Bible Testing Grounds: Tucson

Just like baseball players warming up with spring training—often in Arizona—Bike had a spring Bible of Bike Tests and where’d we end up (the question we’re always asked)? Arizona too. Specifically Tucson, and Tucson was just great.

We tested six mid-travel 29s this stop, some might call these trail bikes, and they’d be correct. But just like what happened with enduro bikes getting hungrier, hungrier, hungrier, the same thing appears to be happening with trail bikes, for the most part. Some are resisting a bit, headstrong in keeping XC in their lineage, others are open-armed about lengthening wheelbases and slackening head angles. It’s an interesting time for trail bikes.

Which gets us back to Tucson. If a trail bike is the most versatile bike, then Tucson is a perfect fit. We found the city—home to over half a million—smattered with trail networks, each with its own specialty. In Pima County alone, there are over 400 miles of non-Wilderness (read: legal) singletrack. That’s a lot of singletrack. We like singletrack.

And aside from quantity of trail, there was also quality of trail and one of the many things that made Tucson’s testing ground all the better was Mount Lemmon. You can ride from spruce fir and ponderosa pine forests at the top to saguaros straddling singletrack, all in any easily shuttleable manner. We linked trails that thoroughly tested the capability of mid-travel bikes—techy rock-riddled sections where it’d be nice to be on an enduro sled—while finding flow that’s still quickly repeatable, fun and beautiful with trails that wound down exposed and expansive ridgelines. It was rad—from tree-lined drainages to decomposed, off-camber ribbons and rock-battering, speed-pinching maneuvering, it really covered it.

Plus, there’s Tucson’s thriving Mexican-food scene, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention it, and yes, we do like our Mexican food.

And just like those baseball players, we left Arizona with another level of skill to wield after a regimented week of training—err, uh, testing. But unlike those baseball players, we left still longing for more Mount Lemmon time. One thing’s for certain: We’ll have to make it back soon.

For all six bike reviews, and to find out more about our testers and our testing grounds in Tucson, head over to the Tucson Bible Page.