El Tour de Zona
April 22–25, 2027 | Sierra Vista, Bisbee & Tombstone, Arizona
If El Tour de Tucson is the big ride, El Tour de Zona is the cycling vacation.
Three days of riding. Three Southern Arizona destinations. Live music, food, beer and wine gardens, camping and plenty of time to sit around afterward talking about the day’s ride.
And perhaps best of all, nobody is in much of a hurry.
El Tour de Zona isn’t about a finishing time or chasing a podium. It’s a fully supported, multi-day cycling tour designed around something that sometimes gets lost when we start putting numbers on bicycles:
Riding a bike is supposed to be fun.
Three Days, Three Very Different Rides
Veterans Memorial Park in Sierra Vista becomes home base for the weekend. Set up your tent or RV, stay at a nearby hotel and then head out each morning for a different Southern Arizona adventure.
The first day’s ride stays closer to Sierra Vista with a beautiful trip toward Ramsey Canyon, historically around 27 miles. It’s a great opening day and leaves plenty of time and energy for the festivities back at camp.
Day two is the big one: approximately 63 miles from Sierra Vista to Bisbee and back. There is some real climbing involved, but the reward is riding into one of Arizona’s most colorful and wonderfully eccentric little towns.
Then on Sunday, point the bike toward the Old West for roughly 36 miles from Sierra Vista to Tombstone and back.
Yes, you really do get to ride your bicycle to The Town Too Tough to Die.
Three rides. Three completely different experiences. And you unpack your suitcase only once.
The Riding Is Only Half the Fun
This is where Zona really separates itself from a traditional cycling event.
When you get back to Sierra Vista, the day isn’t over.
Veterans Memorial Park turns into Zona Town, with live music, food trucks, local craft beer and wine, entertainment and riders hanging out together after a day on the road.
Camp right there and your bike ride basically ends at the party.
There are also showers and swimming available at The Cove, which becomes considerably more appealing after spending several hours riding through Cochise County.
It feels less like returning to the finish line and more like coming back to summer camp for cyclists.
Bring the Family
Zona is also particularly accommodating for families and non-riders.
You don’t have to ride every mile, or even ride at all, to enjoy the weekend. There are youth and non-rider registrations, and riders can historically register for individual days rather than committing to the entire tour.
That makes Zona a great introduction to a multi-day cycling event. One person can ride long, another can choose a shorter day, and someone else can skip the bike entirely and meet everyone afterward.
The point isn’t proving how tough you are.
The point is spending a few days outside, riding bikes and enjoying Southern Arizona with people you like.
Discover Cochise County From a Bicycle
There is also something special about experiencing this part of Arizona at bicycle speed.
The mountains surrounding Sierra Vista, the climb toward Bisbee, the streets and architecture of Bisbee itself, and the history of Tombstone all become part of the ride rather than simply places you pass through in a car.
And unlike Tucson’s Sonoran Desert landscape, southeastern Arizona has its own personality, with higher elevations, grasslands, mountain ranges and enormous views.
You aren’t riding through one destination.
The ride connects the destinations.
A Cycling Vacation on Wheels
That’s probably the best way to describe El Tour de Zona.
Wake up. Have breakfast. Get on your bike.
Ride somewhere interesting.
Come back. Take a shower. Find some food and a cold beverage. Listen to live music. Tell increasingly exaggerated stories about what happened on the ride.
Go to sleep.
Then wake up and do it again.
There are harder rides. There are faster races. There are events with bigger crowds.
But there aren’t many cycling events where having fun is quite this clearly the point.
Three days. Three destinations. One bicycle. And absolutely no reason to hurry.
