Tag: scottsdale

Sunday Breakfast Club – Jim’s Cafe

Posted on May 6, 2012June 25, 2012 by Rich

37.6 miles total Another edition of the Sunday Breakfast Club. This time we picked out an unknown place called Jim’s Coney Island Cafe, located on Scottsdale Road between McKellips and Curry in north Tempe. I took the usual roll west on McKellips, assisted by a modest tailwind. Crossing the river bottom, a cyclist came up and passed me on the left, so I decided to pick up on his wheel. About 100 yards away from Alma School Rd., we saw the light yellow, and then red, so I began to coast. The other guy, though, simply stood up on

Sunday Breakfast Club – Butterfield’s

Posted on April 29, 2012May 8, 2012 by Rich

60.0 miles total After a round of golf at Orange Tree yesterday, my friend Terry pointed out a very popular breakfast place there on Shea Boulevard, so Jesse and I decided to give it a try. Once again, I used McKellips for my crossing west, and the Greenbelt north through Scottsdale. I’m starting to tire of the Greenbelt riding, due to pedestrian traffic, and due to the bump-bump-bump of a sidewalk seam every 8 feet, but in the early morning it is still a very nice ride. This time I crossed through Silverado golf course, too, which is quite beautiful

Sunday Breakfast Club – Randy’s

Posted on April 22, 2012May 8, 2012 by Rich

44.0 miles total Same route plan as last week, and this time I was successful in taking McKellips Road west out of Mesa. No reservation dogs! Still, I’m not going to recommend this as a great cycling route – the shoulder ranges from good to thin to cracked up to “no escape,” but the traffic is very light on Sunday mornings now that snowbird season is ending. I got on the Greenbelt right off McKellips in Scottsdale, and so had five miles of it heading north to Chaparral. There are lots of walkers there, so it’s slow and go, but

Sunday Breakfast Club

Posted on April 15, 2012April 30, 2012 by Rich

49.0 miles total Jesse and I have modified our Sunday riding plans to start meeting at various breakfast venues in Scottsdale and Tempe. This gives me a chance to explore the crossings between Mesa and Scottsdale, as well as the northbound options into Scottsdale. Today’s plan was to meet at the Breakfast Club on Scottsdale Road. From Country Club Road in Mesa, I took McKellips due west, but ran immediately into a Road Closed sign at the river. Backtracked, went north on Country Club to McDowell, and found two patrolmen barricading that way, too. I stopped to talk with

preRA: Bartlett Lake

Posted on April 1, 2011May 29, 2011 by Rich

Solo conditioning ride – loaded down even more than usual. I anticipated high temperatures and climbing and got plenty of both. Started at Thompson Peak Parkway in North Scottsdale and chugged north up Pima Highway to Cave Creek Road, and eventually out east onto Bartlett Dam Road. I’d always wanted to try this popular route, knew it was hilly, and figured it’d be a good test for a lot of reasons. It surely was a physical test, with about 4,700 feet of climbing and early afternoon temperatures that hit over 100F. But in many ways, I thought the ride was

Scottsdale Trial Ride

Posted on October 29, 2010October 31, 2010 by Rich

I suppose a one-day training ride hardly deserves a blog entry here. But this ride deserves it for several reasons: 1. It symbolizes the first concrete step of our training for a cross country trip next summer. Well, perhaps we shouldn’t call it training so far in advance, but an exercise to see what it would feel like. 2. It was Jesse’s first all-day ride on a fully loaded (70+ lb) touring bike. 3. We took some pictures and this was the best use of them. I spent the previous night pulling out my packing list from the Dakota Tour