Sedona

Dawn and I are in Sedona this week. She lured me here with promises of mountain biking. And true to her word, she has been a tenacious rider and a good sport generally.

We have mostly avoided downtown Sedona which is gridlocked with tourists and traffic. The city is home to restaurants, crystals, all things New Age, and art galleries ranging from serious art to velvet Elvis. I will leave it to you to place the example above on that continuum.

Think of Sedona as a significantly upscale Moab with fewer cyclists and an extensive system, dozens perhaps even hundreds, of mountain bike trails radiating out in every direction. Most of the trails are loops, typically of about 3 to 7 miles. You can link them together in a virtually infinite number of combinations to produce an almost endless series of multi-hour rides. It is the best trail system of its kind that I have ever ridden.

The trails are remarkably well marked and well-engineered. Many of Sedona's trails would rate a high moderate level of technical difficulty by modern standards, significantly higher by historical standards. A medium travel bike like the Fuel EX is a decent match for these trails, but the optimal setup would be an even burlier rig. Compared to Moab, Sedona has more vegetation in the form of pinion and juniper, less sand and slickrock, and more hard-packed soils and blocky rocks.

Shout-out to Sled Shed and James Turcotte who spent all day Saturday upgrading Dawn's Bike for the trip with a new dropper post and 1 x 12 Sram drivetrain.