Cottonwood – Prescott Valley – Cottonwood

The shortest path between Cottonwood to Prescott Valley is the zig-zaggy AZ 89A, which passes through the town of Jerome before going up and over Mingus Mountain. Thursday last week I drove Laura's car to Cottonwood and biked the route as an out-and-back.

Those of you who don't live in Arizona likely have never heard of Jerome (jah-ROAM). It was established in the late 1800's as a mining town, and like many mining towns of that era, Jerome went through a cycle of extreme boom and a bust. According to its Wikipedia article, the town's population peaked at over 15,000 people in 1929 and plummeted to about 50 by the late 50's. Since that low, Jerome, like most other of the fortunate former mining towns, has reestablished its economy by eking out an existence based on tourism.

What makes Jerome stand out is its topography: it's built on the side of a mountain. As you pass along the switchbacks of its main street, past the numerous restaurants and art galleries, nearly every view gives a panorama of the Verde Valley over 1000ft below. My point-and-shoot camera can't capture the beauty and gradients of the town, so I settled for this photo of the street overlooked by the J on the mountainside above.

But my trip wasn't a tourist trip. It was a bike ride with an aim to do some climbing. The pass over Mingus Mountain is about 7000ft above sea level, Cottonwood is about 3400ft, and Prescott Valley is about 5000ft. I opted to start in Cottonwood (as opposed to Prescott Valley) so that I would do the big climb first and the big descent last. This strategy worked out well because by the time I made my second pass up and over the mountain, it was during the heat of the day, and I was looking forward to a cool, breezy descent down the mountain.

A frequently asked question about a bike ride like this is: How fast did you go down the mountain? In truth I don't know because my nifty high-tech Garmin GPS had a dead battery before I left the parking lot to start my ride. But for a ride like this—which took five hours, including a stop at a Subway to eat an egg-and-cheese omelet sandwich—nearly all the time is spent slowly cranking up the mountain and I enjoyed only a few minutes that seemed faster than they were on the way down. It's like eating a full plate of Brussels sprouts and then having one small bite of a cookie. But oh is that cookie a lot of fun.