A man with a parrot perched on the handlebars of his bicycle clued me in on the bikeways of Scottsdale, Phoenix and Tempe, Arizona. "I take him on a spin every day," he said. "He rides in his cage, but we stop a lot." At the magic word "ride" the parrot stepped into the cage obviously anxious to get going.

I had noticed bike racks everywhere including one outside the hotel with bikes for rent, but had not seen many bicyclists on the streets.

Where do you go? I asked.

"Before long we'll cross all Arizona the long way on the Arizona Trail," he replied, "but right now we're doing Greater Phoenix. So far we've gone 150 miles without ever stopping for a traffic light or crossing an intersection."

And what had he---I mean, they---seen?

He was quick with his examples, rattling off sites: the Heard Museum of Anthropology and Primitive Art; the Desert Botanical Gardens; Arizona Mining and Mineral Museum; Phoenix Art Museum; Phoenix Zoo; Pueblo Grande Museum; Glendale's antique districts. He took a breath and continued with major league spring training stadiums in Phoenix, Scottsdale and Tempe. He waved his arm to include the Civic Center plaza of Scottsdale where we were standing outside the new and spectacular Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art.

Admittedly he has to face a few city blocks to reach the individual places when he leaves the trail, but even then he stays on specific streets where green signs alert drivers to bicyclists. He told me he gives weekend time to the Arizona Trail Association, an organization founded in 1994 that is working with the National Forests, National Parks, Sierra Club, county governments, youth and educational groups, private businesses and individuals. The goal is to complete 790 miles of trail crossing Arizona---mountains, wilderness, Grand Canyon and all---from Mexico to Utah by the year 2000. (At the end of May, 1999, Arizona Trail Association Executive Director Larry Snead reported over 500 miles completed.)

Trail users will include bicyclists, hikers, horseback riders, cross-country skiers and "those using any contrivance yet to be invented as long as it's not motorized," my informant said cheerfully.

Flagstaff's Urban Trails System, also nearing completion, will accommodate bicyclists, joggers and strollers on 34 miles of graded natural treadway. The first 17 miles connects neighborhoods, parks and cultural centers and will, in a few years, go from the center of downtown to the Coconino National Forest. The Nordic (Ski) Center doubles as a free mountain-bike park from May to October.

Living, driving and biking in a desert climate where weather and roadway conditions can change in an instant have their own cautions. Most often mentioned is never entering a road, path or trail subject to flash flooding if there is even a hint of rain.

"I don't ride at night during snake season either," my man-with-a-parrot admitted. "Rattlers love the roads after dark."

What if it rains? What if you have a 5 oíclock headache? What if you come out of the air-conditioned museum where you have spent the morning and the temperature has gone up to 104F?

Of course he and Phoenix had an answer to these too. All area buses are all equipped with bike racks (the "Bike on Bus Program") where bikes ride free. And the parrot? "You don't think I'd leave my little buddy behind!"

"Why eat carbon monoxide and dodge SUVs when you can go at your own pace?" he went on. "I'm training for the Big One [the Arizona Trail], but right now I commute fifteen miles to work. I don't need a car or a health club."

In the Phoenix area paved and unpaved bike paths physically separate from the roadway run for miles along the canals. Many streets have on-road pavement marked bike lanes, and where this is not possible, signs alert motorists that the street is a specified bike route.

Bicycling benefits are officially recognized and encouraged. There is, for example, the Governor's Arizona Bike Task Force (602/255-8010) as well as the Regional Public Transportation Authority (602/262-7242)). Those lacking a companionable parrot can even link up with a "Bike Buddy" choosing from RPTA's computerized list. Paths, lanes, bike-friendly streets and stands are all shown on a free map "Bikeways in the Metropolitan Phoenix Area" available at tourist offices.

"People say the Valley of the Sun should be renamed the 'Valley of Bad Air'," the man said. "Get up on a hill and some days it's like soup down below. Every 25 miles I pedal keeps a pound of pollution out of the air. My wife and I are down to one car now, and I'd like to get rid of that."

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