April 16-18, 2015

I had the opportunity to attend the IPMBA 25th Annual Conference in Chandler, Arizona last month. I rented this Specialized Stumpjumper FSR Evo from Global Bikes. The picture below is from the South Mountain Park. One of the local guys said it's the largest city park in the US, in this case, Phoenix, Arizona. There's some trails up on the mountain but the conference seminars stuck to the fast, flowy trails on the desert floor.

After the conference concluded, I had a chance to sample some of the trails close by Chandler. The top picture is from the McDowell Mountain Competition Loops. There were a few technical features but mostly the trails were wide open and fast.

After McDowell, I headed to the south east and the Hawes Trail System. Twisted Sister was challenging and fun but I didn't make it all the way to the end. Desert riding is fun but I prefer trees and forest. Temps were in the high 80's, summertime must be brutally hot! You can never carry too much water in the desert.