Little Horse Trail

Dwayne "the Train" Clinton and Ober ride Little Horse one more time before our departure home.

Stuck Between a Red Rock and a Hard Place

Staying with Brad's mom, we are spending another week in Sedona, Arizona, with friends. Situated in the Village of Oak Creek, we are nestled between Coffee Pot Rock, Bell Rock and Courthouse Butte. This is the third time back; second time in October - the first time we visited in February.

This trip we rented mountain bikes for the week and ride to the trails. The weather is fabulous; about 10 degrees warmer than last year with temperatures in the mid 80s. For the first two days we got late starts so the heat was a bit draining. Monday we left the house around 8:30 and rode (and took pictures) for about three and half hours.

I have to credit Rob and Gretna Bill for making the riding out here more enjoyable. Since I raced Seven Springs with all the rock gardens and tight, narrow trails, I barrel over and down rocking trails. So far we have not ridden any new trails so I have attempted to ride more instead chickening out and walking. One of the beautiful trails is Templeton. It is classified as moderate but I think it is easy except for some tight, rocky switchbacks down the north side of the trail. You ride northeast along the east side of Cathedral Rock like you are on kid roller coaster. The rocks are minimal so you can ride as fast as you want and there are a few blips and dips that are rideable, too.

Once we got to the rocky switchbacks, I decided to ride it. There is a huge crevasse that creates drop offs along the trail so I ride it conservatively, butt back, tapping the brakes to control my speed. I get to a section that is very dangerous with switchbacks so tight any mistake would send you off the cliff. I am still on the bike listening to one of my friends screaming while she rides down towards the creek. Another friend walks in front of me advising me to walk not ride as it to tight for the novice I am. I had the 7 springs confidence in me and I attempted to ride as I made it down the first third of the descent. Not able to round the turn to the right and with the cliff drop off to the left, I get stuck in the first switchback that is no longer than my bike. I fell hard into the rocks in the turn, stuck under the bike. Thank goodness for the helmet. Nothing broken but I swear I heard something crack - hopefully it was just my helmet. I thought my shin and forearm received most of the damage but when we got home hours later, I had aches and bruises all over my right arse and middle back. Man, I must have blocked out falling back on the rocks. Later, I attempt to ride stuff that throw me off the trail, luckily not landing in any cacti but into beautiful red rocks and trees.

Checking off the To Do list - Mt. Bike Everyday

Thursday, we packed the van with six bikes and riders, four crammed in the back to ride the Jim Thompson Trail. This was the only ride we had to have transportation. Thank goodness as I lost some hair in the back of the van. (Probably from all the farting and drinking I had been doing all week!) Ha! I could not resist. Come on. We're human, right?

The trails on our out and back ride: Wilson Canyon, Jim Thompson, dirt road to Jordan to Teacup. Teacup had winding paths with drop-offs so we bagged it and turned around.

Can you see the guy on the top of the rock? It may be hard in the blog but he his on that little ledge. Amazing.

I pooped out again after 3 hours of riding and took the road-Jordan Road to the tourist stretch of Oak Creek Canyon's Uptown Sedona and had a malted vanilla milkshake with Brad as we waited an hour for our buddies to ride back the trail. Our ride after we split from our friends took us 5 maybe 6 minutes and it was all downhill. Here is the other pooper in the Plaza.

Turkey Creek Trail

Wednesday we road the road-Verde Valley School Road to Turkey Creek Trail; an out and back ride from the house. It was a nice open trail, not much rock climbing until a few miles from the summit. Again, I pooped out and turned around about a mile from top after I popped off my bike one too many times on a rocky uphill.

The dual suspension bike was to blame! Ha! Not quite. I was just a little weak in the upper body and tired from wanting to ride EVERYDAY. I really did, Sedona and the Red Rocks are so beautiful. I was so tired I bombed the downhills more than I would normally. I hate walking. And I consider myself a climber - oh yea, my blog title. I kept my belly in check with drinking about two bottles of red wine a day, ate at least four pastries/desserts a day - Oh desserts. I did not write about Jerome, AZ, yet did I?

That was our Monday excursion after our early morning run and ride. Hmmm. Four Berry Crumb Pie. When the blackboard reads "homemade desserts", I am having one of each! I should have but did not.

So Wednesday's three hour ride was mellow like the big-eared Mule Deer.

Hiking

Since I cannot truly take a rest day, I rode my mountain bike to the Desert Flour Bakery on Tuesday. I bought a belly-load of pastries, muffins and bread. My backpack was filled with cinnamon nut buns, chocolate croissants, almond croissants, strawberry cream croissant, a dozen rugula cookies, jam-filled shortbreads, cranberry nut, blueberry and banana nut muffins and a loaf of rosemary walnut bread.

I wanted a few snacks for our hike. Thank goddess I made the trip to the bakery as our hike lasted over four and half hours. I jokingly packed the cinnamon nut buns and a croissant. Who wants to eat gels and cliff bars when we have pastries?! We devoured them two hours into our hike on Airport Loop Trail. We think the vortex made our pastry break on the rocks magical.

We hiked with a lot of consultation with the Sedona Trail Map (Emmitt Barks Cartography), each other and anything else that would guide us. We crossed Red Rocks Crossing through the Crescent Moon Picnic Area, traveled the road for a while to a dirt road that led us to the Ridge Trail. We somehow ended up on Table Top Trail and finally came upon the Airport Loop. We were hiking N and took the Airport Loop clockwise. I am directionally challenged so don't trust what I say but I think we hiked that loop NE. We had fantastic views, especially when the loop headed S. Hopefully my pictures will tell a story.

I am not really a hiker, especially after 4 and 1/2+ hours. That may be a WHOLE different post in itself (hence, feet in very cold and refreshing stream! Great recovery for the next day as I will need it.)

Jack's Canyon

Monday should have been a rest day. I ran with Karen on Bell Rock Pathway to Courthouse to Big Park Loop. Doing the adventure race ill-prepared for the run trashed my left ankle and right knee/IT ban. Even on a trail, I lasted 15 minutes and had to walk. I jogged and walked for an hour. The morning light and silence was incredible.

We saw a jack rabbit with the biggest ears. I will post some pictures when I return home but no jack rabbit as I did not jog with a camera.

Karen and I jumped on the bikes to ride with the guys to do Hot loop. It is supposed to be a climb through Jack's Canyon but we could not find the trail head for mountain bikes.

Karen and I were tired after our run and the ride on the road to Jack's Canyon so we decided to ride the loop we ran in the morning (Monday). Our bodies quivered like jello as I could barely ride an easy trail. At one point my wheel got stuck between two rocks and I just fell over, wedging my knee between the frame and a rock. I have a nice shiner on my knee. We eventually made it back to the bike shop to ask for tune-ups for the rest of the week. Thank you Absolute Bikes as I tweaked my rear derailleur on my fall.

In Jack's Canyon in search of the trail head we did see five beautiful coyotes. Brad and I have been the only ones who hear the coyote songs at 4 a.m. each morning. Our room with a sliding glass door that we leave open faces Jack's Canyon. I pop up at 3:59 a.m. and wake Brad up to listen to the coyotes. Early Tuesday morning they started singing at 1:24 a.m. We think they cornered a dog or some animal as we heard howling, yipping, dog barks and it went on for half an hour. It got a little eerie after a while.

Sedona

Arrived Friday evening, October 12, 2007. Dragged our bums into Brad's mother's home in the lovely Village of Oak Creek around 11 pm AZ time after a Costco stop for LOTS of wine and dinner at a steakhouse.

We rented mountain bikes at Absolute Bikes Saturday morning. Road trails the last two days. I am in HEAVEN and I am a die-hard roadie.

Saturday: Easy trail to acclimate and to keep all six of us together. We rode Bell Rock Trail to the end where there was a trail system map (and bathroom). Rode back Bell Rock Trail to Little Horse Trail ?? to Chapel Trail. A bit too much walking up rocky, sandy trails and I asked to head back home. Road Llama Trail back to Bell Rock. Two hour ride. Just awesome.

Sunday, rode Bell Rock Trail to Templeton Trail to the dirt road of Verde Valley School Road. Off of Verde Valley Road Karen, Barb and I turned off to do the Baldwin Trail loop counter clockwise. I could have ridden ALL day. Just fabulous weather and amazing rocks jutting out of the earth. We were riding/walking our bikes/taking pictures for five hours. Again, heaven.

Heaven includes lots of wine after the rides. Thank goddess for my typing skills as after five glasses of Oregon Pinot (Erath) and something Syrah (Waterbrook-Columbia Valley), my fingers are a bit numb.

I must go as they are calling me for the prayer before a fabulous Cuban dinner Nancy (Brad's mother) has prepared for Sunday night football! Okay, she prepared an awesome meal to introduce us to her neighbor, Rob, who owns a roofing company. His second home is here in Sedona next door and Bob and Karen are staying in his guest room.

Cheers and blessed be.

I am back for a respite. Pulled pork, black beans and rice (lots of olive oil and a bit of cilantro), sauteed plantains soaked in rum and the guys switched from the flowing red wine to rum and coke with lime with dinner.

After our ride today I was talking of running early in the morning tomorrow so we can do a long climbing ride around 8 a.m. with the guys over at Jack Canyon. Hummm. Luckily I am able to correct all my typos as I go. Not sure if I will be able to do a long, challenging mountain biking ride but my heart wants to keep on riding.