New Mountain Biking

The last couple of days I have been feeling better.  Still a nagging cough, but my body feels good.  I have been able to get out on the mountain bike and was shown by a friend of mine, some BRAND NEW trails on the west side of Tucson.  Tucson has been very pro-active in improving the cycling community;  more bike lanes, and advertising for bicycle safety.  It is always ranked as one of the best cycling communities in the country for a reason.  But mountain biking has gotten a great boost here in the Old Pueblo.  The state has purchased massive amounts of acreage around the skirts of Tucson.  For one reason:  improve the natural paths of the desert animal life.  Tucson is in the Sonoran Desert and is very unique in its flora and fauna.  But the other wildlife......................Mountain bikers are going to get the huge benefit!  Because not only is the state setting land aside to always be protected, they are paying mountain bikers to cut tons of new trails!  The ones I rode the last two days, I do not yet know the name of, but they can be accessed off of the end of Sweetwater Road in the Tucson Mountains.  There currently are three loops of pristine rollers through the saguero forests out there.  With enough of rocky technical riding to make for about an hour (depending on your level of expertise of course).  I spoke with one of the guys planning and cutting the trails and he let me know plans of about 60 miles of trails to be cut over the next few years.  So no longer is Fantasy Island, way out on the east side, the only designated mountain biking haven in Tucson.  The reasons to love this place just keep growing!