My ride today with Missy Giove

commiebomb said:

Very nice, it is pics like these that make me remember just how beautiful Prescott can be, even though I am trying to leave this town as quickly as possible. How would you rate that ride in terms of difficulty, I am fairly new to biking but at the same time always up for a challenge.

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Realize the ride had a good deal of graded dirt road, so it wasn't a huge singletrack loop, even though milege wise it's probably decent. I did this ride just to enjoy the natural scenery. It's best if you can compare against other rides. The main thing is that you have to climb up Spruce Mtn (~1500' or slightly more), up Smith Ravine (~1500) and up Spruce Mtn Road (~700). Those are just the major elevation changes. so realistically it's probably 4K or more vertical. As with most of my Prescott rides, it packs a good deal of vertical into what could be said to be a fairly small amount of distance, but that's just what Prescott is good at offering. I saw a few guys at the top of Spruce Mtn that had ridden their bikes partially up the same route that I did (Smith to the top of Spruce Mtn), and they were taking a break. By doing this ride I missed the real crappy parts of the Spruce Mtn climb, but it was by no means easy. It would be best to climb up Spruce Mtn and decide if you could do another climb of that size, if the answer is maybe, then you are probably good to go. There are several good places to stop and rest. It does kind of suck when you head up Smith Ravine, because it's by no means easy, and then at the top you have to climb a pretty direct (which means STEEP) 700' in about ~1.3 miles. THAT is what granny is for. I did it in under 3hrs, but didn't stop much. As I said, it was mainly about just getting out and enjoying the area.