Riding SoAZ Part III (NW Tucson)
July 28th, 2010 | 
Author: View Tucson Mtn Park in a larger map
This is a combination of Tucson Mountain Park and Saguaro National Park-West. It you like hiking, it is a wonderful area, representing many miles of trails.
About halfway along Kinney, you’ll intersect Gates Pass Blvd, which is the most challenging of the roads through the park, particularly on the west side of the pass itself. I think most people get to Gates Pass from Speedway Blvd. Speedway actually becomes Gates Pass when you cross Camino de Oeste Road. (Here’s where it happens.)
The final road road through the park is Picture Rocks. It is short but is another important part in shorter, scenic loops around the west side. Advisory – if you are riding east on Picture Rocks, there is a downhill, decreasing radius, left hand sweeper which we like to call “Scooter Killer Curve.” It’s 3-4 curves after you crest the hill and is responsible for at least two scooter crashes of which I am aware.
Just north of Picture Rocks, we reach the northwest corner of our “Tucson Square.” As previously mentioned, it is here that you will find the Marana Regional Airport. There is another nice little diner here as well. I thinks it’s called Rick’s and they don’t have a webpage. Feel free to add a comment if I’m wrong on either count. There are two nice little roads to turn back to the east from here; Avra Valley Road, which is in front of the airport and is the most direct route to I-10 and Twin Peaks Road which is about 2 miles south on Sandario.
Twin Peaks becomes Silverbell and is a good way to return to Tucson proper. In the near future, Twin Peaks will cross I-10 and will connect to Camino de Marana, but construction is still underway.
I-10 is a major feature on the west side of town. This far north, there aren’t a lot of options to get over or under it. There is, however, a nice frontage road that runs along its length. Be advised, though, that there is a lot of construction around Marana to widen I-10 and make more overpasses so the frontage road stops and starts in different sections, depending on where they are working at the time. To cross I-10 from this far north, your options are Tangerine, which is about 2 miles north of Avra Valley via I-10 or the frontage road which is 2-way and runs on the west side of the interstate. Your other option is to take Silverbell south to Cortaro Farms or a bit further to Ina Rd.
All three of these roads will eventually take you to Oracle Road (our eastern border of the west side if you remember all the way back to the 5th paragraph of the previous post.) Riding around this entire area is fun. There aren’t a lot of destinations or particularly hilly or remarkably twisty roads but it is picturesque. You cannot ride into the Santa Catalina mountains from this part of town either. There is a lot of fun to be had here with smaller displacement bikes, particularly 50cc’s. I encourage you to ride out here and just wander around the various roads. The northwest area is still sparsely populated, so, like the southwest section, there isn’t a lot of traffic here either.
Advisory - When riding on the smaller roads, particularly in hilly areas, be aware of washes. DO NOT attempt to cross them if they are running with water. Also, if it has rained recently there may be sand and rocks in the road. Like this:
Oracle Road is also Route 77 when you’re going north and is the non-interstate gateway to Phoenix as well as Globe and Northern AZ. Stay tuned for a future segment about Route 77 and its potential. Oracle southbound returns you to the downtown area.
No discussion of this part of town is complete without a mention of Roller Coaster Road. Roller Coaster starts on the west side of Oracle about a half-mile south of Orange Grove. I have included Roller Coaster on a couple of group rides. As the name implies, it has a series of short, sharp twists, turns, drops and climbs. It’s worth the time it takes to ride it but alas and alack only the first mile has the great twisties.
Ride Maps in the west side:
- Gates Pass Loop, around through Picture Rocks, past “Scooter Killer Curve.” If you’re a novice rider, do this loop counter clockwise. Both Scooter Killer Curse and Gates Pass are easier this way. Go clockwise when you want a bot more of a challenge. It includes the McCain Loop behind the Desert Museum.
- Mission Loop – 44 miles and takes you past San Xavier and over Gates Pass. It includes Camino de Oeste where you get to see this:
- Starr Pass, “A” Mountain Loop – 20 miles, Good for novices and 50cc bikes. There are great views from both Starr Pass and Sentinel Peak. This route also takes you by Pat’s Drive-in where you’ll find great chili-dogs.
- Double Airfield Loop – 90 mile loop, great for novice riders interested in a longish ride. This map includes Roller Coaster Road as a finale.
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Riding SoAZ Part II (SW Tucson)
This makes an area roughly 45 miles east-west and 30 miles north-south. That’s over 1300 square miles! For anyone reading this who is not familiar with ”the wild west,” space has never been an issue here, so we use a lot of it. As you can imagine, this provides for a lot of riding areas without even leaving the general Tucson area. I’ll bet that even some folks from Tucson didn’t realize that the city was this big.
Obviously, there are lots of just ordinary city streets on which to ride. Residential streets are a great way to get to know your city, but for the most part, I am going to ignore them. I will, however, discuss those streets which are scenic, fun, or otherwise noteworthy.
In order to discuss riding distances and times, we must have a common point of reference. I looked at the square created by my previously mentioned boundaries, and I believe that the University of Arizona, specifically, the intersection of Speedway Blvd and Campbell Avenue, (HERE) represents the approximate center. Also, it is easy to find for anyone new to the area. Therefore, this is the point I will use as the starting location for all rides mentioned when discussing Tucson rides.
I’m going to start with the west side of town. Why? Because that’s where I most recently went riding and I’ve got some decent pics of the area. Once again, please allow me to create my own definition of “the west side.” I had originally thought about using just that part west of I-10, but I am, instead, going to move my dividing line eastward, to Oracle Road and then I-19 as you go south. Okay? Okay.
View Reference Point in a larger map
The west side is a little short on twisting, turning roads, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t ANY twisties, nor does it mean that there aren’t some beautiful rides. There are some of each. There are also some very scooter friendly routes that are ideal for traversing the city from north to south and back again.
Let’s start in the southwest corner of our defined area. In that area is San Xavier del Bac.
As you can see by the map, you get to San Xavier using Mission Road. Mission is a great west side road with which to be familiar. South of San Xavier, it becomes a bit twisty and eventually ends in Green Valley. It’s a scenic way to get there and you avoid having to ride on I-19. North of the mission, you go into Tucson just west of downtown and, if you turn west onto Congress St, you end up on Silverbell Rd, which will take you all the way to our northern boundary along a path which parallels I-10. For those on smaller displacement bikes or those who just don’t like riding/driving the freeway through cities, Mission-Silverbell is a great way to cross Tucson when going north-south.
Near the spot where Congress and Silverbell merge is the entrance to a Tucson landmark, Sentinel Peak Park or “A” Mountain. Visible from much of the city, it has a large “A” on the side of it. 
The is a one-way road that wraps around it and, from there, you can get great views like this:
The next road of note is Valencia Rd. Valencia run east-west across much of the city, making it a good way to traverse Tucson on the south side. I have found much of it to be in need of repair, however, so be prepared to have your teeth rattle a bit. It has also been my experience that people tend to drive well over the speed limit on Valencia as well, so be prepared. I have used Valencia west of Mission on a couple of group rides as a way of avoiding the busier section of Ajo Way. Valencia intersects with Ajo at Ryan Airfield.
Ryan Airfield is on the western border of our Tucson “square.” Ryan Field is another good destination for those interested in a short outing. It is less than 20 miles and is about 30 minutes from our start point. (Map) While there you can observe small planes taking off and landing and you can enjoy some tasty food at Todd’s Restaurant located at the airport. Ajo Highway, aka Route 86, is the gateway to western AZ which will be covered in another segment.
** Please note that I don’t receive any compensation from any of the businesses/restaurants that I have mentioned or will mention in this piece. There are many great places that won’t get mentioned and I apologize to them. **
Another important road is Sandario Road. Sandario starts about 2 miles west of Ryan Field. It runs due north and ends at Marana Regional Airport. That’s 20 miles. Sandario is a great north-south road to use to cross the city and it’s a beautiful drive. It’s almost perfectly straight, but it has a lot of rolling hills and the desert scenery is beautiful. Another nice thing is that there isn’t a lot of traffic. There are a lot of horse properties out here as well, for those who have equestrian interests. There is gas available where Sandario intersects Picture Rocks Rd.
Riding Southern Arizona (SoAZ) Part I
As I mentioned in my previous post, I’ve decided to write a bit about riding in Southern Arizona (SoAZ). SoAZ has (in my opinion) some of the best 2-wheeled riding areas in these United States. I am writing this as a general piece about riding 2-wheeled vehicle here. You must decide for yourself if each individual ride is appropriate for your particular scooter or motorcycle. At times, I will specifically mention if an area is “50cc friendly” or if you must ride at highway speeds, etc.
So what or where is “Southern Arizona?” According to Wikipedia, SoAZ is generally considered to be the part of the state “south of the Gila River.” I am going to create my own definition. For the purposes of these posts, SoAZ consists of Pima, Cochise and Santa Cruz Counties. Not coincidentally, this is the part of the state where you will find the “Sky Islands” The namesake of our club.
To make it easier to write about clear geographical areas, I will further subdivide SoAZ into four areas. The first area is the Tucson metro area. The next area is everything west of a not-so-straight lined formed by Interstates 10 and 19. (See the second map.) Area number three is that part east of the I-10/19 line and north of that section of I-10 east of Tucson. (You have to look at the map. I-10 runs east/west when it’s east or Tucson, then turns kind of northeast when it’s west of Tucson.) The final area I will write about will in the southeastern corner of the state, south of Interstate 10.
There will be some who will wonder “Why doesn’t he include Phoenix?” There are a few reasons.
- One – I’m the one writing this.
- Two – Arizona has three major cities: Tucson in the south, Phoenix in the central part and Flagstaff in the north.
- Three – Look at the map above. Using two (imaginary) horizontal lines, divide the state into thirds. Phoenix, at least the way I see it, is at the extreme southern edge of the central zone.
- Four – The southern zone is characterized by low desert dotted by numerous, very small mountain ranges. Some of these are quite high in elevation.
Harsh desert punctuated by mountains
As you leave Pima county, going north, the landscape begins to change. The tiny mountain ranges spread out and as you go north of Phoenix you be climbing onto some high plateaus. There is more water.
The Salt River runs through Phoenix.
Further north, AZ looks a lot like Colorado. See there, three general geographic “zones” of Arizona.
Pine trees and snow-capped peaks
There are, indeed, many great riding areas in the other two regions of Arizona. They are, however, someone else’s responsibility. I live in SoAZ and I grew up here. I have visited the other areas, but have limited experience, virtually none on two wheels. as “they” always say, “write what you know. I know SoAZ.
I am really looking forward to writing this. It looks like this will be a five part series, with this introduction being Part I. One of my early goals for this site was to have part of it be a reference for people coming here who want to ride. I guess the Live traffic Feed was my inspiration.
Howard
Club ride to the desert San Xavier del Bac mission
We Are Not Alone!
Have you noticed the new bar on the lower left hand side of this, our home page? It’s called “Live Traffic Feed.” See it? It’s there on the left ….. a little lower ….just scoll down and check it it out then come back here. I’ll wait ……. Welcome back. The traffic feed shows us the location of people who visit our site. Sometimes it indicates how they got here and sometimes it shows what specific tab they checked out. Mostly it shows where they are from.
I check it out a lot. In the past couple of weeks we have had visitors from as far away as Israel and Leicester, England. Quite few US states have been represented as well. I find this kind of exciting. I mean, I know the internet is worldwide, but I never really think of people coming to our little local site.
ATTENTION VISITORS! If you are visiting our site from out of states or out of country, we would sure appreciate you input or comments. We have added a “Guestbook” tab at the top of this page. Please let us know a little bit about how you got here and what you checked out. What would you like to see here. More ride maps? More photos? I you don’t want to use the guestbook, feel free to just add a comment to this post. Thank you, in advance.
I am thinking that some of our visitors may be planning on visiting southern Arizona and want to know a little bit about scooting here. Using this assumption, my next post will be about what it is like to ride southern AZ.
Take the time to check out the traffic feed when you surf by the homepage. It’s educational and enlightening.
Howard
Onward, in to Summer
Summers can be harsh, here in Tucson. I know more than a few riders who see 2 riding seasons here. One is from March to May and the other is from September to mid-November. They see it as too cold in the winter and too hot in the summer. A friend of mine from Missouri said this about riding through Arizona one summer: “It’s like riding in a blast furnace.” Put our low humidity along with the force of the wind on you when you are riding 50-60mph and he is about right.
So, if you are going to ride in the summer, please ride prepared:
- Keep yourself hydrated. Don’t just add an extra glass or two as you leave the house. Drink something at every stop. When you get home, rehydrate. How do you know when you’ve had enough? Your urine should be a pale yellow, not dark yellow or orange. ( Sorry, that’s my nurse showing.)
- Dress appropriately. If you wear armor, get mesh or something that breathes well for summer use.
- Keep your cool. If you were at this year’s rally, one of the items in your rally bag was a “cool tie.” If you are out in the heat for long periods, this thing can literally save your life. Hydrate it and wear it as you ride. The other thing you can do is to periodically, pour some water down your neck, enough to go into your shirt. As the water evaporates, it will cool you.
- Timing. When possible, do your riding early in the morning, or in the evening after it begins to cool off a bit.
- Prepare. If you are riding out of town, make sure you have extra water on board. Some folks like to wear “camel-backs.” What ever it takes, but have some water with you.
- Protect. Carry some sunscreen with you, especially if you are riding out of town or if you will be at an event for a couple of hour. Nothing says “ouch!” quite like pulling a riding jacket on over a sunburn.
- Maintain. Make sure everything on your scooter is in good running order. Tires, brakes, cooling system (if you have one) all need regular maintenance.
- Routes. You might want to change your usual riding route and take advantage of residential streets that have some shade from trees.
Riding in the heat of summer can certainly be uncomfortable, but it doesn’t have to keep you off the road. Being stopped in traffic can be particularly hot, especially if you get caught be behind a bus.
Be careful, but enjoy the ride. Even if it’s hot, it’s still better than being trapped in a “cage.”
Howard
