As we drove into Flagstaff from the north we noticed right away that it’s a good place to be.  Never mind the hip people you see walking and riding all around the old town center - we’re used to that scene in Asheville.  The 12,643-foot Mt. Humphries that towers over the town is quite majestic, but we expected that.  The really unique feature of this town upon arriving after sunset is the lack of bright lights.  Flagstaff has been spared the bright ubiquity of anytown, USA due largely to being home to an observatory and a group called the Dark Sky Society.  Most lights in town are a soft amber color and are capped on top to keep the light pollution from blotting out the night sky.  Ahhhh!  Imagine a place that respects the other half of the day – the night.

The riding is a real high-elevation, alpine experience – not what comes to mind for most people when they think of Arizona.  Ponderosa Pines and Aspen trees line the trails that can be reached by bike right from downtown.  We used a well-written guidebook by Cosmic Ray that covers the best rides in the state.  We had a local with us, Jimmy, and a friend and Bio Wheels racer from Lake Tahoe, Ryan, who we had run into by chance on a trail in Utah the day before.  We roughly followed a ride listed in the book as the Sunset Loop with a few improvisations.  We didn’t want the ride to end.  Partially because it was to be our last ride out west and also because we couldn’t get enough of the trails that traversed all over the mountain on national forest land.  With trails called Organ Donor and Rocky Ridge that live up to their namesakes, we just wanted to keep on pedaling.

With all the riding right out the front door and the good restaurants and brewpubs, you can certainly spend some quality time in Flagstaff.  Unfortunately we only got a quick taste, but we’ll certainly be back.  Maybe a Bio Wheels’ western outpost??