Arizona Mountain Bike Trail Guide: Fat Tire Tales & Trails

The most well known and well loved mountain bike trail guide to the best summer and winter fat tire fun in Arizona. Cartoony, down to earth maps are adapted from topos and forest service charts, yet are friendly and easy to use. Maps are to scale and oriented north.

Each humorous route description includes distance, time, effort and skill required, best season to ride, level of route finding skill required, contour profile and "fear factor". There is also a step by step mileage log when applicable. A "preferred trail" icon is used to indicate a particularly great ride in a given area for those on a limited time schedule. Rides are included for all levels of ability, but emphasis is given to the intermediate / advanced rider. A few severe / extreme rides are also included for those on the lunatic fringe.

Each ride has been personally selected and ridden by the author over the past 11 editions and updated annually. You are guaranteed a favorite ride each time with no "filler". Many of the trails can be found nowhere else as they are based on personal exploration by the author. All rides are current and legal. Areas included are Grand Canyon, Flagstaff, Sedona, Phoenix, Tucson, Payson, Prescott and more. Also features a hilarious illustrated glossary of mountain biking's arcane jargon.

RATING THE RIDES - For comparison's sake, all rides were rated by me, a seedy but sincere middle age male in reasonably good physical condition if otherwise unencumbered by the thought process.

EASY - Some hills with nothing too steep or too long. A weenie ride. If you can't handle this, you are one hopeless sofatater. I suggest more Doritos and TV including lots of info-mercials, games, soaps, golf and shopping. Get plenty of quality couch time, high dollar gin, sex toys and video games. See a doctor!

MODERATE - Guaranteed to get the dead laughing and singing again. Interesting terrain with some healthy exposure to risk. Good sweaty stinky hard work, but still not killer.

DIFFICULT - Rough, tough, painful, hard and muy dangeroso with occasional warp speed, climbing and distance. Not for the respiratorily challenged. Sort of like straight espresso. If you don't know what it is, you don't want it!

EXTREME - Caution! May set off low self esteem panic attack. Possible bloodbath. Parents would not approve. Nor your insurance agent, doctor, spouse or bike if it could talk. Also known as puck-10, no brainer, E-ticket, hairball, burley, Barney or barndog, abusive, gonzo, mongo, mondo, psycho, way super gnarly, hideous, hateful and gruesome. Do you lack common sense? Is your brain adrift in a sea of cheap beer or what?