SEDONA RIDING DAY

May 21:
I took the drive back down to Sedona, but this time took I17 all the way down so i wouldn't waste time navigating through the twisties of Oak Creek Canyon Rd. I parked in the parking lot of Absolute Bikes, and pedaled up the hill to the trailhead. I took off on the Bell Rock pathway, and hooked up with Courthouse Towers Loop. This was a sweet singletrack that had some great flowing stuff and some slightly techincal rock gardens and small uphills- nothing like in Red Canyon or Moab though.
I took a couple other spurs that ran off this trail as well, such as Big Park Loop.

I rode up the BRP a bit, and took some shots of Bell Rock, aptly named for its resemblance to a large bell...I guess.

As I finished up, I came upon a sweet downhill section of trail that headed off of Courthouse Towers Loop and joined up with BRP at the trailhead. This track was quick and had about 6 whoops that you could catch some nice air off of. It traversed a creek bed onto some slickrock near the end, and dumped back out on the main trail again. I like this portion of it so much, I rode the Courthouse Towers Loop again just to hit this portion again. I managed to get some good air off of these jumps, and finished up this ride with a huge smile on my face. I give Sedona another HUGE thumbs up for some sweet singletrack and some fun riding.

I'd have to say that Sedona and Red Canyon had some of the best MTB'ing I have experienced on this trip so far. Moab seems more to me for the ATV crowd, and although I didn't experience Slickrock to the fullest, I still don't think it would blow up my skirt like the aforementioned locales.

I drove back through Oak Creek Canyon on the way back to the hotel. I would be back here as well one day. As I headed back into Flagstaff the rain started to fall, and didn't let up well into the next day, when I left Flagstaff to begin my journey home. The timing could not have been any better- I got to ride all the days I wanted to (except in Moab), and I had sunny weather every day. I guess the rain was just a way to usher in my desire to leave and head home, although I could have easily spent more time in Sedona. Ah well, there will be other vacations...