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PostPosted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 8:12 pm 
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Obsessed
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For a Thanksgiving day ride we heard of a shop ride going from Mountain Bike Heaven, a shop in West Sedona on 89A. Our guide John from a couple days would be there again which is cool, as he's a great guide and ambassador. The loop they had in mind would overlap a bit with what we did on Tuesday, but with lots of new trail thrown in. This would include including Aerie, a trail that John helped build just a few months ago. Its impossible to catch all the names for the trails we rode since they are often short segments, but I recall starting with a climb up Anaconda, a bit of AZ Cypress, Dawa, Canyon of Fools, and Mesgal again.

Then it was on to Aerie, which is an amazingly flowy, winding trail, both for climbing and descending. We climbed it and will definitely need to ride it the other way next time out. This is an official network trail approved by the Forest Service and built mostly by volunteers - though John did say the FS burned about $10k to have a "pro" trail crew come in after his guys had finished the trail, to "finish it up" (ie, useless waste of money). We finished with a bit more AZ Cypress, Snake, and not sure what else...there are so many trails out there and of course only the official ones are signed. Another good day of riding on stuff we never would have found without a guide.

Initially there were 20 people in the group, but over half split off 20min in to take an easier route. We did not see them again. Of the 8 left, 2 split off on Mesgal, so we were down to 6. Some of you may recognize Kevin and Dennis from SD....

Looking out from the crest of a hill to the north. No other pics til mesgal, as we were in and out of tree cover the whole way.
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Gman enters the ledge section on Mesgal
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Dennis (Gardners long lost brother?) drops in next
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Stopping to let other riders get ahead
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406 and Gman on a steep climb
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While the group takes a break 406 goes back to slay the climb again
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Break time
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406 raring to go (pic by Gman)
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Cruising ahead
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Even some of the spiky plants were turning color
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406 tries a tricky off camber rock climb. Most of us had lost rear traction trying to ride straight up it
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John shows us how its done by staying low
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406 goes again
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This time the big wheels kept turning (pic by Gman)
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Another drop onto off camber rock
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Kevin opts to start this roll high
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406 dropping in
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Rolling
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I try the high line as well.
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This is a really fun roll, full control due to the grippy rock
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We turn right at the bottom of the long roll this time and stay on Mesgal
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The last drop on Mesgal (pic by Gman)
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This shoots us out towards Aerie trailhead
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Sorry not many pics of this trail - while fun and rolling, it doesn't have many distinct features or good views.

Dennis rolls around a ledge
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Followed by John & co
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One of the few views from Aerie, looking E-NE
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For baja
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406 likes the trail, but kept looking back wishing we were riding it the other direction
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Self portrait by Gman
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Gman leads the way back to the cars
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Dennis charges the last steps to the road. Great riding with Dennis and Kevin, good riders - thanks for the invite back to your casa for hot tubbing and beers!
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With the clear skies tonite was to be the lowest temps yet, low of 20. But build a big enough fire and drink enough beer, and we were plenty cozy
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Awesome fire pic by Gman!
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The following 22 users would like to thank evdog for his or her post:
bajamtnbkr, bankerboy, Brian, Canaan, Christ D., Dirtrider, EMFC, jhardeman, Kimba, KIMO, kreechan, OhNooo, Red Hot Sloth, rob240z, Robo, Scott Forty G., sierragoldens, slingshot, Slowgrind, Steven Tucker, Sultan Ali, tfitz
PostPosted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 11:06 pm 
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Bajacabra
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Joined: Mon Jun 02, 2008 1:13 pm
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Bike(s): Turner 5 Spot
Favorite Trails: SART, Thounder Mtn,Sweetwater
Hey guys I just want to thank you for all the wonderful TR's, amazing pictures, Sedona is on the top of my list and I'm sure I'm not alone after looking at this.
I haven't had a chance to ride much lately so I thank you for helping me keep my sanity, good job Evan, Brian, Gil and Matt, this type of posts is what make DT special to some of us. :thumbsup:


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The following 5 users would like to thank bajamtnbkr for his or her post:
bankerboy, evdog, jhardeman, Robo, sierragoldens
PostPosted: Fri Dec 03, 2010 10:08 am 
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deerhucker
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Bike(s): Santa Cruz Blur LTc
Favorite Trails: any dirt with a challenge
Hey, it was the picture of your bike that started this...... :lol:

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The following user would like to thank bankerboy for his or her post:
bajamtnbkr
PostPosted: Fri Dec 03, 2010 12:58 pm 
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Moderately Obsessed
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Favorite Trails: teh gnar
another fun day. started out windy and cold, but the locals found us some trail out of the wind. canyon of fools sure is fun.

epic trail in an epic location:
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dt lurker carcass:
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you all know this guy:
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^^^note that I tilted the camera to make it look less steep :lol:

I had bison burger and sweet potato fries for thanksgiving dinner, yummy!

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The following 4 users would like to thank 406 for his or her post:
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