Today I drove from Phoenix to Flagstaff. I think I gained at least 7,000 feet in elevation.

I realize that the HTFU thing to do would be to do that on a bike, but I'm not that ambitious. I'm wondering if the Flagstaff to Phoenix trip, since it's mostly downhill, is a popular trip for AZ roadies. The road, I-17, looks decent, with a nice wide shoulder and the occasional bike route sign. The desert (probably 2/3 of the trip) is a little freaky, since there's virtually nothing for many, many miles, though with a Camelbak and a few water bottles, I think it would be OK on a cool day. The distance is about 120 miles; maybe 130. If I were going to attempt the uphills version of this ride, I'd def plan to stop halfway, probably at Camp Verde.

Anyway, just curious for future reference. I always try to imagine biking most any drive I do. I'm from the Northeast. To me, this looked a lot like Viero's videos of his Furnace Creek 508 ordeals.

That's an interstate . . . they won't let you ride on an interstate.

At one point, there was a Bike Route sign on 17. It said something to the effect that bikes should confine themselves to the shoulder.

check out map my ride, there might be something there. Another route is to go north and go towards the grand cannon.

I had 2 interviews out their with Gore. I wish I would have got the job. Flagstaff is amazing.

. . . not even in Arizona.

Road crews hate cleaning up the mess, what with trying to find the pieces and all.

Oh how I long to be back in Flagstaff...

I spent about 3 weeks in South Flagstaff at one point and I was carless. I did not go all the way to Phoenix but I did take 1-17 for quite a ways about 50 miles past city limits and bikes were allowed. Of course you can't go A&S and take the right lane unless you have a death wish.

I also visited Sedona and that would be a fantastic ride down (I never did it on a bike). I think they even have incense at McDonalds. Sedona is a trip of a town. You definitely have to crystal-up when you go there. Phoenix seems a like tough town to ride.

Not so grasshopper. In AZ you can ride on the berm of the interstates in many areas. Not legal once your get near Phoenix. I was driving down I17 and a guy passes my at over 55 mph on a bike. Asked at the LBS and sure enough, legal. Maybe not too sane, but legal.

I sure wouldn't attempt to ride Bell Road--zero shoulder.

I don't think I-17 would be all that insane--although I admit that the 75 mph speed limit would be a little daunting, since as you might expect, the prevailing speed seems to be around 80-85.

Flagstaff to PHX would be a awesome ride...but not down the interstate! Or to put it another way, why would you want to bypass some of the finest cycling roads in AZ to have traffic with an average speed around 80 mph blowing by you all day?

Flag, Sedona, Jerome, Prescott, Yarnell, Wickenburg and then a few options into town would be a dream ride! Plenty of Hotels and places to eat along the way.

Too much milage for me, but I've ridden enough chunks of it to know it would be fun for someone looking for a good ride in AZ.

And for you MTBers, you can do it on dirt as well! I don't know how to connect the Mormon lake area with Flag (Off road), but Mormon Lake to Cave Creek can be done on nearly all dirt.

I've logged many miles here in AZ. I wouldn't ride on I-17. Legal or not...

Riding the Interstates in Arizona IS legal, unless it specifically states "no bicycles, mopeds", etc.
Have ridden parts of I-10, I-17 and I-19 many times. In places there is no other road options.
This ain't the eastcoast or the midwest; hell we can carry a non-concealed sidearm legally and without a permit. Try that one back east!
As for do-able, have cycled from the Grand Canyon to Nogales Mexico five times in 6 days via
Grand Canyon (south rim), Cameron, Flagstaff, Payson, Globe, Tucson, Nogales. Have done it on our tandem and on a single.
Have cycled the Flagstaf area and down Oak Creek Canyon into Sedona; very do-able.
There's about 6,000 feet elevation gain from Phoenix to the Grand Canyon.
Just have some decent gears and it can be done.

you can ride on the shoulder of an interstate in a lot of places out west. I'm currently in New Mexico, and was surprised to see when I first moved here that bicycles can ride on the interstate, shoulder only. The Santa Fe Century uses a section of the interstate.

That can be done in my home state of Kentucky as well... gotta love Kentucky

A trip up mt lemmon and back down will get you over 7000 feet of climbing (an d descending) and it's only about 60 miles round trip. Much more reasonable than riding on the interstate, I think

Flagstaff to Sedona would be MUCH more scenic. The trip down Oak Creek with the views of the Sedona Red Rock is fantastic. Not a trip you would want to take between Memorial Day and Labor Day as the traffic is heavy when you get near Slide Rock state park (great place to cool off on your ride).

Legally you can only ride I 17 south until you get to Pinnacle Peak Rd. In reality you would want to start riding the frontage roads when you get to Anthem.

If you want to HTFU the ride previously described from Phoenix - Wickenburg - Prescott - Jerome - Sedona - Flagstaff would expose you to less traffic. This would include a ride up and over Mingus Mountain. You would definitely want a camera on this trip...

There is lots of glass and radial tire wire bits on the shoulders of the highways down here (not to mention lots of cactus thorns) you'd want to make sure you have some spare tubes and patches.

I had a feeling when I posted it, not knowing for sure, that some of these "wild west" states might be different. Guess they figure they'll just sit back and let natural selection run it's course.
We're all better off in the long run.