trails

Sometimes, real life eats up more time than it should. Work and other responsibilities nip away at my time until there’s little left over for mountain biking. For weekend days when scooping the cat box, doing dishes and washing the laundry deprives me of some time, I still take solace in the fortress of mountain bike fortitude near my house: The Phoenix Mountain Preserve at Piestewa Peak/Dreamy Draw. I can think of no better way to honor this prime piece of foresight than to tell you about it as part of the inaugural International Blog My Trail Day. The trailhead at the east end of Northern Avenue is about 10 minutes from my house. So when I’m short on time, I can count on Trail 100 and its many offshoots to give me a great workout and even better fun without spending too much time behind the wheel. Typically, my ride starts with: a cruise through a wash a steep, switchbacked hill and a fast, slightly downhill romp through medium-radius turns (marked in purple on the map). Here are some other highlights marked on the map. If you want  a bigger version, e-mail me and it’s yours: Yellow trail – a little-known, slender bit of singletrack. Super-fun! Green trail – a long downhill stretch. You’ll love it, but watch for other people and some occasional rock ledges. Throughout the ride, I’ll encounter everything from super-smooth ribbons of singletrack and stair-stepped rocky nightmares … and a lot of cholla cactuses. How’bout [...]