With the weather STARTING to cool down some, now is a great time to get out and take a ride. This ride is fun, gets you out of the city and the traffic. Check it out this month!
A little known ride that makes a great half day ride from the west side of Phoenix, is the Phoenix to Gila Bend to Maricopa to Phoenix back roads ride. This is not even known by lots of locals, but is a very pleasant ride except in the summer when this can be very hot. So let’s call this a three season ride, spring, fall and winter.
With that said, I really enjoy this ride. You will see some great Arizona desert riparian and Sonoran habitat. Start in Phoenix and head out west on Interstate 10 west to Hwy 85. Exit here heading southbound for 6 miles. Here you will intersect what is sometimes called Old Hwy 80. Take a right heading toward Hassayampa and Arlington. This is some very pleasant Arizona farm country that is dotted with a few houses. The Desert Rose Bar located out in the country west of Arlington is a biker friendly bar. In approximately 18 miles the road curves down by the old Gilespie Dam and crosses a long steel bridge. The dam has been broken for years and the water from the Gila River meanders through here. Because this road is not used much, this is a great place to stop and look around, but do be careful to park your motorcycle far enough off the road for the occasional car or truck to get by. After looking around here, saddle up and ride the remaining 21 miles into Gila Bend the back way. This stretch is also some fine farming country.
Once in Gila Bend (pronounced Hila Bend), ride down the main drag to the Texaco station where you can get gas and a soda, etc. The food in Gila Bend is not world renowned, but then neither is anything else there. The Space Age Café & Motel in town were remodeled a few years ago and offer decent food/lodging. There is a little tavern by the railroad tracks on the east part of town that serves cold beer.
When you have had your fill of Gila Bend head back east on the main drag only this time stay on state route 238. Watch or you can get confused here. As you head out of town on the main drag you pass UNDER a highway overpass. Just a short distance further on you will see a small sign on your right saying Maricopa Rd. turning to the right—take that. Once on Hwy 238 follow this 39 miles over to the small town of Maricopa. This stretch boasts some of the finest high Sonoran desert around, very pretty! By Maricopa you can head left or north on state route 347. In approximately 16 miles the road begins a sweep to the right heading for I10, don’t take this but turn left onto the road that says Firebird Sports Complex and not far up this you will see a sign to the left for the Gila River Casino. More gamblin’ and eatin’ available here with one grub spot (not bad, I have eaten here several times) and 500 slots. Call toll free 1-800-946-4452 or catch their web site at, http://www.wingilariver.com . Once you finally get all that gambling and eating done its time to head back to Phoenix. Exit the casino and turn left up a short distance to Interstate 10. Here it is a short few miles back into Phoenix.
One word about this ride. It starts and ends with freeway. In between is great, but you do have to deal with the freeway system. Unless it is a weekend, it is always better to stay off it during commute times. Phoenix is still not LA, but it can be close if there is an accident and everything grinds to a halt….so, my recommendation is to avoid commute times if you can. Commute times are between about 7-9am or 4-6pm. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. All in all, this is a superb ride that can easily be done in a day and apart from the freeway sections will be blissfully quiet and scenic riding.

The overview map for this ride is found at MapQuest. Be online and click on the following web address.

Note: You will always want to click on “Big Map” which is on the upper right hand corner of the initial map to get your proper starting map!

http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?zoom=4&city=Gila%20Bend&state=AZ