Arizona Road Bike Ride
Congress-Yarnell-Peeples Valley Ride
Congress, Arizona

Ride Synopsis:

Description:

This is sort of a ride with no real finishing point, but it's a pretty good climbing workout with nearly all the elevation gain compressed into a 6 to 8 mile stretch (the Yarnell Hill). Back when we were bike racing in the early 90's, they held an annual race here (The Yarnell Hill Climb). I don't know if they still do or not. Never being much of a climber, I avoided it mostly. It wasn't until the early fall of 2007 that I sucked it up and went to see what it was all about. Turned out to be not that big of a deal, but a nice workout. Rather than stop in Yarnell, we kept going on down into Peeoples Valley, just to get out to the 15 mile point and 30 miles total for the day. If you want a SERIOUS workout, do a shuttle ride (or round trip for the truly masochistic) from Congress all the way up into Prescott. That'll put some hair on yer palms!

Start in Congress, just a few miles north of Wickenburg. Theres a quickie-mart deal right there that you can park next to with no problem. Jump on the bikes and do the long arrow-straight run sort of mild downhill to the base of the Yarnell Hill. Then start crankin' up the hill. Once you get to Yarnell, you can turn around (maybe go down and do it again), or head on to Peeples Valley, a nice little hamlet with green pastures and lots of horses. You can keep going that way until you have enough miles, then turn around and head back. The ride back down the Yarnell Hill is a screamer. Watch out for cars and possible jerks on crotch-rocket sport bikes who ride up and down the hill all day. Once you hit the bottom of the hill, you have to do the long low-angle climb out to reach Congress.

A fine ride!