Heart of Arizona

The ride starts and ends in Congress. Early on, you’ll get to stretch your legs as you mostly descend to the Santa Maria River along the picturesque Joshua Tree Forest Parkway. Once you reach the Santa Maria River the fun, er, climbing is about to begin!

For the next 16 miles you’ll roll and climb through some of Arizona’s finest desert scenery. From there, riders will head left UP the hill to Bagdad to your first Control. On the way back enjoy the 6-mile descent since the 10 mile climb to Hillside awaits on the other side of the river! Never fear though, the Bull Shifters will be waiting for you at the top for your 1st sag of the day.

From here you’ll roll past numerous ranches to your 2nd sag Skull Valley. There is a pretty big climb to get up to Yarnell, but your reward is the thrilling 7 mile descent of Yarnell Hill! This is what you’ve worked for all day long. After the e-ticket descent, you’ll have a couple miles of soft peddling and story telling with your riding buds as you cruise on in to the finish.

At the finish, lunch will be waiting. Sit back, relax, and refuel. You’ve earned it by riding 125 miles with 7100’of climbing.