jerome/orme loop (az ride)
Ok, our sedona/jerome loop turned into an orme road/jerome loop. Here's the track of the ride:
We met at the lowest point on the map.. Corky, Tom, & I. We rode about 55 mi dirt, then from Jerome i parted & went to the mvd in cottonwood, Home depot, etc (errands
). Tom & Corky rode through Cherry, back to the start. Here are some pics & descriptions of the ride:
True to form, i went down. i was going around a corner, took it too wide to avoid a big rut, overcorrected, back tire slid in hard pack. The shifter was bent, a faring came off the hand guards.. tweaked my foot & ankle a bit too.. still hobbled. At least i got it out of the way early in the ride.
The shifter was hitting the case guard & not letting me upshift. I pulled it off & Corky performed emergency surgery with the most delicate tools available.
Corky taking a well deserved break after riding for about an hour..
Some of the roads were rocky, some were pretty easy.. a good ride. Enough nasty stuff to be fun, but some breaks from it, too.
Don't see a lot of these guys much anymore.. they eat ants & are easily disturbed. This guy is pretty little.. only about 2" long.
Tom taking a victory lap.. well.. he was just catching up.. Tom & I were so slow that Corky took a nap!
Some great views on this ride.. some to the south,
Cottonwood & the verde valley to the north.. you can see the sedona red rocks in the distance.. a little hazy, though.
This was probably our most traumatic event.. with a moral to the story. We had to back track once because of the paper map Tom brought & my inattention to the gps. So i had to stop at every intersection to make sure we were on the right road. Well, Corky got impatient with all this geekiness, so when a road was declared, took off. At one intersection there were 3 roads, but only 2 on the map. We started taking the high one, assuming it would follow the mountainside, but it got very narrow, so i turned back & got on the right one. I was hoping Corky & Tom would also turn back, or that the high road would connect with the main one. Well, Corky said the road turned into a squirrel trail & they finally decided to turn back. By then i could see them about 200' higher up the mountain. The bikes would stop. I would yell if they were ok.. they were. They were trying to turn the bikes around. Corky got his drz turned, but had to walk up about 100yds to help Tom get his husky turned. I had my cell phone, so made a few calls..
, relaxed & enjoyed the views. Finally, they made it back. The above pic is Tom working his way along the squirrel trail. below, they are back on the main road. They were about the upper left corner of that pic.
coming 'round the mountain.. sycamore canyon in the distance, bits of Jerome around the hill:
Here's Jerome.. you can see the 89a switchbacks starting on the upper left, & the old copper mining town on the side of the mountain.
The last part was brutal.. very rocky for about 3 miles. There was no smooth parts, just sharp, jagged rocks. We were all glad to get to the end for.. LUNCH!
All total for me was about 130 miles.. about 40 to the meeting spot on I-17, 55 miles from orme to jerome, then about 35 back to sedona. I went from 80 on the freeway to 10-15 in the rocky stuff. A great dual sport ride!
scotty
We met at the lowest point on the map.. Corky, Tom, & I. We rode about 55 mi dirt, then from Jerome i parted & went to the mvd in cottonwood, Home depot, etc (errands
). Tom & Corky rode through Cherry, back to the start. Here are some pics & descriptions of the ride:True to form, i went down. i was going around a corner, took it too wide to avoid a big rut, overcorrected, back tire slid in hard pack. The shifter was bent, a faring came off the hand guards.. tweaked my foot & ankle a bit too.. still hobbled. At least i got it out of the way early in the ride.
The shifter was hitting the case guard & not letting me upshift. I pulled it off & Corky performed emergency surgery with the most delicate tools available.
Corky taking a well deserved break after riding for about an hour..
Some of the roads were rocky, some were pretty easy.. a good ride. Enough nasty stuff to be fun, but some breaks from it, too.
Don't see a lot of these guys much anymore.. they eat ants & are easily disturbed. This guy is pretty little.. only about 2" long.
Tom taking a victory lap.. well.. he was just catching up.. Tom & I were so slow that Corky took a nap!
Some great views on this ride.. some to the south,
Cottonwood & the verde valley to the north.. you can see the sedona red rocks in the distance.. a little hazy, though.
This was probably our most traumatic event.. with a moral to the story. We had to back track once because of the paper map Tom brought & my inattention to the gps. So i had to stop at every intersection to make sure we were on the right road. Well, Corky got impatient with all this geekiness, so when a road was declared, took off. At one intersection there were 3 roads, but only 2 on the map. We started taking the high one, assuming it would follow the mountainside, but it got very narrow, so i turned back & got on the right one. I was hoping Corky & Tom would also turn back, or that the high road would connect with the main one. Well, Corky said the road turned into a squirrel trail & they finally decided to turn back. By then i could see them about 200' higher up the mountain. The bikes would stop. I would yell if they were ok.. they were. They were trying to turn the bikes around. Corky got his drz turned, but had to walk up about 100yds to help Tom get his husky turned. I had my cell phone, so made a few calls..
, relaxed & enjoyed the views. Finally, they made it back. The above pic is Tom working his way along the squirrel trail. below, they are back on the main road. They were about the upper left corner of that pic.coming 'round the mountain.. sycamore canyon in the distance, bits of Jerome around the hill:
Here's Jerome.. you can see the 89a switchbacks starting on the upper left, & the old copper mining town on the side of the mountain.
The last part was brutal.. very rocky for about 3 miles. There was no smooth parts, just sharp, jagged rocks. We were all glad to get to the end for.. LUNCH!
All total for me was about 130 miles.. about 40 to the meeting spot on I-17, 55 miles from orme to jerome, then about 35 back to sedona. I went from 80 on the freeway to 10-15 in the rocky stuff. A great dual sport ride!
scotty
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