The Downhill is a Lie

I signed up for the Flagstaff to Sedona ride on the mistaken belief that it was "all downhill". I knew, of course, that it wouldn't *all* be down hill, but we were led to believe by several sources that it was at least primarily downhill. This turned out to be an awful awful lie.

One fellow, after the ride, posted his GPS results here (click on the "player" button on the far right to see a pretty cool animation of the ride). Apparently we climbed 2143feet and descended 4824 feet. That, my friends, is a LOT of climbing. Especially when the bulk of the trail looks like this:

This meant that we spent a lot of our time doing this:

The pine needles mixed with the clayey mud formed what must be the world's strongest natural cement on our bikes. Several times, people with caliper breaks found that their wheels would simply no longer turn. Folks like me (a bit on the heavier side) found that even after cleaning all the gunk off of our tires, it still felt like we were running on flats. It wasn't like riding through mud...it was, literally, riding through mud.
Oh, and did I mention that it was a 40+ mile ride? Yes. Bike computers varied, but were in the range of 39-41 miles. I had no business on a ride like this, but feeling confident that it was "All Downhill", I figured I could manage. Well. What the organizers advertised as a 4-5 hour ride ended up taking close to 7(nearly 8 according to the above linked data, which I think is slightly off), I think? Perhaps longer. And it was mostly because yours truly averaged approximately 6mph--even with the 30+mph downhills factored in. I just wasn't ready for it. But with many stops and a bit of walking up some of the more heinous climbs, I made it. And while it was all beautiful, the views towards the end of the ride down Schnebly Hill Road were just...awesome. Here are some more shots from the day. I'll let most of them speak for themselves, as I am both tired and lazy at this point in the day.

I busted my chain about 3 miles into the ride. Good times. Fortunately there were mechanically inclined people there to help. And people with cameras and no sympathy. :)

Don't let this photo fool you. I was usually *much* farther behind the pack than this...






After trudging through the rain up Schnebly Hill with a sore knee and thoughts of heralding one of the many Forest Service Trucks, we (the other 2 fellows willing to take it easy with me) simultaneously topped a hill and rounded a corner to see the views in the last 4 photos. It was a completely jaw-dropping moment. I'm fairly certain that I squealed, dropped my bike and ran to the edge of the road/overlook and just gaped for several minutes. I won't say that I forgot the incredible pain and shame of the previous part of the ride, climbing and trudging through all that mud--but I will say that these views really did make it all worthwhile.
Well, the views and the bragging rights. I rode a 40 mile bike ride, uphill, through mud and rain. I rode from Flagstaff to Sedona!