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
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