Mountain Biking in Flagstaff

Byron, Jeff, Jessica, Lisa, Rusty, and Steele

We set forth on our most epic adventure yet on a perfect September day. On my odometer it was 80.57 miles from Mars Hill to Grandview point at the Grand Canyon. It was an 11-hour trip in total, with about 7 hours actually rolling, plus a long, leisurely lunch, a few mechanical breaks, a few minor and unplanned detours, and several shorter rest stops. Photo ops abounded, and here's the record.

Mile 12 - Hart Prairie Road

Lisa and I left Mars Hill at 6:05 AM and reached Steele's house at 6:15. We were both frozen by Flagstaff's dawn September chill. We met Rusty, Byron, and Jessica at 180 and Schultz Pass road at 6:30, and rolled out along 180 to the first rally point at Hart Prairie Road, with Jessica setting a blistering early morning pace. Then came the 3.5 mile spin from 7600' up to 8400'. Here Rusty heads toward the peaks up the gentle grade.

Mile 14 - Hart Prairie Rally Point

Lisa rolls into rally point 2 amongst the aspens at 8400' on Hart Prairie Road.

Mile 22 - Hochderffer Hills

We cruised through the ghostly Hochderffer Fire burn, 17,000 acres of denuded trunks sticking skyward.

Mile 30 - Arizona Trail

The route follows the AZ Trail for a while, and the roads become fairly rocky and rutted. We stopped at a field of picturesque weeds for a group photo.

Mile 33 - Arizona Trail With a View

Our mountain biking skills may be suspect, but we are excellent at posing for group photos. From here we could get our first glimpse of the destination -- all way out on the horizon.

Mile 33 - Back in the Saddle on the AZ Trail

So occasionally we do actually pedal. Here Byron, Lisa, and Jessica head toward the plateau.

Mile 34 - Descending to the Coconino Plateau

It was not far to the next stop. It was either a crash, a pit stop, or both. It did give us time to examine Byron's disgusting sandwiches, which were brutally strapped to the back of his bike. After 34 miles of being jostled, crushed, and exposed to the sun, they were starting to disintegrate and were oozing some kind of liquid. Just so you don't miss them, Steele is pointing to them helpfully in the picture below.

Mile 37 - Coconino Plateau

Down on the flats, we rolled toward the cache and a welcome lunch, with Red Mountain on the horizon.

Mile 39 - Lunch!

After about 4.5 hours, we reached the cache point at the intersection of FR 416 and 9008A. Trail mix, sandwiches, Gookinaid, and lots of water waited in a cooler the shuttlers had deposited in a discreet spot away from the intersection the night before. All this got picked up the next day, and we did our best to "leave no trace."

Mile 45 - North of Tub Ranch

Wide, smooth FR 9008A descends onto the plateau, and we had a stiff tailwind pushing us. Speedometers got up to 37 mph on this stretch as we sped along across a vast land.

Mile 47 - A Little Farther North of Tub Ranch

Look carefully and you can see Steele and Lisa on the horizon at upper right. (Steele's the one with the red jersey.) Rusty and Jessica can be seen at upper left, on the road. Everyone is stopped here...

Mile 47 - Just About Enough of Tub Ranch

We're stopped because we were speeding along through the goathead thorns, and the tubes that didn't have slime took some hits. A pain, maybe, but one could have worse views while changing a tire. That distant massif is the same one we're cranking toward (from the other side) in the first picture above.

Mile 49 - Powerline Road

The goatheads strike again! Byron helped with the tire fix, while Rusty, Lisa, and Jessica checked out the maps...

Mile 61 - Moqui Stage Stop

We took a break at this historic stage coach stop. The stage ran from Flagstaff to the Grand Canyon in the 1890s, taking 12 hours and costing $20.00 (even back then!). Steele got this pic of Byron and me at the sign, along with Lisa's Blur and Byron's Fisher 29'er. I was starting to get a little too tired to appreciate it in detail, but as we spun along the old, rock-strewn road, I had to wonder who had gone before on this painfully dry route, bumping along on wooden wheels behind the steady tread of the horses.

Mile 80 - Grandview Point

We made it, with no serious mechanicals, no bonks, and very little blood. By my cyclocomputer, we were 7 hours 7 minutes rolling, 3 hours 49 minutes having lunch, fixing flats, studying maps, and taking breaks. A little faster than the old stage at 10:56, but not by much! Emerging from FR 301, we had a glorious 2-mile spin along the Canyon Rim Drive in a perfect peloton, with me at the back, drafting happily, and a revitalized Lisa leading the way at at brisk pace.

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