South Mountain at Sunset
South Mountain starts uptown, with the whole city in front of you. You drop down Central, through the middle of Phoenix and out the far side of downtown, chasing the sunset south. Short, punchy, and the view pays for all of it.
Down Central, through the middle of Phoenix
You start uptown and point the bike south. Central carries you straight through the heart of the city, the sprawl opening on both sides, all the way into downtown and out the other edge of it.
South of a certain light the streets start to change. South Phoenix turns more industrial as the sun drops, the pavement rougher — the kind of stretch where you keep your eyes on your line.
The South Mountain climb, short and punchy
Then you turn the corner, leave the last of the suburbs behind, and it's suddenly clear you're in one of the prettier parts of the valley. The climb is short and it's punchy. It doesn't ask for much, and there's no prize for rushing it. It just hands you the whole valley at once.
The line on the homepage doesn't care how fast you went. It only counts that you went.
The ride back up Central
Coming home you take Central the other way, back up through downtown in the last of the light. There's an easy, hip hum to it after dark — the city loosening up, the miles already logged.
Every mile of this gets counted toward queer communities in the valley. If it moved you to, you can pledge a mile and put your name on the next one.