A very popular cycling route in north Scottsdale takes riders east on Via Linda Road from Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard, past 124th Street, past 136th Street and up through the Hidden Hills gated community. Cyclists who do the Hidden Hills portion love the steep ascent and, because the bike lane ends there, they turn around and descend at speeds in excess of what’s posted (reportedly 20 mph, though that seems slow). I’ve done the descent several times and, I have to admit, as I whizzed down, I wondered if I would love to dodge speeding cyclists as I exit my driveway, if I were a Hidden Hills resident.
As a reporter, I covered plenty of city-hall public hearings, and this is the sort of thing that would bring out voters in droves. Normally public meetings are pretty boring aside from a few eccentric regulars. But threaten to interrupt or mess with the time people spend in their cars, and regular Joes and Janes (mostly Joes, for some reason) fill meeting rooms to capacity.
Arizona Road Cyclist, a locally produced newsletter about cycling in the Valley, has done a great job of following the story from both sides. If you are interested in the Hidden Hills cycling story, subscribe to the Arizona Road Cyclist newsletter. View an update of the Hidden Hills story in “back issues.”