Tuesday, May 18th
We rallied back into town, picking up a hitch hiker named Steve along the dirt road. We dropped him off at a coffee shop, and proceeded to Mountain Bike Heaven (MTBH). I got a new saddle (WTB Pure V) since my stock Specialized one was a taint torture device, and a new chain (that would be less than 10 rides in to the new bike folks!!). If only there were some Odi Rogue lock on grips I'd be really stoked. We rode from MTBH up to the Thunder Mountain trailhead, got a little mixed up (too many trails here!!), and eventually found Dry Creek Road. Thunder Mountain had a lot of steep techy uphill sections!! Good interval training!! We next hit up Lost Watch which dropped for a while through tight turns between oak trees and into some washes. This is a decidedly Sedona trait- riding through what most people would call a dried up creek bed- they call them washes. Your vision never wanders far on these sections- negotiating boulders and sand. Lots of power and finesse- requiring the complete package. We kept following trails and ended up on a small ridge top- way up high and past the pimples of land that were visible from the saddle that we dropped over initially. Then onto a rocky butte southwest of the ridge. I started to get a little worried about light and how far out we were so I called Tex. I tried to explain to him where I was- a fun task in Sedona- by that one wash with that rocky outcropping. We realized that we might have ridden the trail backwards when we had to hike a bike up some stuff w/ tracks signifying the trail flowing in the opposite direction. Undeterred we continued along some discontinuous rock bands and finally got turned downhill. It definitely wasn't a long DH and were back in the wash before we knew it. We hit the dirt road instead of climbing trail back out and were back at MTBH with a little light to spare. We made some yummy wraps w/ veggies and sipped a cold beer on the back deck as the sun faded. Exhausted we sat in complete bliss. Tex showed up and offered up his place. We followed him through "uptown" and onto 929 Circle street. We were delightfully surprised to see that he lived in a PHAT crib w/ a SICK view!! He and a girl got the place together but it didn't work out between them and she lives in CA, so he has the place for 800$/mo and she only shows up one weekend a month. We crashed in the back bedroom on a huge mat he supposedly slept on for months before getting a bed. When we woke up the next morning the views were STUNNING!! A huge rock outcropping w/ benches and jagged peaks and towers. Only some rooftops lower down among the trees hint at the settling of the land. I love the twists and turns of roadtrips!!
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