It's been quite a while since i posted a ride report. Other than a few mini rides, i haven't been riding much. But even with the economy, i'm not getting any younger, so Kim & i decided to make it happen & head out. The mountain roads had been closed for the winter, but have opened up. This ride is one of our favorites. There are a few spots with lots of rocks, some mud, good vistas, & of course, Lunch!
So yesterday we headed out & climbed up schnebly hill road.. a classic view ride. Here's the view from the top..
We continued up schnebly hill, crossed the freeway, then into the pines.
I was surprised to see some snow & ice still around. Yesterday was the first 100* day in phoenix, & it had been warm all week. But in the mountains there was still some patches of snow.
It made it a little muddy in spots, & there were a few wide puddles we had to ride through, but nothing too bad.
oh.. here's the riders. Kim & me (scotty).
I lost my garmin 60csx on a canoe trip down the verde in march, & had a nuvi big screen to take, but no where to mount it on the bike. I carried it in my fanny pack & pulled it out every so often to see if i was on the right track. Unfortunately, i had missed a turn about 2 miles back, & had to backtrack. Kim had made the turn, so i thought i'd catch up eventually. But i missed other turns & ended up on some dead ends. I finally backtracked & got back on the right road fr 90h, & followed it to mormon lake. Fortunately, Kim was there. He had gotten off the road, too, but managed to follow his gps & get to the lodge.
This is the highlight of our trip.. food at the lodge restaurant!! Imagine our disappointment to find it was only open on weekends until May 1. We dejectedly went into the little convenience store & bought some frozen chimichangas, nuked them & sat outside to eat. Then a big pack of harley dudes came up, heading for the bar, which was also closed. They were careful to park their bikes the same way Kim & I did.. I'm sure they wanted to look like real bikers.. like me & Kim... & they didn't want to get us mad, either.
No beer at the bar, so the harley guys all left to continue their search. Kim & I finished our tasty lunch & got back on the trail. We were going back a different way.. a shortcut we had discovered a couple of years back from the mormon lake area to stoneman without having to take pavement. Since Kim had the mounted gps, he led the way. Unfortunately, he couldn't see it very well, & led us down the wrong road. After a couple of miles detour, we managed to find our way back to fr700, then fr127 to our secret passage.
Well, it wasn't that secret anymore. I guess woodcutters were using it to get firewood, & it wasn't singletrack anymore. But it was still rocky, muddy & challenging. We made it uneventfully to stoneman lake road, then headed down the switchbacks to the verde valley & home.
It's a fun, easy loop with some challenging spots, but no crashes for us, this day. From our start in sedona, it was about 75 miles, maybe 20 of that pavement to get to the trails.
We're going to try to resume a regular riding routine.. maybe next week we'll do another.
So yesterday we headed out & climbed up schnebly hill road.. a classic view ride. Here's the view from the top..
We continued up schnebly hill, crossed the freeway, then into the pines.
I was surprised to see some snow & ice still around. Yesterday was the first 100* day in phoenix, & it had been warm all week. But in the mountains there was still some patches of snow.
It made it a little muddy in spots, & there were a few wide puddles we had to ride through, but nothing too bad.
oh.. here's the riders. Kim & me (scotty).
I lost my garmin 60csx on a canoe trip down the verde in march, & had a nuvi big screen to take, but no where to mount it on the bike. I carried it in my fanny pack & pulled it out every so often to see if i was on the right track. Unfortunately, i had missed a turn about 2 miles back, & had to backtrack. Kim had made the turn, so i thought i'd catch up eventually. But i missed other turns & ended up on some dead ends. I finally backtracked & got back on the right road fr 90h, & followed it to mormon lake. Fortunately, Kim was there. He had gotten off the road, too, but managed to follow his gps & get to the lodge.
This is the highlight of our trip.. food at the lodge restaurant!! Imagine our disappointment to find it was only open on weekends until May 1. We dejectedly went into the little convenience store & bought some frozen chimichangas, nuked them & sat outside to eat. Then a big pack of harley dudes came up, heading for the bar, which was also closed. They were careful to park their bikes the same way Kim & I did.. I'm sure they wanted to look like real bikers.. like me & Kim... & they didn't want to get us mad, either.
No beer at the bar, so the harley guys all left to continue their search. Kim & I finished our tasty lunch & got back on the trail. We were going back a different way.. a shortcut we had discovered a couple of years back from the mormon lake area to stoneman without having to take pavement. Since Kim had the mounted gps, he led the way. Unfortunately, he couldn't see it very well, & led us down the wrong road. After a couple of miles detour, we managed to find our way back to fr700, then fr127 to our secret passage.
Well, it wasn't that secret anymore. I guess woodcutters were using it to get firewood, & it wasn't singletrack anymore. But it was still rocky, muddy & challenging. We made it uneventfully to stoneman lake road, then headed down the switchbacks to the verde valley & home.
It's a fun, easy loop with some challenging spots, but no crashes for us, this day. From our start in sedona, it was about 75 miles, maybe 20 of that pavement to get to the trails.
We're going to try to resume a regular riding routine.. maybe next week we'll do another.
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