Prescott Land of Epics?

Back when I started this blog apps like Trailforks did not even exist! Pinkbike launched Trailforks in October of 2014 in th US, with the mobile app almost a year later. I wish it was sooner, cause it sure would have made The Quest easier.  Outside acquired Trailforks alongside Pinkbike in July of 2021 and I just missed getting in at the legacy price October of 2024.  I guess I had been out of the game for too long and hadn't realized what was going down.  I guess I used Singletracks trail edition for some of it but they closed the app on 2020, but you can still access their trail maps for free.  They say the memory is the first to go!

Back in the day, I would search for GPS files for the IMBA Epic and other trails that I was looking to do. Getting them off of race sites and local club blogs or hooking up with locals virtually or in person to get the skinny on the trails.  

It took hours!

But now thanks to Garmin and Trailforks, you can make or save an existing Route to MY Wishlist and bam its on Garmin Connect and it's on your Garmin next time you sync up.  It's that easy!

You may have to hit the save to Garmin button.

I was still learning the scale of things on the Edge 540 vs the website on my phone, but It made for so much less stopping, pulling out the phone at intersection (hoping the GPS had caught up, guessing when it didn't...)  and course corrections!

This was second my ride in Prescott Arizona, felt like a sampler of everything Mountain Biking. Hell it’s an all you can eat smorgasbord! 

Rocks, rollers, roots with several tech features thrown in for good measure. 
I wanted to start on the car Dealership Bypass, but only found after going through the dealer lol.  The bypass is shown as a dotted green line on Trailforks Website, but but not at all on my Garmin Trailforks map, as intimated above, my phone has a terrible GPS latency on Trailforks, Oh well. You get to go through a tunnel this way at least.

 That gets you to Badger Mountain. This rolls up and down and up. Very nice single track, with a fun mix of rocky and smooth. You turn off of Badger Mountain on to Turley. Turly has some raw old scoolness to it, fine silty sand somehow, which complement the rocks and roots.  One good steep switchback that caught me out.

It ends through a gate into a neighborhood. While dirt is usually more desirable than pavement, this stretch on this ride is mostly in a back woods neighborhood. But the next is on Senator highway, with only one lane open for construction. That actually was better as the cars were going pretty slow. There was a rideable dirt shoulder for part of the Senator stretch. Then sharp right turn at a gated fire road (the trail is outside the gate on the right side) onto Lower Feldmeir #330 which drops you down so you can climb back up to a short climb on route 89, but not before twisting and turning through some old school feeling trails with rocks and roots and even a pretty cool long pipe section. 
You turn off of 89 into the state forest trailhead and get on the Goldwater Lakes trail (upper back end of the parking area) which climbs above 6000’ for the first time up to 6500’. You get a view of the lakes from up above through the trees. You cross Senator Highway into a trailhead, go left on to Ranch trail. Not #299 Watershed. This is where the Trailforks course actually starts. I started from the bottom. You’ll keep rolling between like 6300’ and 6500’. Then it shares some of Ranch from Tuesday’s intended ride, but in the opposite direction. Turning off onto the Badger Mountain connector. Man is this fast and furious with a little climbing. I went down on this one when a big boulder jumped out me, (Don't you just hate it when that happens?) I made it around the boulder but pushed the front wheel trying to get back on line and not go off the cliff. lol. Back to Badger Mountain and back the way I came except I went out the Dealership bypass to the road to my hotel. 
I should have done this one first. You are riding a lot more between 5600’ and 6000’. 
Which I attribute to being able to get more oxygen. That a lighter breakfast and a more gradual warm up than Tuesday. Maybe a little acclimation too! 
I actually felt better Tuesday once I got lower. Today’s ride only went to 6550’ or so it was late in the ride even that felt better than Tuesday. I felt like I spent a lot of time in the 6700’-7000’ foot range Tuesday. So there is that. 
Sticks did I mention sticks? While not a ton, I am not used to looking for them like when I lived in Jersey. 

Prescott Epic?

Well I have ridden many IMBA epics.  I took a few years off and damn, there are epics out the door of the hotel!  The two rides I did in Prescott where on par with any of the Epics I have ridden in the past and that is just the tip of the iceberg!

Prescott is a friendly town, with a very clean historic town center. With lots to do for any noncyclist amongst you, from the flight of mead at the Superstition Meadery, to wash down one of their several tapas (AKA snacks if you are like me or an excuse to drink mead) I had the moderately sized Italian sandwich and half of my wife's charcuterie board.  Not my usual fare by any means, but delicious none the less.  There are a few different scavenger hunts to try.  The Rodeo was coming in as we left.  I find Prescott more similar to Durango than Sedona, and that is all right by me!  Less traffic than Sedona, even with the construction on route 69.  There is plenty of civilization on the east side of town for anything you might need and Prescott National Forest all around that to escape from it.  If you live in the valley in Arizona the temps are a welcome break in June.

Now onto the ride:

IDK where Trailforks got 9 miles of flat lol. Look at that profile!

So I set out to do a 20 mile 2400’ climb loop I found on Trailforks. I ended up with 3800 per my Garmin, not the 4500' that Trailforks says after the fact. There were several intersections that were not clear TO ME and I added 7 miles, but no way did that add 1-2k’ of climbing.  (I am new to having Trailforks maps on my Garmin) Maybe that’s where Trailforks got some of those flat miles lol. (They were not flat miles either, by the way), I figured out how to get a course off of Trailforks for my next ride  Ha Ha Ha

#62 Ranch was a smooth climb, only about 200’ climbing per mile. But I was in my 32/50 most of it as the 42 was busting this transplanted Minnesota/New Jersey/Arizona valley boys lungs lol. Watershed was another story(when final got the turn right 3rd times the charm). Watershed had several steep loose sections to test your skills and stamina. On the entire ride I probably HAB 200’ climbing total, at least 2x50’ where on Watershed. But if you make everything all the time it is time to find another challenge or turn pro. Lol. 

The fire road, well at least it was short. Because those flies had me surrounded on a couple steep climbs which also get to the high point of almost 7k’.

So all down hill from here, yeah right. Not a chance. 

At about three and a half hours, Smith Ravine, was the first place I saw another human on the trail.

Its black diamond and while more down than up was definitely not as smooth as Ranch, which is good. It was a little rough almost knar, almost. There were several techy features to keep things interesting. As I got to the the trail head for #305 Homestead, I saw the only other humans of the day on the trail. There is a green trail option on the trailhead side of the road, but you cross South Walker Road to find Homestead did cross many roads, main roads only a few times, mainly camp roads going to Lynx lake. Homestead also passed through several trail heads. I had to ride around a few times find where 305 exited. All in all  good time. I wonder how it is in reverse.