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.