Spin your wheels delightfully in the Old Pueblo
Tucson: A biker's joy
By Sarah Mauet
smauet@azstarnet.com
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 09.21.2006
Tucson has miles of commuter-friendly bike lanes, challenging road climbs and thrilling singletrack trails. Throw in moderate winter temperatures, stunning scenery and more than 300 days of sunshine each year and you get a bicycler's paradise. It's no wonder Tucson is a nationally touted cycling destination. But while pro racers head to town to train each winter, our one-of-a-kind cycling community is active year-round.
ON-ROAD
Bicycling Magazine called the Old Pueblo the "vibrant heart of the Southwest bike scene." Need proof? Head over to University Boulevard any Saturday morning — you'll probably feel embarrassed if you're not wearing spandex.
As many as 200 of the shaved-leg set have showed up for the popular weekly ride, said Fair Wheel Bikes owner Ralph Phillips, who has been organizing morning rides several days a week for about 33 years.
"There's a culture here — hundreds and hundreds of people cycle here," he said. "There are more and more people every year. You used to be able to count the number of cyclists on two hands and a foot, and now there are thousands."
Tucson's Greater Arizona Bicycling Association, a 25-year-old nonprofit bike advocacy and riding group, has more than 1,600 members (about 600 actively taking part in the dozens of day rides and multiday tours offered each month).
The spandexed masses turn out each November for El Tour de Tucson, the country's largest perimeter bicycling event. Last year's event drew more than 8,000 riders and raised $216,000 for Tu Nidito Children and Family Services. Around 8,500 riders are expected this year for the 24th annual event, said Scott Shipman, public-affairs director for Tucson's Perimeter Bicycling Association of America.
ROAD WARRIORS
Pedaling is the default transportation method for many UA students, but Tucson also has dedicated bike commuters. The 1.7 percent of Tucsonans who bicycle to work include riders such as Steve Wilson, who has commuted on and off since 1994. This year he has cycled the 32-mile round trip every day.
"It's a great way to be fit," said Wilson, who only uses his car for grocery shopping. "I like the idea of integrating exercise into what you do. It's good for the environment, and it encourages others to commute."
GOLD RATING
The historic cycling advocacy group the League of American Bicyclists encourages better facilities for cyclists through its Bicycle Friendly Communities Program. This year the league awarded Tucson and the Pima Eastern Region a gold rating. It's the first time an entire region — not just a city — received that designation.
"It's really a fantastic honor," said Matt Zoll, manager of the Pima County Department of Transportation's Bicycle and Pedestrian Program. "It shows how all the jurisdictions have pulled together and done some great work."
And it's spurred even more, he said. Pima County and the city of Tucson recently announced the $600,000 "Share the Streets" bike and pedestrian safety campaign.
There are also additional benefits to being known as a bike-friendly community.
"We get some national recognition, and we get more tourism and investment in the community by people wanting to move here or vacation here," Zoll said. "That can bring some really positive benefits."
CYCLING DESTINATION
GABA President Tony Everett gets calls from cyclists around the country wanting to ride in the Old Pueblo. In fact, GABA's Great Arizona Bicycle Adventure, which will traverse the state Sept. 30-Oct. 7, will include 119 riders from 28 states and two foreign countries.
El Tour is a similar draw, with about 40 percent of the riders coming from out of state, Shipman said. Past racers have included Olympic and pro-level cyclists such as Lance Armstrong.
But it's during winter after El Tour that many road racers come to Tucson's training grounds.
"Many pro cyclists come out," Shipman said, "and once they discover it they keep coming back."
Last year, three-time Canadian Olympian Gord Fraser started a cycling camp here. Fraser now lives in Tucson and has trained here since 1991. According to his Web site, "he credits his successful progress through the amateur and professional ranks to the year-round cycling environment that Tucson provides."Â Â
OFF-ROAD
Tucson's fat-tire fanatics never have to go far for prime mountain biking — the city is surrounded by mountains, each with unique trail systems. While the desert does present its challenges — cactus-lined trails, sheer rock faces, sandy washes and paths strewn with baby heads (annoyingly large rocks) — it also has stretches of rolling singletrack through beautiful landscapes with breathtaking views. Seeing all that is part of the joy of riding here, said Mark Flint, a Sonoran Desert Mountain Bicyclists board member and advocate.
"Tucson has outstanding mountain biking," he said. "It's as good as it gets anywhere in a desert environment. It's desert riding, which has more technical challenges and more natural hazards with the rocks and the cactus, but if you can ride the hard stuff in Tucson, you can ride anywhere."
You don't have to be an expert to ride here. In addition to advocating responsible riding and land management, SDMB organizes regular group rides and beginner riding classes.
"You don't have to bleed when you ride a mountain bike," said Martha Lemen, who teaches the "Mountain Biking 101" class. "It's not what you see on the X Games."
But we do have enough daredevil downhills to draw appreciative enthusiasts. SDMB Chairman David Barger has received calls from riders who are coming to Tucson from all over the country and as far away as Finland. And many professional mountain bike racers use Tucson as a training ground.
"In the winter, literally the best cyclists in the world are here in Tucson," said Todd Sadow, president of Tucson-based race organizer Epic Rides.
24-HOUR RACING
When Sadow started the annual 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo race seven years ago, it was only the fifth 24-hour bike race nationwide and, with 170 racers, it was the largest of any inaugural 24-hour race, he said.
There are now more than 55 similar races in North America, and our local event is the largest, drawing pro racers and riders from all over the world. The festival-like event last February drew around 3,000 volunteers and spectators and 1,350 riders (many doing the race relay style). The event, like all Epic Rides events, is also a fundraiser for local charities.
"We stand out because we cultivate the local community," Sadow said. "The fundraising component is local. Our third-party vendors are local. We do our best to keep everything local."
CYCLING COMMUNITY
Because mountain bikers hit the trails instead of the motorways, they tend to be a little less visible — literally — than road cyclists.
But local mountain bikers became a lot more noticeable this year when the state of Arizona considered selling land on Tucson's Southeast Side that includes part of the Fantasy Island trail system. The riders, fearing the trail system would be developed unless it was protected as a park, attended planning meetings and spoke out. There were between 150 to 200 people wearing red shirts and supporting mountain biking at one meeting, Barger said.
Protection is not yet guaranteed, but in May the Tucson City Council voted unanimously to work with the state to preserve the area. In the meantime, the Fantasy Island controversy has had another definite effect: "More people are using it than ever," Barger said.
ARIZONA TRAIL
The March issue of National Geographic Adventure magazine highlighted the Arizona Trail, a continuous 800-mile trail from Mexico to Utah.
The trail is 90 percent completed, and local volunteers hope to finish building the 25-mile section just east of Tucson known as the Cienega Corridor by May. Sadow thinks the Arizona Trail will have an allure similar to that of other epic trails.
"There's heavy traffic on it in the summer," he said of the Appalachian Trail. "Ours is going to be a fall/winter trail. The Arizona Trail is going to be extremely appealing to people worldwide because they can come in the off-season."
They help make Tucson a two-wheeler haven
There's much more to Tucson 's cycling community than just, well, cycling. There's the cycling culture — the people who perpetually have one pant leg rolled up and a messenger bag slung across their chest. There also are the aficionados who create bicycles that look like works of art, and others who create art out of bicycles. Here's a look at some of the people and organizations that make Tucson a two-wheeler haven.
GABA Bike Swap Meet
When: 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Nov 11.
Where: North Fourth Avenue between Sixth and Ninth streets.
Info: www.bikegaba.org or 323-9020.
Twice a year Tucson's Greater Arizona Bicycling Association (GABA) hosts the largest free bicycle swap meet in the state.
"It's the biggest nonride cycling event in Arizona," said Greg Yares, GABA swap meet coordinator.
The swap meet started in the late '80s as an event for GABA members and has grown to be a public event with a festival-like atmosphere. There's no official count, but Yares estimates that the event draws between 3,000 to 5,000 bike enthusiasts from all over the Southwest.
About 100 vendors from all over the region come, but anyone can set up a booth or table — as long as it's bike-related. People just selling one bicycle can put a for-sale sign on it and walk around with it.
It's a great community-building event in a great cycling town, Yares said, and the best part is getting to spend time with people you usually just see while riding.
"Usually you see your friends dressed like superheroes with wraparound sunglasses and spandex," he laughed, "and here you can see them dressed normally and socialize. It's a fun community event."
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Bicycle Inter-Community Art and Salvage
Where: 44 W. Sixth St.
Info: 628-7950 or bicas.org.
Bicycle Inter-Community Art and Salvage (BICAS) is a nonprofit community organization that promotes education, art and a healthy environment through bike advocacy and recycling. It also encourages empowerment though bicycle-based services and opportunities for those in need.
"Our motto is: helping people help their bikes," said Ignacio Rivera de Rosales, a BICAS board member and a Pima County Bicycle and Pedestrian program educator.
More than 500 people a month stop by to work on their bikes, he said. People can take a one-time bike maintenance class or an eight-class series where students get to build their own bikes with BICAS parts and tools at the end. There are more funky personalized townies than shiny trophy bikes at the regular group rides. There are community tools, art classes and a work-trade program where people can help out at the center in exchange for credit to spend at BICAS.
There's also a bike-in movie and community ride the last Saturday of each month in which 20 to 40 aficionados ride through Downtown and the Fourth Avenue area and then watch a movie projected on the side of a building next to BICAS' hip basement warehouse location.
"It's wonderful," said Steve Wilson, who went to his first bike-in movie in August. "It's not like the normal rides you do. It's a cultural experience."
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But wait, there's more . . .
• Serious cyclists from the world over also seek out Andy Gilmour, who has been handcrafting custom frames and bicycles for 30 years. His Gilmour Tandem competed in the Athens Olympics. www.gilmourbicycles.us.
• Innovations in Cycling Inc. develops the world's leading line of CO2-powered tire inflation products for the cycling and motorsports industry. www.genuineinnovations.com.
• BICAS has classes and workshops for people making bicycle-based art, some of which gets auctioned in a fundraiser to benefit BICAS in November. Check out some of these works of art at www.bicas.org.
• City High School offers a bicycling class for credit as part of its arts and fitness elective offerings. A dozen students take the class each semester and have ridden in races such as El Tour de Tucson and the Tour of the Tucson Mountains.
• Doug Horner named his store Ordinary Bike Shop after ordinaries — the bikes with the huge front wheel and tiny back wheel that ruled the roads in the late 1800s. When you visit his store, which is just off Fourth Avenue at 311 E. Seventh St., you'll see several high-wheelers on display. You can sometimes catch manager Arlo Todd riding the purple ordinary to lunch.
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