The Barn Burner 104mile MTB race that was originally scheduled for June 19th was postponed due to forest fires in the Flagstaff area. Thankfully race directors gave us plenty of warning, but Kerry and I still wanted to get out of town, so we took off to Arizona anyhow. It was unfortunate we didn’t get our pre-Leadville reality check, but we made the best of a weekend away. We started the weekend early with an 80 mile road ride in the East Mesa area- Even though it was 90+ degrees during our ride, we had plenty of fluids and the simple reality that we weren’t in the office on a Friday, was enough to survive the heat.
The next morning we loaded up our gear and took off for Sedona. If you’ve never been to Sedona, I highly recommend adding it to the bucket list. The new age vibe combined with endless hiking/riding trails and amazing red rock views makes it a wonderful getaway. We found a few new trails and set off on an adventure.
Here are a few photos from the day:
Just a dirt road climb- A great way to get the legs moving without trying to find trails etc. Took us about an hour to reach the top… On the way down we stopped on a fun single track section and played on the “cow pies”. I took my first digger of the day coming out of there, but thankfully it was nothing too debilitating - Just have a few funky bruises to show for it.
We made our way to the Jim Thompson trail which eventually lead us to this bridge. From the top, we could see people hanging out by the edge of Oak Creek below and decided we had to find a way down there.
After some steep gnarly single track and a few river crossings, we found ourselves at waters edge.
We found our own little swimming hole, and set up camp for a while. After the refreshing dip in Oak Creek, we took the Oak Creek trail South back to town. This trail was pretty rocky and downright unrideable in many sections, and as a result there was no shortage of 'hike -a- bike' opportunities. Prep for the death march up Columbine at 12,500ft … Well no, nothing can really prepare us for that…
We stopped a lot, jumped in the river, had snacks etc. It was not a 'big' day as far as workout intensity goes, but we had a blast. Just two big kids playing on bikes… Refreshing.
After 6+ hours of 'riding', we had enough sun and it was time for REAL food. Powerbars can only go so far. We found a great Korean restaurant (Mago Cafe) in the heart of downtown Sedona. They had the most amazing FRESH spring rolls and my huge plate of veggies, chicken and rice was delicious!
The date for the Barn Burner ‘take 2” is still undecided. Although it was primarily on my schedule to prepare for Leadville, I still hope to participate if it gets rescheduled sometime this fall. Here’s the updated buckle photo…
Who wouldn’t ride 10 hours for one of those…
