires. And be carefull of whose land you're on. The homesteaders out in the desert are very territorial. I don't mean to make it sound like the wild-wild-west, but the desert is not a patient teacher. Make sure you have an up-to-date map that includes designations of public and private land.

If it's on-road, your choices are only narrowed by your level of road and traffic comfort. Do some online searches for Sedona, redrock, Cottonwood, and Prescott. Those should get you going on a wealth of information on some beautiful northern AZ country. And remember, just because you're on the road, doesn't mean you're not out in the desert.

Man, I envy you. I miss those rides.

Sedona has numerous mountain bike trails with slickrockc similar to Moab. You can get guides at any bike shop in Flagstaff or Sedona. Flagstaff has a nice ride heading out past Mormon Lake down to Clint's well. If you want to ride at the Grand Canyon much of the rim road is closed to cars most of the year and would make a great ride I think (still have to do that one) only caveat is you have to let the shuttle buses pass when they come up behind you. The road around Sunset Crater to the Wupatki ruins and back up the highway to the Sunset Crater makes a nice 50 mile loop I am told (I have ridden parts of it but never done the whole loop as I didn't start biking really seriously until I moved away from Flagstaff).

Oops, just noticed you said February. Hmmm, You might be able to do Sedona assuming you catch it between storms. Other than that much of Northern Arizona is extremely cold and snowpacked if you are around Flagstaff or anywhere along the mogollon rim (payson, Ppine, Strawberry, and Showlow). It even snows out on the navajo reservation frequently so you might have trouble in February. Southern Arizona has a lot more riding this time of year and nice temperatures.

Trails around Flagstaff will likely be unridable in February due to snow, and the roads will be icy as well. Sedona might be low enough, but they get snow on occasion also. Sedona is less than an hour from Flag though, so it would be worth it if it is dry out. Otherwise, like Paul L. said, check out southern AZ or the Phoenix area. I am preparing for a rough 70 degree commute home... Don't ask me about my July commutes.

I totally forgot about the snow! Guess that comes with living in the desert instead of the mountains!

Only 70? Forcast high today is 80F. (Of course by the time I ride home it will only be about 75F)

Al