A flat ride that looks hilly

There is a gorgeous new road that has recently opened up in North Phoenix. It is flat as a pancake, has a nice wide bike lane and has silky smooth pavement. Best of all, it has zero traffic lights for all of its 8 miles and barely any traffic. I rode on Sonoran Desert Drive today (twice) for my 93+ mile bike ride through North Phoenix and North Scottsdale.

It took me five-and-a-half hours, but I thoroughly enjoyed today’s ride. I rode briskly for the first 3 hours before slowing down just a bit in the final couple of hours. The last thirty minutes were tough with the final hill back to my house quite torturous. But I feel good; sore but good!

The whole route was somewhat circular; starting North on Pima from near my house, going west on Jomax until I hit Cave Creek Road up to Sonoran Desert Drive. From there, I went north to hit Carefree Highway west through the town of Carefree all the way up the hill to Pima and back south again to Jomax. I went east again on Jomax back to Sonoran Desert Drive and U-turned back home to complete the route. The elevation map shows the ride as pretty hilly, but it was actually relatively flat.