To Sedona!

I'm suicidal, it seems. The bright idea I had planned today was to ride to Sedona via the Old Munds Highway, then down Schnebly Hill Road, then ride back up and home. All in all, about 88 miles of riding. Doable, or so I thought. So, I set out at 9:30 this morning, with a full stock of Sobe, and Cosmic Ray's book of misdirection in hand. I had planned on getting to Sedona in 3 hours, and allowing 5 hours to get back home.

Yeah, of course it didn't happen that way.

Halfway down Schnebly Hill Road, which is a great 6 or so mile blast downhill into Sedona, I hit a rock doing about 30 with the front wheel and got a wicked pinch flat. No big deal, I just popped in the spare I keep on the bike. But, I lost track of the time up to that point. It was 2:30, way later than I planned on getting to Sedona. So I called Exe for a rescue, and rolled into Sedona.

What took me so long? I took a lot of pictures.

The first roadblock of many.

A shallow little lake. The road ran through the middle of it, with a few inches of water and a LOT of mud over the road.

Then came the snowdrifts, three feet deep and sometimes a few hundred feet long over the road, accompanied by more mud.

This looked cool, a little tunnel in the snow formed by meltwater.

An old stone dam off the road a bit.

Yeah... then the road went under a stream. I was stubborn and crossed it.

Then under more snow, and under the stream again. At this point, I abandoned the road and followed a faint game trail that was headed in approximately the same direction as I wanted.

The game trail paid off, and dumped me right on the road I wanted, at a little bridge over the stream I'd crossed twice. I sat here and dried my feet for a while. I felt like Huck Finn, sitting on a bridge with bare feet. All I needed was a fishing pole.

It was a long grind up Schnebly Hill Road before the downhill, and I shot out from the trees to this view.

And this one too.

Schnebly Hill Vista. I can see Sedona!

After calling Exe for a save, I took the singletrack Munds Wagon Trail from the road down the canyon into town.

MMmm.... shake. Enjoyed while watching the amusement of the roundabouts, waiting for Exe to arrive.

I felt great, for having ridden to Sedona, and if I had more time, I'm sure I would have been able to ride back home. But, I was not familiar with the roads to get back home, and I didn't really look forward to going over all the snow and mud and creek crossings with it getting colder.

I definitely want to do this ride again when it warms up a bit more and the snow finally melts.

After we got home, I felt good enough to ride to Beaver Street with Exe and TC and Alex for dinner. I think it's going to be a good year.

Mileage: 52