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.
Gman enters the ledge section on Mesgal
Dennis (Gardners long lost brother?) drops in next
Stopping to let other riders get ahead
406 and Gman on a steep climb
While the group takes a break 406 goes back to slay the climb again
Break time
406 raring to go (pic by Gman)
Cruising ahead
Even some of the spiky plants were turning color
406 tries a tricky off camber rock climb. Most of us had lost rear traction trying to ride straight up it
John shows us how its done by staying low
406 goes again
This time the big wheels kept turning (pic by Gman)
Another drop onto off camber rock
Kevin opts to start this roll high
406 dropping in
Rolling
I try the high line as well.
This is a really fun roll, full control due to the grippy rock
We turn right at the bottom of the long roll this time and stay on Mesgal
The last drop on Mesgal (pic by Gman)
This shoots us out towards Aerie trailhead
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
Followed by John & co
One of the few views from Aerie, looking E-NE
For baja
406 likes the trail, but kept looking back wishing we were riding it the other direction
Self portrait by Gman
Gman leads the way back to the cars
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!
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
Awesome fire pic by Gman!
