alison_in_oh

Coupla new roadies coming your way.

Since I got so much great information about our options for "going where the riding is good" (my Cat 1 husband matching into medical residency and liddle ol' Cat 4 me tagging along), I thought I'd finally share where the whims of Fate and Luck sent us. Despite all the horror stories I got in the various threads I posted, Phoenix it is. We'll probably move at the beginning of June.

So yeah. Phoenix cyclists, holla if you have any advice for places to live within commuting distance of Maricopa Medical Center. Info about group rides and heck, race schedules (though we'll probably both be out of the sport for a while) is much appreciated. Let me know how you beat the heat. And keep an eye out for a fast but sleep-deprived guy, and a preggie lady, on road bikes in a neighborhood near you.

Paul L.

In the summer get out before dawn and enjoy the sunrise and the desert in the best part of the day, don't plan on too much after 10 or so. I have done centuries in May but usually the temps are over 100 by the time I get back if it is too late in the day (around noonish). There are several groups around town that ride on any given weekend. The Gaba Rides out of Kiwanis park can be exciting as they get upwards of 80 - 100 riders at times.

dragonflybikes

WHere is the Maricopa Medical Center? Once I know about that I can give you lots of opinions on where to live. Just a warning, unless you have allready lived in a desert environment, your first summer here will be like torture to ride in, but after that you will be fine. If you are coming from cold country, your first winter here you will probably not use any of your winter gear at all.

By the way, part of my busuness is property management for houses (the other part is management and leasing for commercial buildings) so if you need to rent a place when you first get here I can help, even if you don't want any houses that we have. Advise is almost allways free. If you decide that you want to buy right away I can always hook you up with a very good agent that knows what she is doing. I used her and had my wifes folks use her.

Shifty

You can live in Tempe or southwest Scottsdale and get a good commute in. In those areas weekend rides and racing are close at hand. Going in June will be a bit of a shocker with the heat, riding at the crack of dawn works best, it will cool down in October, then you'll have perfect riding throughout the winter. If they ever give a Resident a few days off it's nice riding in the Sedona and Flagstaff areas, higher and cooler in July and August. One of my favorite morning rides was from Tempe north to Talesien West, Frank Lloyd Wright's desert school site.

Best wishes, hope you enjoy your time in Arizona, you could have done a lot worse!!

DesertRoller

For info on group rides, check out www.azbikeclub.com or www.sportsfun.com/gaba/

Can't help you much on commuting to work since I live on the NW side, though. Contacts at those websites may be able to provide help, besides other BF members.

Hope you like AZ!!

dragonflybikes

if the medical center is the one at 2601 E. Rosevelt in Phoenix then you could live in North Phoenix. There are plenty of nice areas, depending on what your price range is, what size of a place you need, and what style you like. (style - condo, townhouse, older house with character and larger lot, new house on small lot, etc)

alison_in_oh

Advice and opinions are much appreciated! We will be making the buy vs. rent decision in the next few weeks. The Medical Center is basically right next to the airport. Feel free to PM me with or for details!

I'm...from Alaska. The heat will be a shocker, but we've seen some 100+ scorchers vacationing in Utah and living here in Ohio, so hopefully we'll manage. The winter clothes will be the first on the chopping block when paring our belongings for the move!

Shifty, thanks for everything, man. I looked back through my old threads, and if a Eugene resident found Tempe bearable, I think we're gonna do OK.

DesertRoller, thanks for the links!

alison_in_oh

We've found tons of housing out there, but we're afraid it's a bit far for bike commuting. We're trying to stay within 10 miles, 14 on the outside, so that my sleep-deprived resident can get home quickly when necessary. Whaddya think, is it worth the long commute?

azwhelan

Here is the racing schedule for Arizona:

https://azcycling.com/

Since you're racers I don't think the GABA rides are what your looking for. They're fun rides but not really geared towards the racing set. Go to the clubs link on the above web site to find something more up your alley. White Mt. has a good reputation.

If it's the Maricopa Medical Ctr. on Roosevelt that's a pretty rough part of town and the roads are probably not ideal for commuting but it's fairly centrally located and depending on how far you're willing to commute you have a few options. If you go north and you've got the finances there is the Camelback corridor, directly south is the Airport, farther East is south Scottsdale/Tempe(probably the most cycling friendly), and west is downtown Phoenix which is getting a better reputation. Here is a map of the area:

https://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp...r&qc=Hospitals

Sounds like you're already getting plenty of advice on the weather. Just remeber it's a dry heat and you don't have to shovel the sunshine.

Paul L.

The guys that shoot off the front at the GABA rides are pretty fast and average in the mid twenties usually. At least that is what they usually were doing when they dropped me. The main group on the other hand is usually between 18 and 20 mph.

I regularly commute 25 miles to work one way and finding commuting routes around town isn't too hard with most of the cities having maps of bike lanes and routes. The dedicated multi-use paths normally aren't too useful although some in phoenix near the airport actually have tunnels that bypass intersections. Most of the cheaper new housing going up is out on the fringes though so commutes are getting longer, whatever you do stay away from the extreme southeast valley as it is overbuilt and the infrastructure is not there to support the people that live out there (really bad traffic jams morning and evening and it will be at least a year or two before they even start to remedy the problem, I have talked with people suckered in with cheap house prices that are selling for a loss to get out of the headaches).

alison_in_oh

Thanks for all the suggestions! Say, one area of town that has me intrigued is south Phoenix: between the airport, Laveen, and South Mountain. There are rentals and homes for sale in that area that seem way underpriced for the Phx metro area -- are the neighborhoods safe? Would you live there? Would you bike commute through there to downtown?

Ha! I like that!

Paul L.

South Phoenix is undergoing a bit of a change as of late. 10 years ago I would have said no way, way to rough neighborhood, but these days it is changing. You would still want to check out the area first though. I know a some people who recently moved out to Laveen and like it. There is a really nice stretch of road heading south around south mountain and out to Maricopa road that is traffic light free and good flat training area, then just east of there you have the beautiful hill training of South Mountain itself which I have heard is recently paved.

dragonflybikes

I manage a lot of houses in the Leveen area. There are definate areas where I would stay away from as they are intermingled with the old bad neighborhood, but there are areas that are nice and they are very close to downtown Phx. It is one of the new home jewels in Phoenix IMO. Personally I chose an older neighborhood that is still a very very nice neighborhood that is havine people remodle the homes. We have a bigger lot. I will PM you with more info.

By the way, I wouldn't get rid of all of that cold weather gear. After about 2 - 3 years you will think that it gets cold down here in the winters and want your cold weather gear. Just stick it in a box mark it for cold weather, stick it in a closet and forget about it for 2 years. This might be one of those perfect uses for those storage bags that you use a vacume on to make them smaller.

shawnj73

Paul are talking about 59th ave? I have road that that ride that takes around South Mountain and go's by the Indian Casino. There is a lot of traffic along this road. I am interested in hearing more about this climb that you speak of! Can you find out the name of the road? Sorry, not trying to still this thread!

azwhelan

It has been re paved within the last year and half and it's a sweet ride. My favorite hands down. It's only a seven mile climb, not long by some standards, so you see a lot of racers doing it over and over again. Would definitley be a perk to living in South Phoenix.

South Phoenix is weird in the sense you'll be riding along through a nice neighborhood and then all of a sudden it gets real hairy. It's definitley more centrally located than most affordable housing. I don't think I would want to raise children there because of the mix and I would be very curious to hear what the schools are like. I would think the PTA meeting would be very interesting.

mirona

Jeez, took you guys long enough

Only piece of advice I have for you after living there is: Do not drink the water!!!

alison_in_oh

Hee. Haven't been around the forums much since I'm not riding, and I thought y'all would have forgotten liddle ol' me. We actually found out the location two weeks ago.

I've heard that about the water!

azwhelan, we probably won't have school aged kids in Phx, and if we do decide to stay after 3 years we should be able to move at that point. So schools is only an issue if we choose to buy, since I guess it affects resale.

South Mountain sounds like a real draw! I have a friend who lives in the Ahwatukee Foothills who also the area is great for hiking.

Thanks for the PM, dragonflybikes.

azwhelan

Just take Central south untill it ends which is the entrance to the park. Keep following the signs to the "towers"(radio towers) if you plan on going to the top. Just be prepared for a steep section right before the end. There are a few other routes if you don't want to go all the way up as well. It's to bad that we have gotten so little rain this year because normally there would be a lot of flowers out this time of year.

Here is a map:
https://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp...0park&qc=Parks

Shifty

Alison, on the map look east along McDowell road, just east of Papago Park, I lived in that area, it was great (but that was a while back), easy commute to hospital, Papago Park is sweet, and easy to get out for longer rides to McDowell Mountains and Cave Creek area.
You can take the heat, it's just the day after day that got to me after 6 years, 3 years will be fine!

Azwhelan - did they put in a bike path along the Grand Canal from Tempe through Phx?

Gutter Tech

Don't do South Phoenix. The price is right and the neighborhood is changing in ways but it is still largely shifty and unsafe. If you must, steer clear of the avenues (look more around 48th-24th street along Baseline and Baseline only).

An alternative would be Ahwatukee (where I live). It's the other side of the South Mountain and very roadie friendly. Commute to county (hospital) would hover around 15-20 minutes (by car) depending on traffic.

alison_in_oh

Thanks for the honest assessment and the detail! The price is definitely right, but I just have a funny feeling about the area. We've got enough choices around Tempe and Central Phoenix that I think we'll emphasize those. I really appreciate it!

Shifty, I think I found a couple of rentals in that North Tempe/Scottsdale area, they looked pretty sweet, hopefully we can check it out when we fly out!

My friend from college lives in Ahwatukee, he loves it there. However it's right on our threshold for bike commuting, and if the car commute is congested as well, that's definitely something to consider for my poor hardworking car-hating resident.

Wish I'd asked the roadies sooner, y'all get right down to the issues I care about!

GuitarWizard

When we did our cross-country trip, we stayed in AZ for a few days (mainly at the Grand Canyon). But one day we stayed a bit outside of the Petrified Forest area in Chambers. It was around mid July, and it was great pulling into the hotel past 9 p.m. and still pretty light out....not to mention 97 degrees.

Noticed a lot of nice roads for riding in AZ.

azwhelan

I know there is a bike path along the canal in Tempe but I don't know how far it goes into Phoenix. I ride over it all the time heading up into Papago but I'll need to check it out some time. But if it is paved that would be perfect for commuting from Tempe/South Scottsdale to the medical center. It passes within a mile of the hospital.

azwhelan

Here is a link to a map of all the bike routes in Phoenix:

https://www.mag.maricopa.gov/pdf/cms....ap05-front.pdf

Takes a little bit to load. They've been doing more work on the bike paths as of late so some of the ones marked unpaved may be done by now.