Winter South West?

[Adam Alphabet]

Hey guys,

Some years I have trips in mind months in advance, other years I can't think of anything right until the end. First world problems I know.

I'll likely have from November 14th to December 14th or possibly until Christmas off. This is consistent with what I've had off every year. Budget being a constraint this year as I've been fortunate to travel and ride a lot, my plane ticket budget is a little tight so a flight to New Zealand is out of the question. In thinking of keeping it a little closer to home this year, plus I just loved my first experience riding in the desert this year riding the AZT in April the South West sprang to mind.

How likely is touring in New Mexico, Arizona and maybe SoCal at this time?
A few (super rough) ideas I've come up...Locals or people who've ridden segments below please chime in.. Thanks!

*New Mexico: fly into Albuquerque-->Grants-->Divide South towards Hachita-->West to AZ  
OR  GET West (http://www.bikepacking.net/routes/grand-enchantment-trail/)
*Arizona: AZT (How far could I get? Payson? not Lemmon/Oracle I'm guessing) I've only done the first 300 miles so I'm not sure what to expect after that. If Payson.. Head west on Roads to ride the BCT back down towards Phoenix.
Depending on time, Phoenix would be an easy place to fly home from.
*West of AZ:  ?? Time pending could ride up to Las Vegas, easy to fly home from, or stay lower and ride to San Diego? Or just find somewhere to stay in AZ and ride trails until I have to fly home from say Phoenix.

Is this a pipe dream or likely?
Thanks in advance everyone!
Adam.

 

[AZTtripper]

Adam

You'll have short days and cold nights with any of those options. The GET doesn't show much promise as a bike route. For the AZT I would say fly into PHx and then ride south to Oracle, John Shilling does a ride from Phx out to the 24hr race search his blog back in Feb. from 24hr town your really close to Oracle and then the AZT back to Picket Post. Then back thru Phx to pick up the Black Canyon Trail. The BCT is similar to the Gila Canyons of the AZT. Reversing my Flagstone route you could ride all the way to Sedona. It's possible you could catch a dry patch of weather and make this all happen, or it could be a crazy wet winter if this summer is any indication.

Tim

[Adam Alphabet]

Thanks for the info Tim. I knew you'd have something.
The el nino may be a key factor in how things will play out. Cold nights and shorter days are to be expected but being soaked all day and night...I'd sooner stay home and ride!
Thanks for the tip on John's blog. I'll go dig around there as I know he's got a tonne of stuff on there.
I know someone else on here recently asked about touring routes in the South West. Can't remember where that one was posted. I think Joey had some info in there.   

[AZTtripper]

Yep Joey's post got me started thinking of a AZT Old Pueblo 24hr bikepack, Chad's AES https://rockyroad5050.wordpress.com/ ride of Antelope Peak and the Gila 100 get the track from John by PM if he doesn't see this I think he'll have a better way to loop it out of Phx and back around to Picket Post.

As I type this I am also thinking that if you did get to come down some kind of BCT to Sedona, with some pavement bypasses in one direction or the other, might be the ticket. The BCT kinda falls apart at the far north end, goatheads and funky private land issues, but the Mingus Mountain part works. Tour your way up to Sedona, couch surf or camp on the fringes of Sedona for a few days of riding there then just pick up the best parts of the BCT on the way back.

From a local perspective we have to hope you get rained out, sorry.

[Adam Alphabet]

Yep Joey's post got me started thinking of a AZT Old Pueblo 24hr bikepack, Chad's AES https://rockyroad5050.wordpress.com/ ride of Antelope Peak and the Gila 100 get the track from John by PM if he doesn't see this I think he'll have a better way to loop it out of Phx and back around to Picket Post.

As I type this I am also thinking that if you did get to come down some kind of BCT to Sedona, with some pavement bypasses in one direction or the other, might be the ticket. The BCT kinda falls apart at the far north end, goatheads and funky private land issues, but the Mingus Mountain part works. Tour your way up to Sedona, couch surf or camp on the fringes of Sedona for a few days of riding there then just pick up the best parts of the BCT on the way back.

From a local perspective we have to hope you get rained out, sorry.

A few ideas that could seemingly work, weather pending of course, thanks again Tim. I appreciate that you guys need all the precip you can get over the winter. We were held to water usage restrictions for months and this is up on the 'WE(s)T Coast' I couldn't imagine how dry it was down there.

Specific planning aside, overall do you think it'd be reasonable to just get down to AZ in general and link together a months worth of riding whether it's BCT, AZT, day rides in Sedona or Tucson or where ever?

I just want to ride everyday or as close to everyday as possible for a month and have some fun!

[AZTtripper]

If it's not actually storming you can get 80's at xmas. Winter is the best time of year down here, so yeah somehow it should work.

[Adam Alphabet]

If it's not actually storming you can get 80's at xmas. Winter is the best time of year down here, so yeah somehow it should work.

Perfect! Just what I was hoping to hear. Surely there's a reason Arizona still has a hockey team. A bunch of Canadians flying south for half the year to escape the cold and wet couldn't be wrong...

[AZTtripper]

Canadian's, Alaskan's, snowbirds from the NE Tucson's population makes a big jump as temps drop.

[evdog]

Hey Adam,

As mentioned el nino could make things wet this winter.  Sounds like you were planning to fly down and then do a single tour, but you could also consider driving down instead of flying.  I drove home to BC from SD two years in a row for the holidays, there is plenty of riding you can do along the way to break up the drive and the cost should be comparable or less than flying.  Given uncertainty over the weather this would give you the flexibility to relocate easily to avoid rain and you could do a few shorter bikepacks rather than a long one. 

There are plenty of options for that - Death Valley, Joshua Tree-Palm Springs, Anza-Borrego, Stagecoach400, TDLP, So/Norcal coast, Owens valley, Kernville, AZT, Tucson, Phx, etc.  I did the Queen's Ransom/Salty Gila bikepack around Phx with John last winter and it is a great route as well. It is very likely you'd be able to get some good riding in among all these locations even if the weather isn't ideal.

Evan     

[Adam Alphabet]

Thanks for the heads up Evan.
I've been in touch with John, he's given me a tonne of stuff to go over. I was thinking about driving down and living out of my car as I've got a set up for that but I wouldn't ride as much as if I only brought my bike and was forced to pedal. Plus I just like to leave all that behind; phone, car, comforts and just roll for a month. Helps me reset for the upcoming year.

Fingers crossed the weather will be decent enough, I should be able to get some good action in. If I get holed up somewhere for a few days, well that's the way she goes sometimes. If the weather really goes south there's always a greyhound to New Orleans where I've got some buds!

[chrisx]

About 7 years ago I a considered spending December in Arizona and checking out the AZT.
At the last minute I checked out an elevation chart, and decided I did not want to be so cold.
So.
I pedaled from San Diego down to La Paz Baja California Sur.

It is a different world.
There are a lot of old Spanish missions In those hills.  Searching for the missions above Santa Rosalia, Mulege, and Loreto, takes a cyclist through some interesting canyons.

[chrisx]

A bicycle wanderer kindly posted a link to a blog which  includes a some Baja adventures
http://spokeandwords.com/leaving-la-paz/
Do consider 26 inch wheels.

[Adam Alphabet]

Thanks for the idea Chris. I've thought about heading down the Baja peninsula on more than one occasion. It's definitely a trip I've got on my short list for the coming years! I'm pretty pumped on AZ this time around. Is that a link to your trip? I did a quick scan, looked really fun!

[chrisx]

Not my blog, no.
I asked about Oaxaca and Chiapas here.
http://www.bikepacking.net/forum/trip-planning-need-a-partner/oaxaca-chiapas-guatemala/
And got that blog for an answer.

National Geographic has maps of Baja California North, and Baja California Sur.
http://shop.nationalgeographic.com/ngs/product/maps/travel-and-hiking-maps/adventure-world-maps/baja-california-adventure-map-pack
You should be able to get from Tecate too La Paz without more than 20 or 30 miles on the narrow MX1.

Listen to those guys about El Nino.  Wet sand can turn a 3 day ride into a 10 day ride.