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| Mtn Biking | 13.90 Miles |
150 AEG |
| | Mtn Biking | 13.90 Miles | 1 Hour 53 Mns | | 7.38 mph |
| 150 ft AEG | | | | |
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| Partners |
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| no partners | | The whole route is 13.6 miles, 150 AEG. I have a shuttle driver — my loving, but non-hiking wife — so I could have hiked it, but to save time, I rode my mountain bike. 
Of course, I brought my GoPro along. I like the view angle of my handlebar mount, but for a two hour ride I’d have to do a lot of editing, as no one is watching a two hour video. Even with image stabilization, speeding the video up 8x makes the video extremely herky-jerky due to handlebar movement.
My solution was a STUNTMAN chest mount. On test rides around my neighborhood, I found that a vertically oriented GoPro had my hands center frame, with my pumping knees visible. Nothing ahead — and little to the sides (even at wide angle) — due to body lean over the handlebars. Angling the GoPro 15° behind vertical worked better, but not perfect. Today, I angled it 30° back. 
Standing, as in [ photo ] , 30° worked great. Riding was better, but needed more back angle: My knees were out of view, and I could see a sliver of horizon, but not enough. I hear other mountain bikers like seeing handlebars, but I want to see terrain. I think 45° will work better.
Other than a few short stretches, the six miles to Trilby TH is mostly within sight, or sound, of side roads. A lonely, but prolific, saguaro indicates the two mile mark. Otherwise, no cactus until I was west of Trilby Trailhead. The vegetation was either non-blooming creosote or splotchy patches of brown, ground-hugging, weed grass. No flowers I recall. 
After weaving across the railroad tracks and Grand Ave., the trail heads northwest towards earthen McMicken Dam. The trail parallels the bottom of the curving dam to its south end. Rule of thumb, when in doubt which of many criss-crossing paths to take, take the narrower one. Otherwise, just look for the next Maricopa Trail sign.
Even though the Maricopa Trail passes by a landfill, the next 4½ miles are the only semi-remote ones between 119th Ave. and Sun Valley Pkwy. The small wash crossings have more vegetation, some even above head level. The creosote were larger, and were joined by mesquite and palo verde. There were also a few cacti, mostly barrel cactus or staghorn cholla. No puncture worries.
The only time on the Maricopa Trail I was concerned about a flat, was passing through about 50 ft. of broken ceramic tile. Garbage was otherwise surprisingly minimal for an area that once received a lot of off road traffic.
A mile from the end, Maricopa Trail reaches Sun Valley Pkwy. The trailhead is just across the road, but traffic is fast, so instead turn left, downhill a half mile to the graffiti-filled underpass. I spent 30 minutes taking photos, but there were only a few pieces. After the tunnel, turn right, heading west for a final ½ mile to Sun Valley Trailhead.
Bike Video: https://vimeo.com/687631733 |
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| http://prestonm.com : Everyone's enjoyment of the outdoors is different and should be equally honored. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
