I am based in Scottsdale, Arizona. Feel free to reach out or check out my strava profile (Mark Lyons) for some routes.
Depends what type of riding you do with regards to the cassette. I run a 50 / 34 and 11 - 32 on my climbing bike, but in all honesty I could probably get by with a 11 - 28, 53/39 as while there is climbing here, it is mostly short and sharp. There are one or two longer climbs (south mountain), or Via linda, but they are not steep. Of course as others have stated, further out in Flagstaff and Tuscon there is more serious climbing.
I run 50 cm deep wheels on both my TT bike and road and I have no problems at all; never had an issue with wind gusts in Scottsdale personally. Generally, the wind is pretty chilled around the Scottsdale area, unless there is a storm around, then it blows hard for a short time.
There are some pretty good group rides around the valley too, but most are closed down due to Covid, but happy to share one or two, or venture out for a ride when things return to normal.