I needed some road trip miles so we loaded up the truck and headed out to Sedona for a few days. It was myself and three buddies who are way fitter than me so I was in for some pain.

Loaded up and ready to go



We got there on Pi day so of course



Since we go in late there was no riding, but we went to the Cowboy for dinner and the guys tried the fried rattlesnake. I was a little smarter than them on that one!

First day should be easy so we started on this one



Because anything with the name Teacup should be like Disneyland. Except that there is almost nothing easy about Sedona. Super fun trail section but everything is straight up and straight down! From there we headed over to a fun section on Grand Junction. Lots of cool features and some good flow









Then it was time to get serious. We headed over to Schnebly for the long grind up to..



Hangover Trail. Somebody in our group had the bright idea of riding all of the "H" trails which are also all of the Double Black Diamonds. Personally I thought all of them were pretty gimmicky and I would NOT recommend them unless you have a local guide to show you the lines. After we got done "riding" this trail we talked to one of the guys at Over The Edge. He let us know it was a good thing we didn't attempt certain parts since the white lines are not in the right spots and 18" off in one direction or the other would end up in big slides or unrideable drops. We did ride all of the cliffs etc, but not a few of the sketch DH sections Not a lot of pictures from this one but









Then is was time to grind the pavement home. All in all a nice 21 mile/3K elevation day, but not what I really wanted to be riding.

Day 2 was more of the same. First off it was St Patty's Day so



We headed over to H2 also known as the Hogs Trails. We started out with a nice climb up to Chicken Point



Yes, that is the infamous "White Line" trail up there. Not sure who the idiot/hero that decided to ride that section first was, but we weren't going anywhere near it! Hogs was more fun than Hangover, but again, not much flow. Just tech single track on the edge of 60' cliffs. There were some very cool turns and sections that were armored with rocks. Obvious that there was a ton of work put in. This section was WAY scarier than it looks in the pics









Also got a nice tatoo on my helmet from this section when a rock slid right as I was compressing my fork to pull up



Then it was on to the flow part of the trail, Pigtail! This was a really cool 1.x mile long section full of jumps, hips and berms.





From there we got lunch and were planning on hitting Hiline



Buuuuut, I wasn't feeling it after hitting my head/hip/shoulder. I bailed and those guys rode on. The nap I took at the house was AWESOME though! Afterwards I picked up the guys cleaned up and headed over to the Irish Pub. Unfortunately they were sold out of food so we headed out for Pizza. Between three of us we put down 3 large pizzas and two full size salads and more beers than I want to admit. Yes, it was a rough day in the saddle.

I last rode Sedona on my Tallboy in 2012 and had an awesome time though I too commented on the lack of any 'flow' trails. We were directed to the Aerie (sp?) trails up in the canyon which were fun but definitely not long enough. Hiline was defintely my favorite trail we did and I can't wait to go back and explore more with people that know the area well. Next time I'll be on the Mach 6 as well.

_________________
If you don't go this year, you'll only be a year older when you do - Warren Miller

My son and I rode Prescott and Sedona last Memorial day weekend and plan to do the same this year.
Cruise through the many pages of Sedona on Emptybeer before going and the first stop should be to a local bike shop. Those guys were great and also had a fantastic plastic coated trail map that really helped us hits the right trails.

Great TR and Sedona is a blast to ride. Not the same stuff we have here in many ways but we're glad we did check it out. Prescott is very cool if you have an extra day or three also

_________________
You never know what tomorrow will bring so go ride your EBike today or walk your pooch
Fear the Yeti
"Go ride your bike today, don't let the old man in.."

Mike

On to Day 3. These were the trails I had ridden for the last 5 years that I know and love. First we started off at the Broken Arrow parking lot and headed up to Chicken Point. Instead of going back to Hogs we dropped into Little Horse













From there we headed over to Slim Shady. This was definitely the highlight of the entire weekend. Only about 5 minutes long, but 5 minutes of AWESOME! It was so good that there are no pictures of the trail!



Now it was time for the long climb back up Little Horse. Did I mention the amount of tech climbing that you will find in Sedona? Throw in the virtually unlimited traction and you have a climbers delight. It was awesome to see what we could grind up!







Once we got to the top we rode back down again and headed over to Pigtail for another go. Lots of fun hits on this section













Then it was back to the top for another full length run. Have to make sure to post up some real Strava times right? After that it was time to head back to the truck. We were totally blown out at this point so it was naturally time to head to the brewery. Luckily they also have one of the best hot dog places on the planet! Do not miss it and make sure you order the Columbian style dog. I am salivating just thinking about it! They also had some live country music playing and the singer was super cool. We hung out at the bar for a few hours and then it was time to head back and pack up. Until next time!

Well done SP and the pictures really don't do it justice
Can't wait to get back there

_________________
You never know what tomorrow will bring so go ride your EBike today or walk your pooch
Fear the Yeti
"Go ride your bike today, don't let the old man in.."

Mike

Good advice. We were in OTE every morning getting advice and got the trail map as well. I go out there quite a bit, but hadn't been out since they legalized a lot of the trails.

Great report SP!
I used to live in Sedona in the '70s... we climbed and hiked in many of those spots (not many MTB's then),
and your pics of the Red Rocks stirs my memory.
The vibe in the town was a strange mix of millionaires, tourists, New Age wackos, and us
young/working/drunk locals... it was fun.

Thanks for the stoke and killer TR.

_________________
"We'll ride it until they pave it."

-Big Clyde

awesome TR! thanks for the visuals. can't wait for my trip this sunday. probably only get one ride in or two if I'm lucky. It's my wives 40th bday trip so i have to sneak away and get rides in somehow.

was thinking about doing the slim shady, templeton, high line loop. is this even possible? I've never been.

I found that 10 miles in Sedona was equal to about 16-20 everywhere else. Pick up a map Danny

_________________
You never know what tomorrow will bring so go ride your EBike today or walk your pooch
Fear the Yeti
"Go ride your bike today, don't let the old man in.."

Mike

Danny....more or less, yes!! That is the loop we did on Day 2 we went. On Day 1, we did Salespunks Day 3 ride. Have fun. The scenery in my opinion is the best there is for MTB'ing. It's hard to keep focused on the trails.

**Not that anybody will remember this post in a year, but Sedona's Fat Tire Festival is the 1st weekend in May. I can't go this year because my daughter is being commissioned as a 2nd LT in the Army but I'll be planning to go in 2015 if anybody is interested!!

_________________
If you don't go this year, you'll only be a year older when you do - Warren Miller

Awesome TR !!! Thanks !

I've been to Sedona 3 times, but not for many years. I always have had some kind of camping vehicle, and I found it very nice camping just 15 minutes down the road, in Cottonwood, at Dead Horse Ranch State Park.

It's way nicer than the name implies. Great showers, and a trail loop of their own that has a few surprises in it.

There's a ranger in that park named Randy Victory. Do NOT try to keep up with him on that loop! If you do, you will crash hard and likely die.

I hear that now they have an actual trail, the Lime kiln trail, that makes it possible to pedal all the way from Cottonwood to Sedona, but if you did so, you would be far too tired to ride much Sedona trail, even if the 'vortexes' are turned up to 'high' that day.

_________________
Scum on a Bike