How did everyone fare over the three day weekend?
I had a very busy weekend. We got up on Saturday morning and did ten miles on the mountain bikes on the trail near us. We went to my nephews 6th birthday party on Saturday afternoon at Peter Piper Pizza. I was bad and ate four (yes, four) pieces of pizza. Afterwards, I went to visit a friend of mine that had surgery last week for a bit, then to As You Wish with another group of friends to paint. We ended up socializing out in the parking lot for a good period of time talking about all kinds of things. It was a great night. This was my creation! It hasn't been glazed yet, but at least I have a coffee cup that someone else (ahem, Dave) won't feel so manly drinking out of.
Sunday, we got up early and headed up to Sedona. We armed ourselves this time with two patch kits, an extra innertube for each bike, a hand pump, two extra liters of water and some energy gels. The trail David found looked amazing.
We got there about 9:15 am and the trailhead parking was already completely full. We tried another lot a little further north and the same thing. We drove back to town and parked in one of the parking lots (about a quarter mile away from the original parking area) had an art show going in and rode the bikes up to the trailhead.
I struggled a bit when we first started. I think it was the altitude because I was wheezing a bit. I brought my inhaler, so I took a few hits off it and rested a second and kept going. The weather was wonderful. We got a lot of up close and personal shots of Bell Rock and the Courthouse Butte.
It was by far, one of the best trails we've ever done. It wasn't as easy as we thought it would be.
The trail was wide in some spots and incredibly narrow in many more... some ups and downs. Overall, there were quite a few rocks. Large rocks. We found spots in the trail that were incredibly steep (up and down) that made what we did turn into a hike bike. We pushed our bikes up or down the hill as much as we were able to ride.
I'm standing in the bottom of a ravine in this picture... before I hauled my bike up that hill over those rocks. There were several instances we ran into areas like this and even Dave (the fearless flyer) didn't even try. He just got off the bike and pushed. On the other side of this hill, we saw a professional attempt to go up the hill on his bike. Attempt is the optimal word. He got a great start, lifted the front tire and got about halfway up before he lost momentum and had to hike it up. I have to say he's a better man than me for trying but it made me feel a little better that I wasn't the only one that didn't have the strength to do it.
We ended up doing about 8 miles in a little less than 3 hours (which was more than we expected time wise) but with the time spent getting off the bike and back on pushing it, it was a half hike and half ride. So, over all not too bad with unfamiliar territory.
I can tell you 5 years ago, I would have never imagined I'd be living the life I am now. I know I have physical limitations with frequent joint pain but if I can just make my body be as headstrong as my mind is, I'd be invincible. I did struggle with this ride. But I'm not a quitter. If I put my mind to it, I make my body cooperate with me. The feeling I had after we were done with the ride was wonderful. I had no idea I had it in me and I never thought I would ever be doing things the way I am now.
and I love every minute of it.
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