Flagstaff to the top of Mt Elden

Flagstaff, second ride. Like the last few rides I started out of a hotel room. It's nice to have a hot shower, some recovery food waiting in the fridge and a bed for a nap waiting. Having my pick of restaurants, just down the street doesn't hurt either. Tonights fare was mexican at Salsa Brava, sister restaurant to Fat Olives, which we had yesterday. I couldn’t recommend them enough, both are excellent. 

 Starting out on Winifred Ranch again, up to Forces of Nature, went West this time. I Mapped out all of Forces of Nature but somehow got on Middle Tier again, so I am missing a big chunk. Next time I guess. I swear I was following the purple line on my Garmin. Oh well. I don't think it affected Forces of Nature, but going up Oldham my garmin wanted to send me up the old defunct fall line trail. I think because of Climb Pro. Then the course just went away and I had to choose it again. Or maybe I just went off course on Middle Tier, but I thought I got back on the purple line. Well, both were fun in this direction. 

 Oldham was super tough in places and at one point my garmin said I had two miles left and 1000'. Thats why I think it was trying to send me up the very old fall line trail. There were spots early that were obvious short reroutes out of eroded sections. But this time Garmin wanted me to continue on a climb just before Scarlet Begonias. Then it did not match at all. That was fine cause I wasn't looking forward to a 500' per mile climb. In contrast to the beginning of Lower Oldham, the rest was less old school and well conceived. I even passed a guy cutting out a small stump out of the trail. Many switch backs and the occasional techy spot to keep it interesting. The trail goes through fields, shady forests and exposed ridges. Upper Oldham ends at Elden Look out road. 

 Cross it and take Sunset from there. Unless, like me you just have to go to the top. I took the road up and HAB the hiking trail to Upper Sunset, which I was fully aware of. What I wasn't prepared for was that Sunset was more up hill than down and at 9000' I was struggling with it. Plenty of knar, if you got the goods. Rock drops, rocky ups, rocky switchbacks, you get the idea. Add to that plenty of exposure.

I considered going down Heart, but I wanted to make sure I got pictures of the ancient beach, that I missed the other day. Turns out I could have and shortened my ride. But Little Bear has been on my list too. It has its ups and downs, mostly down. Some fast, some slow tech with some tricky shale sections, with plenty of exposure. 

It seemed like forever but I finally got to Little Elden. I got to go down what I went up on Tuesday and visa versa. It was a nice break from Little Bear. Whether you are loving or hating it, give it ten minutes and get the other. 

Back on Christmas Tree, almost done, but not before a little more of Forces of Nature techy tech. Complete with plenty of pedal strikes. And this:

Before getting on to Winifred Ranch and home. 

Flagstaff Riding on Ancient Beaches

In the theme of My last two Prescott rides, I started this one right out the hotel. I won’t use the word Epic, but….

My wife and I are getting older and Hotel/Motels have a lot of advantages. I’ve camped, as a ride jump off point, my fair share. More than most and less than many hardy souls.

Unlike Prescott, I saw 3 other riders and one was heading out on a different trail from a trailhead. As I get rolling after a stop, about 2 miles up a five mile climb, one rider, younger than me (seems like most of them are these days) appears to be rolling up quickly, while I didn’t try to hold him off, I did pick up the pace a bit - he caught me anyway. I was in my 50t, he had a 50t in the rear too, but was in 3rd gear, pedaling faster than me too lol. Wearing gym shorts, a backpack, and sneakers on flat pedals! As I write this, I don’t think it was an E-bike, but I can be E-bike blind at times. Hmm

Probably just younger and altitude acclimated…

I saw three groups of hikers, all human sitings were near trailheads.

I went by two campgrounds.

Had LTE most of the time. My wife said she only lost me briefly on Garmin Live Track, when I was nearly done.

Anyway, with a short jaunt from the motel, on one of Flagstaff’s ubiquitous bike paths to a gravely path, I was traveling through a small neighborhood and heading up the mountain on the Winifred Ranch trail. I was already noticeably at a slower pace than normal in the valley. My starting point in Flagstaff was nearly as high as the high riding at Prescott and went up from there. Winifred Ranch intersects Forces of Nature in a particularly knarly spot, doable by Jeff Lenosky, but this Jeff hiked several sections. Some I probably could do, if less winded. I did similar ones shortly after. But some might take some more work on my part. But much better than a year ago When I just got over Pityriasis Rosea that comes with a rash that has been described as a Christmas tree pattern. So it is fitting that the next trail was Christmas Tree trail😉.  Fed in by a particularly nasty downhill, that is part of Fatman’s loop. A parting gift from Forces of Nature, according to Trailforks.  Completely rideable of course!

On to Little Elden and the main climb of the day. According to my Garmin it was 4.72 miles and 1657’of the climbing. This included Lower Sunset and to the top of Secret.

While steep at times, the Elden climb wasn’t just up. Flats and downhills gave welcome breaks and kept things interesting.

On Lower Sunset a bit to the trailhead to start Secret. Which was some awesome slow tech. Surprisingly, over a thousand feet higher and many more in my legs and I was making more stuff. I could have done without the thwacking my shins took from the flora from time to time, but it was a fair exchange in the end.

According to Trailforks, I was on a trail called Twisted Sister (what am I at Hawes Secret? Twisted Sister?) but I never saw a sign for Twisted Sister. I saw signs for Moto and Newman (which looked like it could some help, from the little bit I saw)

That being said, the last part of Secret/Twisted Sister, what I saw was a sign for Rocky Moto, which, as I was descending this twisty speed garden of rocks and roots, felt spot on.

Lower Moto into Easter Island gave a welcome breaks from the relentless shake, rattle and roll of Rocky Moto. No suspension here folks.

Chimney even more of a break, as Rocky Ridge really brought back the slow tech. Did I make it all? No. Was I on the on the verge of failure most of the time? Yes! I was having a blast.

Forces of Nature was tame in comparison overall, but had its really tough features and some spectacular geology.

As I got back closer to Winifred Ranch, the features in Forces of Nature started to ramp up.  

I’ve been riding 165mm cranks and thought pedal strikes were nearly extinct.  But I had plenty up here. Aside from the lower bottom bracket, I think the longer wheelbase had me high centering more than my old school bikes.

THE END