Cycling in Arizona

Arizona has many opportunities for mountain bikers. The scenery is magnificent and the landscape is grand and varied, including the Monument Valley and Grand Canyon.

Cycling conditions
With 300-plus days of sunshine and thousands of miles of cycle-friendly roads, Arizona is consistently ranked as a top destination for serious cyclists. Arizona is working seriously to make a bicycle-friendly infrastructure. Safe cycling facilities are based in the road design. Many towns promote cycling in their city centers. The state also allocates a relatively high number of sponsored and non sponsored cycling events. There are special mountain bike trails with a total length of nearly 3000 miles.

Landscape
Cycling in Arizona is for a large part in an area of desert. Yet the landscape is varied. The state is divided into two regions. Northern Arizona is part of the high Colorado Plateau, a spectacular area with the Painted Desert, Monument Valley and the famous Grand Canyon. Here there are also forests in the higher, moister areas. The southern region is drier and flatter and is part of Basin and Range Region.

Climate
At the northern Colorado Plateau summers are warm and winters are cold. The summers in the southern Basin and Range Region are hotter 95° (35 ° C) and winters are mild.