albrt 

I've been working out routes for longer rides in Phoenix, and I think I figured out a nice 50 mile loop from Encanto Park in mid-town to the west and north. Lots of parks along the way for water and bathroom breaks. Is there any interest in an informal 50 mile tune-up ride for the first weekend in November, when the weather starts to get decent again? This would be non-sponsored, non-supported.

albrt 

Hmmm, not an overwhelming response. Oh well, my friends and I are gonna do it anyway. Saturday, November 4. More details TBA.

albrt 

I wonder if it will be below 110 degrees by November 4?

albrt 

Something came up the first weekend in November. Based on the complete lack of responses, I guess I can feel free to change the date. How about the first weekend in December (the week after Thanksgiving)?

Anybody?

Bueller?

diphthong

if it were in the 4th week of january/very beginning of february in tucson, i'd be there since i make it out to tucson every winter. phoenix is just a little too far.
if headed phoenix-way, it's enroute to sedona/flagstaff and generally not stopping in phx/scottsdale unfortunately.

albrt 

Thanks for your interest. I'm mainly trying to spark some communication on this forum among people who live here, but not having much luck.

LarryMelman

This forum never caught on. Almost no one knows it exists, and less than that read it regularly. I might look at it once every year or two.

Here is our club site with over 400 routes and a schedule for most of our club rides. We are a southeast valley club so not many routes in the area you mentioned, although I would be interested in learning more routes on streets with bike lanes using parks that are not full of homeless, which has been a problem for us every time we've tried to do a ride on the west side.

https://ridewithgps.com/organization...o-bicycle-club

albrt 

Thanks for your interest. I will tell the homeless people you said hello.

albrt 

OK, so here's stage 1 of the plan. This is an unsponsored, unsupported, anarchist ride. If you or your bike are not prepared to go 50 miles, you will probably need to call an Uber.

December 2nd, meet at Encanto Park (15th Ave. and Encanto). Start promptly at 8:00 am. 50 mile loop. I expect to finish somewhere around noon, but people can do whatever they want. Do it twice if you want to make it a century.

The basic idea of the route is north on 15th Ave. to Maryland, west on Maryland past the Cardinals stadium, northeast on the New River path, southeast on the Arizona Canal path, south on 12th street, then east back to Encanto Park on Palm/Encanto. It's a little more complicated than that - details to follow.

12th Street is the busiest street, but it shouldn't be too bad on a Saturday. I think I counted 20 or more parks along the way for water and bathroom breaks, so if you're worried about the homeless people in one park just ride on to the next one.

More info soon.

albrt 

Here's the tentative route map.




About half is on bike trails, over 95% is on trails, bike lanes, or designated bike routes. Good chance to see Phoenix area bike infrastructure, such as it is.

RCMoeur 

Looks great. Alas, I will need to be in Fountain Hills for the final Saturday workshop for Recycle Your Bicycle prior to giveaway day on the 9th. Hope the ride goes great.

LarryMelman

One of our club rides rode the Arizona Canal last week, from about Mofford Park to a bit north of Cactus. Word is that the underpasses were clogged with homeless. So be careful.

albrt 

I agree with Larry. This is an urban ride, even though about half of it is on bike trails with no vehicular traffic.

If the sight of a homeless person would send you into a tailspin this is probably not the ride for you. You should probably move to the East Valley and enjoy riding on unprotected bike lanes along 8 lane 50 mph arterial streets through the sprawl from one PF Chang's to the next PF Chang's. The homeless people are invisible from that perspective.

albrt 

LesterOfPuppets

East valley has plenty of good canal paths too.

Besides the tunnels around MetroCenter, I've also occasionally found the Maryland bridge over I-17 clogged with homeless. But NBD, just say hi and ride on by.

albrt 

One time I saw a group on the Maryland bridge that had hauled a whole living room set up there - a big leatherette couch and a TV and everything.

LarryMelman

I doubt you've ever been to the East Valley. And I don't know why it matters.

albrt 

Just got back from pavement marking. Thanksgiving is a great day for an eight hour ride - hardly any traffic.

albrt 

Here is what the pavement markings look like:


All the turns should be marked. The more confusing ones have multiple marks. Straightaways and river/canal paths do not have marks to tell you to keep going, so keep going.

Most of the marks are pretty close to the intersection, so you probably can't rely only on the marks alone if you're riding 20 mph in a tight peloton.

I'll try to post turn by turn directions later tonight.

albrt 

OK, here are the directions:

Start at Encanto Park (N. 15th Avenue and W. Encanto Boulevard)
Right (north) on N. 15th Avenue
Left (west) at the roundabout on Rose Lane
Right (north) on N. 16th Drive
Left (west) on W. Maryland Avenue
Left (south) on N. 21st Avenue around Washington Park
Right (west) on W. Citrus Way
Right (north) on N. 23rd Avenue
Left (west) on W. Maryland Avenue past Grand Ave. overpass
Left (south) on N. 63rd Avenue
Right (west) on W. Missouri Avenue past O’Neill Park
Enter Grand Canal Linear Park
Right (NW) on canal path
Cross over to south side of canal path at W. Bethany Home Rd.
Cross back to north side at stadium bridge
Continue west along Bethany Home alignment under Rt. 101 along sidewalks and bike paths
Right (north) at N. Ball Park Rd.
Cross N. Ball Park Rd. and bear right (north) on New River trail
Follow New River trail NW to Rio Vista Park pedestrian bridge
Right (SE) on pedestrian bridge
Left (NE) on Skunk Creek trail
Enter Paseo Linear Park at 75th Ave. and continue SE
Cross over spillway after 59th Ave before it turns to concrete
Follow middle trail between canal and spillway SE
Follow canal trail SE then east then SE past Rt. 51 tunnel
Sharp right (west) on E. Maryland Avenue
Bear left (south) on N. 18th Street
Left (east) through sidewalk passage at E. Bethany Home Rd.
Right (south) on N. 20th Street
Right (west) on E. Campbell Avenue past Rt. 51 overpass
Bear left at Grand Canal trail and continue westbound
Left (south) over the canal bridge at N. 3rd Avenue
Right (west) at E. Earll Drive
Left (south) at N. 6th Ave.
Continue south through hospital campus to N. 5th Avenue intersection
Cross Thomas and continue south on N. 5th Avenue

3/4 MILE TO GO
IF STRAVA SAYS YOU ARE GOING TO BE SHORT OF YOUR 50 MILE GOAL:
Add a loop up to two miles in the Willo neighborhood
South on 5th Ave., north on 3rd Ave., then back south on 5th Ave.

Right (west) on W. Encanto Boulevard
Encanto Park will be on your right