Sedona Arizona
Day Two of the Arizona in Winter 2007 trip.
Everybody got off to a slow and leisurely start today that
included breakfast at the local bakery which was mighty tasty. Now while
the SoCal contingent only had one day of riding on our legs, the Colorado folks
were going on something like eight straight days of substantial riding and most were looking
for something that was not quite epic in nature. Joe, a Flagstaff local (among many other
things), came down and showed
us around on some nice loops that included some technical chunky stuff that is
not yet in the books out near the Dry Creek trails. The trail we were on had some picturesque exposure
while being narrow with tight turns that were often times off camber. The chunk
factor was high enough that if you did dab, getting back into a rhythm again was
tough. I was asked not name this trail so please don't ask. Hook up
with some locals and there is a descent chance you'll end up on this trail.
| NOTE: There is metric ton of trails in the Sedona area. I have had good experiences with two map resources. The first is Cosmic Ray's Arizona Mountain Bike Trail Guide. Any of the bike shops in town will have it and you can always pick up a copy online. This is a good resource to have for Tucson and Phoenix as well. The second item is the big brown map (for lack of a better name) of Sedona. It is really good and detailed. Between these two you should be good to go in Sedona. |
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While I felt better than the day before, I was still barely able to stay ahead of the guy who got hammered the night before and was heard at least once complaining that the trail was spinning. I used the old "I stopped to take pictures" excuse a few times. After tooling around near the Dry Creek trails area a few folks split off to go ahead and make sure there would be room for us later at a pizza place. |  |
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At this point in the ride I was actually starting to feel pretty descent as the legs were starting to "wake" up. I'm pretty sure we did the High School trail and the Old Post trails which like most of the Sedona trails, offered some nice views and technical spots here and there. We eventually popped out onto the pavement behind the recycling center. |  |
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We did a quick bit of street riding to find out the "Send Some Riders Ahead" plan worked like a charm. There was plenty of room at the bar in the pizza joint. After a bit of post-ride lubrication we went back to the casa and enjoyed the pool and jacuzzi. | |
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Here are some of the views from the casa around sunset. I missed the optimal time to take these shots. There were a couple minutes that were absolutely explosive with color. |  |
That evening we had some mighty fine food at the Cowboy Club including Buffalo, Rattlesnake, and BBQ Duck Tacos. This was the last night in Sedona for the Over The Edge crowd with most of them heading back to Colorado in the morning, while a few planned on going down to Phoenix for a motocross race. Over dinner we decided to do the Damifino trail in the morning and then head to Tucson. Over the course of dinner Max got a strange offer from a lady (who actually appeared to be sober) who wanted to literally buy the shirt off of his back. Actually it was a sweatshirt but still, Max had on a Led Zeppelin hoody sweatshirt that this lady simply had to have. After much haggling and an indecent proposal or two, Max and the lady (With much heckling from the rest of us) made a deal and Max walked away into the cold Sedona night, 41 dollars and a pack of cigarettes richer.
