Tour De Cactus League - Baseball by Bike

By Jason Franz-

Let's face it, there's no place better late February, early March than the Valley of the Sun. Ever since the Detroit Tigers migrated southwest for the spring in 1929, Arizona has been one of two primary destinations for shaking off the rust. But those in the know can attest that the desert is best - just ask the LA Dodgers who moved from their long established home in Vero Beach, FL to share a stadium with the freakin' Chicago White Sox.

As we are back in the full swing of Spring Training, I think back to when I scribbled some words for The Phoenix New Times, our local alt paper, on the local bicycling scene and how to enjoy our dusty, cactus strewn flatlands. One particular spring, I decided to map a route around the 10 baseball complexes that act as springtime transient homes to half of the boys of summer.

While the Cactus League promotes the convenience of AZ's sites being no more than 47 miles apart, it sure takes much more than that to link them together in any rational, much less convenient route. Therefore, I bisected the Valley in half, as most residents do anyway, and created an eastside tour hitting the stadiums for the Diamondbacks, Rockies, Cubs, A's, Angels, Giants and Arizona State Sun Devils, and the westside spots for the Reds, Indiands, Royals, Rangers, Padres, Mariners, Dodgers and White Sox. (I bypassed the standalone site of the Milwaukee Brewers because, well, it's the Brewers and they're in, well, Maryvale - Phoenicians, you get me.)

So for those so inclined who like to mix their baseball with some cycling or just want to experience the Valley in a way no other rational person does, here are the two stages of the 2012 Tour de Spring Training:

Stage 1 - The East Side

Stage 2 - The West Side