About the ride
This ride is a one week ride along the Arizona Backways Adventure Trail starting in the south in Sierra Vista.
The ride is called Double Down because we go up and down the state returning to Sierra Vista 7 days later. In this way we get to see twice as much of the great state. We start out traveling north on the original BAT then mid week we head south on other equally great unnamed routes.
Fork in the road
This BAT Double Down ride targets riders who really want to take their adventure bikes off road. At times it can be a tough guys ride. This ride is for skilled, experienced riders only. The ride is put together as a lodging style ride meaning each evening we will spend the night in a different lodge. The ride will include easy and hard options for riders wanting choices or having a tough time.
Self Guided Adventure: The Arizona Backways Adventure Trail (AZBAT) is designed to be a self-guided adventure. As GPS units have become both more powerful and easier to use, it has enabled anyone to be able to easily find their way along the trail. For many, this allows them to just experience the trail without the burden of getting lost.
Buy the GPS Card and Rider Maps:
You can order a microSD Card for your Garmin GPS and a complete set of big picture overview maps as well as tank bag reference maps designed in combination with the microSD card to fit the pocket in your "Tank Bag" (as in the photo at the top of the page). See the choices below:
AZBAT Choice (Scroll Down Menu)
Free Shipping to Lower 48 States
Checkout View Cart
Notes: I suggest you plan and order early. Normally I ship within a week. But sometimes I run out and it can take me several weeks to get new cards and maps. And sometimes I am out riding and building new adventures so that can be hard too. I list the Option for 2 SD cards because many riders like to carry a backup card or a cheap backup GPS in the event of unforeseen circumstances.
Ride Details
I know many of you also enjoy dreaming about the ride and making your plans, so here is the detail, enjoy!
View the ride maps below
OK since many of you like to study more detail about the ride, below are the ride maps.
I put these ride maps on the web page because I know a few of you love looking at the ride detail and dreaming about the ride. At first glance these maps do not look so impressive, but they are way cool. If you start zooming in, you can see the ride in incredible detail. I have spent a ton of hours sorting through the details of the ride for each day, so for those of you that enjoy this sort of thing, well enjoy!
Legend:
The Blue lines are MAIN routes
The Red lines are Harder routes
The Green lines are Easy options
The Black lines are the out and back viewpoints
How does the ride navigation work?
This is a self-led GPS ride; all riding is on your own. You are responsible for your own riding. You will be given a GPS map file and instructions on how to use your Garmin GPS unit. People will hook up in small groups of less than 6 riders and tend to ride together. You are not encouraged to ride alone. You are responsible for your own riding and yourself.
(see my ride Navigation Video)
Are you right for this ride?
When something goes wrong on a ride, would your riding friends say that you are more likely to need help or more likely to give help? You should be in the more likely to offer help camp. This ride is filled with riders that are more likely to give help, so most of the time the riders never need help. Additionally there is all the normal stuff, come prepared to maintain your bike, fix your bike on the trail, repair flat tires, deal with bad weather and rain and make a joke or two.
How do I make the GPS stuff so easy?
I develop very high quality ride maps custom for our ride. They come from much of what I and others have ridden. I take the best from all my rides and make new ones.
(See my Custom Ride Maps Video)
Note from me, gpsKevin
My goal for this ride is simple: great riding. So you can count on great routes and places to ride.
But in addition, the ride is about discovering new places, meeting new friends, seeing new parts of the Southwest.
Thanks
gpsKevin