Desert 600 Description
This series of events is intended as a "warm" season series for the desert. The mountains can be extremely cold during overnight and early/late riding, so let's just stay where the weather is nice. This series has replaced the previous "Around the Bend" events due to traffic increases along the old route. Google now routes drivers to Rocky Point, MX on the roads we once traveled. So, here are our new offerings.
The basis of the routes is the Desert Loop 400k. On the 400k, we will circumvent the entire "Valley of the Sun" while visiting some of the most popular cycling areas. We will be circling roughly 5 million people, so there will inevitably be a few cars. But, the routes have been selected to try to miss as much traffic as possible. The route starts and finishes in Chandler and travels in a counter-clockwise direction.
Services are located at regular intervals along the route. Towns and cities visited: Chandler, Queen Creek, Mesa, Fountain Hills, Scottsdale, Carefree, Cave Creek, Peoria, Sun Cities, Buckeye, Estrella, Avondale, Laveen and possibly Phoenix somewhere in there!
Terrain: The route follows the Gila, Salt and Agua Fria River Valleys as it winds between several mountain ranges. While this route is relatively flat by Arizona brevet standards, with 6600 feet of total climbing, it differs from flat routes in other parts of the country in that it offers continually changing views of mountains in all directions along the entire course.
The 300k and 200k events start & finish at the same location. They also ride together from the start until they need to split to maintain thier specified distances. For a visual of the routes overlaid, HERE is a Collection of the rides. Each is color coded so that you can see where they overlap and diverge. More details, and registration procedures, for each event is found at the individual liks below.
The 600k option rides the entire 400k loop back to your starting location. It then does a totally different 200k loop. This "South Mountain 200k" course climbs the iconic mountain in South Phoenix and gives riders an opportunity to sample an extended length of bike trails through the metropolis. Other than the South Mtn climb, this loop is as flat as a pancake!
Last Minute Notes may be found HERE. This link will be valid once available, generally the day after registration closes. Please read them. There will be a lot of information posted there. I will also send them out to registered riders. If you don't receive them, please check your spam folder.