[scrublover]

Seven of us drove down, with another two flying in from back east to join us. Nice warm/mild weather. Beautiful scenery. Gobs of tourists. All the crystal/vortex/hippy crap being sold to said tourists. Some great food. A rental house available for a week.

A wonderful selection of trails. Short and long loops. One day in Phoenix to hit South Mountain. One day over in Prescott. South was a blast. Always fun to ride a new place that I've only seen a bunch of pictures of before.

 

[scrublover]

Mas.

Making it down the spine line was a nice bonus at South. Having only seen it in pics doesn't do it justice. It isn't really that bad, but it's much nastier in person than any pic I've ever seen of it shows.

The others in the group who had been to Sedona pushed for me to bring the big bike. 7x7" squishy vs. 5.5" forked hartdail. I'm glad I listened, and brought the squishy. Sure, tougher on the climbing, but oh so fun on the rest of the stuff. The hardtail would have been good and fun as well, but the squish let me do a few bigger things that I may have begged off of doing on the hardtail.

 

[scrublover]

Thanksgiving. Wow. Thankful to be able to ride a bike. That I'm doing it in a beautiful place, with good friends. That Shaine created the most deliciously brined turkey, and a spicy mole' sauce to go with it. The for nine people we had five homemade pies. That Tupperware contaniers can hold large amounts of leftovers to take on the ride the next day.

Thankful for all the good things in my life, and even much of the bad.

 

[scrublover]

Still convinced most of the "vortex" stuff down in Sedona are only birthed from the imaginings of a bad acid trip in someones past....

Though we did have some odd things around the house, and on the trails. Lights and things turning on of their own volition. A few alien sightings. Eric nearly being sucked up into a tractor beam of some sort. (this last, caught on film; sure, it only looks like a shot taken facing into the sun.....)

 

[Ya_Hozna]

Bad acid trip?

Still convinced most of the "vortex" stuff down in Sedona are only birthed from the imaginings of a bad acid trip in someones past....

I would say that came from a GOOD acid trip!

 

[scrublover]

Cramming seven of us into two small cars was interesting. Five bikes on my little car, and three people. Two bikes and four people in Davetoo's Subie. Thankfully I had a wire cargo rack on mine, and he has a space pod storage thingy on his. It was a tight fit. Long, stinky driving ensued. Getting about 100 mpg less than my normal was a bit disheartening, but still better than the cost of renting a larger truck or van to get us all down there.

The weather was amazing all week long. Until...... threatening storms for the drive home day. We lucked out, and squeaked home without encountering any difficulties, if a bit slowly.

 

[scrublover]

The order of the days was pretty simple. Up early (well, some of us) eating/coffee drinking/suiting up/ensuring the bikes would roll for another day. Then off for whatever that days ride plan was. Back to the house to eat there, or out a few times. Sometimes even cleaning ourselves up first.

We managed to drive to ride only twice: the day in Phoenix, and the day in Prescott. All the rest of the riding was done door to door from the house. Nice. This also made it easy for me to hit an ice cream place on the way back to pick up a milkshake. Twice. End of ride energy drink.

Then there was the (seemingly) longest day of local riding. No bike trouble for me all day, but I flat halfway home on the pavement. And I'm absolutely starving. Providentially, said flat occured right next to a KFC....... Fixing the flat took much energy, fueld by six chicken fingers with BBQ sauce, and five biscuits. Uuuuuurp. I had a light dinner that night.

TG and the spoon? He was eating leftover pumpkin pie in the car, and snoozed off.

 

[scrublover]

Nearly out of words. I'm not the most verbose at the best of times. Now, sitting at home, it's cold out. Sunny. Wanting to ride today, but finding it hard to get suited up for the chilly temps of the day. Motivation is nowhere to be found. Perhaps seeing all the pictures will be just the trigger needed to send me flying from the warmth of the house.

 

[scrublover]

The last few. Thanks for looking. I hope everyone else had a great Thanksgiving day. Or at least a great day. Hell, even a day.

 

[r39205]

Wow, what an awesome trip, and awesome pics to go with it! It made me thankful to be able to live here (Phoenix) and realize that I should be taking more advantage of the awesome beauty and trails that are practically at my doorstep in Sedona. Glad you all made it back in one piece with big smiles (or at least sweet dreams). )

Monica

 

[Nick.]

excellent!
I love the riding in Arizona.

 

[Christine]

Oh God I can't stand it!! Stop with the awesome photos or I'm going to have to start spending money I don't have and just go west!!

Gorgeous.

 

[JMac47]

Gnhaaaw!.....STIL?

What's the pucker factor for this little shoot?

Beautiful pics there Scrub. Looks like a good time had by all. We're hopefully do out there (Mum's in Prescott) over the coming holidays.

Thanks for the Passion hit.

 

[brianc]

Excellent. Hope my AZ trip next week is on par with that. thanks for the HIT.

BTW, we had 2-4 inches of snow Thx weekend and now its 60F. Are you still thinking about a return to the motherland?




is it friday yet????????

 

[scrublover]

Excellent. Hope my AZ trip next week is on par with that. thanks for the HIT.

BTW, we had 2-4 inches of snow Thx weekend and now its 60F. Are you still thinking about a return to the motherland?

is it friday yet????????

depends on when/if jenny finds a job out there. staying where she has one now is better than moving back out there without! i can work wherever we move. i'd rather stay here, but i think we'll be out there in the long run.

 

[KRob]

What's the pucker factor for this little shoot?

Beautiful pics there Scrub. Looks like a good time had by all. We're hopefully do out there (Mum's in Prescott) over the coming holidays.

Thanks for the Passion hit.

Great looking trip. I agree with JMac47. That little drop looks almost vertical from that angle. Cool pic(s).

 

[ibmkidIII]

Great looking trip. I agree with JMac47. That little drop looks almost vertical from that angle. Cool pic(s).

It is....I have the marks on that pair of shorts from the tire to prove it (I swear they are from the tire!). Easily the steepest thing I've ever done on the bike...but it does go.

 

[ibmkidIII]

Thks for the post Scrub...now maybe if I get off my arse, I'll post mine...Igive it a 10% chance...rather ride tonight instead.

Now where are my feet warmers (aka gallon ziploc bags). Brrrrrrrrrrr

 

[JMac47]

Lol!

It is....I have the marks on that pair of shorts from the tire to prove it (I swear they are from the tire!). Easily the steepest thing I've ever done on the bike...but it does go.

......and to top it, you didn't even need a big bike to do it!! The bigger the bike, the bigger the tyrz, the bigger the skid mark then, right?

JMac (turning a darker shade of green with envy after reviewing this post again........)

 

[Debaser]

Annual?

Looks like fun w/a good crew. It seems theres always at least one more place to go towards....