McDowell AES Route (RIP)

As is the norm at the end of the year, I am stuck trying to burn off PTO days so I don't lose them. First world problems, I know. Of course this plays pretty well into my goals of starting and completing the Arizona Trail Race (300) next April. This started in October with an off schedule running of the Prescott Mini Monster followed by a full on real life test of gear, mind and long days in the saddle for a two day Bradshaw Bender. This was topped off with probably the biggest test I've had so far. Few attempt - and not all finish - the Picketpost Pulverizer.

That said, the beginning of December historically has marked the time frame for the McDowell AES ride. This is the the first ever AES route that I attempted and got the wheels turning on this whole endurance riding concept. That said, I liked some of those old routes better as they were based more around the mountain pass areas of the McDowell Mountains. The last two iterations of the route have incorporated the new area just north of the McDowell Mountains called Brown's Ranch into the ride.

I think (and am speculating a bit here) that a big reason for this was to reduce user conflicts on what has been one of the most popular AES events of the year. Unfortunately, lots of people want to be in these areas this time of year - not just official events but also just general use - so the powers that be got wind of this and shut it down. I honestly think this year's version would have avoided many of the conflicts and it is pretty obvious that some thought went into the creation of the route in order to prevent most of the high speed interactions.

Clearly, the start and heading up Bell Pass on the west side would have seen quite a few interactions, but these would have been primarily at low speed except for the very base of the mountain. Other than that, cyclists would have been going very slow - and near the top would have been hiking just like everyone else. Once on the east side of the McD's, hiking traffic is dramatically reduced so no real problems there.

After that, the the next fifty miles would have been so spread out at that point that I don't think it would have mattered much and by the time riders got ready to take on Tom's Thumb, I don't believe there would be any large groups, and if there were, everyone is hiking up anyway. The drop down the west side at that point in the day would be largely empty of any hiking traffic coming up until possibly the lower flanks, but even then with the utilization of Desert Park instead of Windgate the number of bikers engaging hikers would have been fairly low in my opinion.

Whatever. I think bigger and better things are going to be tested out to replace this event. It will however always be a special event for me, because it started me on a path that has changed my cycling life.

So that being said, I grabbed the route, loaded it on the eTrex and did the route on a Monday. Solo. Hopefully the city of Scottsdale is OK with that haha.

I got the bike loaded up and the first order of business was to drop by daughter off at school. This would put me at a later start than normal, but no biggie. I had lights just in case. It would have been awesome to catch the sunrise from the top of Bell Pass though. It was amazing. Oh well.

I parked at the Basha's and got ready and made the trek up a bit of pavement to the 104th street trail junction. Crossed the road to dirt and it was on! Just kidding it wasn't that exciting. I'm not racing anyone here. I settled into my full day ride pace and prepared myself for the ascent of Bell Pass.

Now, I'm not really a regular here in the McDowell's - I've done some after work rides out here - usually a double bypass (up windgate and down bell), so I really wasn't sure what I was in for on the ascent up the west side of Bell Pass. I knew the upper section with the switchbacks would be pretty dang steep and HAB for sure. I just wasn't sure how long I would get to ride before hitting the get off and push point because I'm just not familiar enough with the area.

The riding on the lower flanks of Bell Pass was surprisingly fun. Just enough technical bits to wake me up and steep enough to help me get warmed up well enough for the inevitable push. Eventually, the trail started to pitch up a bit AND get more loose with broken shale. As I usually do on long days, I saved myself the effort and just hopped off and pushed. Save the matches and potential mechanical issues associated with power moves in technical terrain.

When the route line is perpendicular to the topo lines and the lines are this close together, I get to walk my bike.

I continued my HAB, and spied some hikers taking a break a few switchbacks above. Could I catch them? I tried my darndest and almost did, but they took the "left" option near the top and I had to take the option to the right in order to follow the track. Rules are rules right? There was a short bit near the top where I was able to get back on the bike and finish up the climb. Made it to the top in less that an hour. I'll take that!

Looking west from the Bell Pass saddle. 

From here, there is a pretty quick descent down the the Windgate junction. This was my first time going down this way - I was hoping to catch a glimpse of the fountain in FH, but my timing was off. Bummer.

From here, the pictures kinda stop for a long time. Honestly, this is just simple, easy desert riding at it's best. This is why I mentioned liking the other more "mountain-y" versions of the route better. I jumped on windwill -> coachwhip -> pemberton. Fast and non-techy. I did run into a few riders who were heading the opposite direction. What a great day to be outside!

Eventually there was a connector trail which hooked into the Gooseneck trail which would get me access into the Brown's Ranch area after a crossing of Rio Verde Rd. It's really easy to get caught up in the all things to look at both near and far away, but you really can't because you the trail is constantly turning and going through little washes. If you aren't paying attention you could crash pretty easily.

This theme would go on for miles. Seriously no joke. Honestly it was fun at first but then got a little bit monotonous. Luckily, there is a new section that has more "tech features", they were all pretty easy except for one which had a front tire eater at the bottom of the rollout - some other riders where there sessioning that spot. I said "hi" and asked where they started from. They said the BR trailhead. They asked were I started... when I told them they looked at me funny haha! Anyway, the techy area woke me up a bit because I had to engage my brain. It reminded me a bit of the Dells in Prescott.

And then continue the smooth flowy riding.

This. Forever.

This had me laughing a bit. Lots of neat Saguaros out there!

I started to get a bit bored of grinding these miles and saw a sign for the BR trailhead in 1.8 miles. Sweet! But of course in AES fashion, the easy route anywhere is never the first choice, so instead the route made a big counter-clockwise loop around Brown's Summit and Cone Mountain before giving up the goods of the super nice trailhead. I took a quick break here and mixed up a drink and had a protein bar also. I was feeling a bit cold but didn't have anything else to wear. I already had two layers on which is usually more than enough more me, but I think due to the quicker pace of Brown's combined with the overcast day I wasn't running as warm as usual.

I headed out and made my way back south to tackle the monster of the day: Tom's Thumb. I see this rock formation everyday as I make my commute in to the office via the east-bound 101. It's a neat place for sure.

As was the theme for the day, it took miles of smooth singletrack to get to the climb, but now there was a bit of climbing in the mix as I was making my way onto the lower foothills of the mountain. Like the BR trailhead, this route took an out of the way approach to get to TT trail. At first, I got worried thinking I had somehow jumped on the wrong track and was back on the one from this morning. This would have been easy to do since the track overlapped in a couple of spots. I zoomed out on the eTrex to confirm all was good and then continued on. Then the terrain started to change dramatically!

Cool rock formations burst out of nowhere.

And then it hits you. Tom's Thumb. After the turn I rode for a hundred yards maybe. Then I assumed the position. I managed to pass four hikers on the way up so that was awesome.

Elevation is gained quickly!

Steeper than it looks!

Getting there...

Success!

Once you attain this spot you are in a "rock bowl" of sorts it's super neat. Ran into a few more hikers up here and they asked if I had ridden up. I emphatically told them "not a chance!" but that I hoped to ride a bit now that I was up here. There was a bit more hiking to do after that before I began the true descent down.

Rock bowl - singletrack hiding on the left side

Cool rock formation

Doesn't even look real.

The start of the "sweet" descent down the west side. Lots of elevation to give up now.

Now if anyone knows me, they know I'm not really into the whole "descent" thing. I've gotten better over the years, but I still lack a lot of talent there. Mix into that nasty trail conditions and remote locations and you have the perfect mix for the worst thing - downhill HAB. I don't think I managed to ride any of the switchbacks heading down from the top of TT. It was frustrating, but it's just the way it goes. Eventually after the top section it started to mellow out enough for me to slowly pick my way down while on the bike. The trail was super chunky and a broken spoke or worse would have been really easy to do all the way down. Again, as the elevation gets lower, the pitch reduces also so I got more comfortable as I got further down. Ran into a couple small groups of deer on the way down!

Hiding behind a bush. There were 3-4 that I could see.

Larger group of 5-6

Finally, I met up with Desert Park trail and it was a freaking mess! It's been a while since I've been on it, but it was pretty bad. I wonder if they are just going to let that trail be absorbed back to the desert? It honestly wouldn't surprise me as houses have popped up all around it. I guess time will tell, but it truthfully looks like they don't want bikers on it anymore based on its condition...

More of the same all the way back to Bell Road where the rocky beating stopped and I took a fast sidewalk bomb all the way back to Basha's. Fastest AES route completion to date! I would have disappointed if it wasn't as this was probably the fastest course ever with all of the Brown's Ranch miles.