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Yesterday I decided to try the around the McDowell Mountains double-bypass, starting from my house along Quartz. I've ridden up and over Sunrise and Windgate before, but never connected the two on the Fountain Hill side, and in readying for the quad, decided yesterday should be the day to at least familiarize myself with the entire route.
I followed the route described by Walt, using the Jeep road to get to Ringtail off the top of Taliesan. In my opinion, that's a harder way to get to Sunrise than just going down Lost Dog. Sure you join Sunrise at a higher elevation, but the Jeep road takes more effort to get to the same spot. Of course, it's not all about what's easiest, right?
Going up Sunrise, the somewhat limited riding I've done the last 2 weeks was noticeable. I actually walked a short stretch between the 2 saddles. Sheesh. I think I arrived at the bottom of Sunrise in just under 2 hrs, which wasn't horrible, but certainly wasn't fast.
I then found the dirt road (does this have a name?) that leads away from the Hidden Hills subdivision, and headed north. At this point, I was riding unfamiliar "trail", just hoping to eventually find/see the right spot to go toward. When the dirt road dumped my out in the Eagle's Nest subdivision, I thought it was the case that Dixie Mine started on the far north side, so I began scouting for it. At a T intersection, I headed uphill looking for Dixie Mine, when I should have headed down hill, which cost me some distance/time/effort, but eventually I did find Dixie Mine.
Dixie Mine surprised me. It's not as technical as riding Pass Mountain, but it's somewhat close. Rather similar terrain, with the repetitious up and down, while gradually ascending. What surprised me most, was that the Parks and Rec folks actually built a true single track, with some technical in it.
Once Dixie Mine arrived at Coachwhip, I was on familiar trail again, and painfully made it to the top of Windgate Pass. There was more hike-a-bike in it for me coming up the back side of Windgate, but all-in-all it wasn't terrible.
Coming down Windgate I decided to hop over via Gateway. That required more hike-a-bike, but I figured it was a pay-me-now vs. pay-me-later scenario, and I like the descent from the top of Gateway.
In total, it was 25 miles and 5 hrs for the round trip. That was a few miles further and an hour longer than I was expecting. And it definitely opened my eyes up to what the quad is going to be like. As cool and moist as it was yesterday, I was able to sip my 100 oz Camelback such that it lasted until I reached Gateway. For the quad, I'll definitely need more water and more food (somehow I didn't have any food in my pack, which I regretted when I realized how close to bonking I was at the start of Coachwhip).
I followed the route described by Walt, using the Jeep road to get to Ringtail off the top of Taliesan. In my opinion, that's a harder way to get to Sunrise than just going down Lost Dog. Sure you join Sunrise at a higher elevation, but the Jeep road takes more effort to get to the same spot. Of course, it's not all about what's easiest, right?
Going up Sunrise, the somewhat limited riding I've done the last 2 weeks was noticeable. I actually walked a short stretch between the 2 saddles. Sheesh. I think I arrived at the bottom of Sunrise in just under 2 hrs, which wasn't horrible, but certainly wasn't fast.
I then found the dirt road (does this have a name?) that leads away from the Hidden Hills subdivision, and headed north. At this point, I was riding unfamiliar "trail", just hoping to eventually find/see the right spot to go toward. When the dirt road dumped my out in the Eagle's Nest subdivision, I thought it was the case that Dixie Mine started on the far north side, so I began scouting for it. At a T intersection, I headed uphill looking for Dixie Mine, when I should have headed down hill, which cost me some distance/time/effort, but eventually I did find Dixie Mine.
Dixie Mine surprised me. It's not as technical as riding Pass Mountain, but it's somewhat close. Rather similar terrain, with the repetitious up and down, while gradually ascending. What surprised me most, was that the Parks and Rec folks actually built a true single track, with some technical in it.
Once Dixie Mine arrived at Coachwhip, I was on familiar trail again, and painfully made it to the top of Windgate Pass. There was more hike-a-bike in it for me coming up the back side of Windgate, but all-in-all it wasn't terrible.
Coming down Windgate I decided to hop over via Gateway. That required more hike-a-bike, but I figured it was a pay-me-now vs. pay-me-later scenario, and I like the descent from the top of Gateway.
In total, it was 25 miles and 5 hrs for the round trip. That was a few miles further and an hour longer than I was expecting. And it definitely opened my eyes up to what the quad is going to be like. As cool and moist as it was yesterday, I was able to sip my 100 oz Camelback such that it lasted until I reached Gateway. For the quad, I'll definitely need more water and more food (somehow I didn't have any food in my pack, which I regretted when I realized how close to bonking I was at the start of Coachwhip).
