Desert Invasion Can the Arizona Trail Withstand Climate Change?
I winced, gritted my teeth and curled my fingers behind my brake levers as I pedaled straight into a thicket of pigweed, catclaw acacia and seedy...
Original Features
One Event at a Time Bellingham's Collaborative Effort to Revitalize the Waterfront
The 237 acres of waterfront property adjacent to downtown Bellingham, Washington, sat in heavily-contaminated uncertainty when Brandon Watts and Eric...
Caroline Buchanan reflects on her genre-bending career.
Valerie Naylor is the Rock Queen. At least, that’s what Randy Conner of Contour Trail Design Company calls her. He’s seen her move rocks...
Usha Khanal is breaking barriers both as a racer and a guide.
Reviews
Some might argue that mountain bike innovation comes in cycles—predictable if you read the ancient Mayan calendars correctly. After all, it’s...
Spring is in the air. The sun is shining, the dirt is perfect, and Specialized has a brand new radial casing, just in time for Sea Otter. Last year...
Specialized’s new radial tires might steal the spotlight today, but the brand is also releasing the newest edition of the long-standing Ambush...
Welcome to Issue 17.1
As a mountain biker, reasons to visit Arizona are nearly endless: the scenery, the terrain, the underlying hum of a perfectly still desert. This is a state confident enough in its supremely beautiful sunsets to slap one on its flag. But it’s also brutal. Momentum is hard to come by, rocks are aplenty, and the heat is suffocating. This dichotomy lies at the heart of what makes Arizona riding completely unlike anywhere else. Now, after decades of work in communities including Sedona, Flagstaff, Prescott, Phoenix, and Tucson, the Grand Canyon State has earned a spot among North America’s premiere fat-tire destinations. This edition of Freehub documents Arizona’s range of riding scenes, from vast interconnected urban networks to the loneliest stretches of the famed AZT.
