Sue and Holly on Old Jeep trail?
I left Prescott to go to first grade in Indiana and haven't been back to Arizona untill last week. I decided to do a combo trip of visiting old friends, checking out the variety of mountain biking Arizona offers, and looking for content for my travel/mountain biking website: single-serving.com.
I only had a week to do everything, which wasn't nearly enough! I went north to south, starting in
Sue and Holly on Old Jeep trail?
My friend from college, Holly, has been living here since the late 90's, and is pretty settled in. Everywhere we went she knew people, well, more so on the trails than in the bars! Sunday we rode from her house and met her friend Sue on the Schultz Creek trail. We rode a combination of trails that was, i think, Fort Valley Trail, Old Jeep Trail, and Rocky Ridge back down. We were constantly in beautiful pine forests, and parts of the trail were also the Arizona trail. The Schultz Creek trail was fun, but well used, and wide, the other trails all connected into one big loop. The worst parts were some loose sandy parts, and the best parts were tight singletrack with rock ledges. The trails were fun and fast. The Schultz trail is great for families and beginners.
Holly and Rob at Pay and Take
That night, Holly and Rob took me to Pay and Take! It's a little bar downtown that's also a liquor store and convenience store, all in a small cozy space. The two front windows and back wall are filled with candy and other convinece store items. On one side is the bar, and on the other side is a cooler with all sorts of beer. I wish Denver had laws that would allow this kinda stuff.
I checked out the bike shops in town. Holly said that her favorite is Singletrack, near the university. From just checking them out, AZ bikes was my favorites, right downtown. AZ Bikes has an cool line of shit called LiveWrong, a parody of the Armstrong LiveStrong thing. Salida has one of my favorite shops ever, Absolute bikes. There are also locations in Sedona and Flagstaff. They are also great shops, but don't seem to have the personality that the shop in Salida has. My brakes stopped working that day, so Bryce at AZ Bikes did a great job bleading and flushing the brakes for me, after chastizing me for not having maintained them for three years!
Macy's European Coffeehouse
Gillie's in Blacksburg was my first vegetarian restaurant with old wooden floors, questionable hygiene, great food, lots of personality, and young hip employees. I've fallen in love with that genre, and now love Mercury and Watercourse in Denver. Well, Holly says that she heard that the Gillies had visited Flagstaff decades ago and that macy's had inspired them to make Gillie's. Macy's is a great little bakery/coffeeshop/vegetarian restaurant, and even has wireless and sometimes live music on weekends. My felaffel sandwich was a little dry, but i didn't get the chance to get come back to see whether that was typical. Even if it is, the atmosphere was so great, i'll keep coming back! I called both Cosmic Ray and Emmit Barks Cartography to carry their guidebooks and maps, and both suggested meeting at Macy's, which really says something about the place. I did end up meeting Cosmic Ray at Macy's on my way out of town. He's around sixty years old and the author of (i think) the most popular mountain bike guide to Arizona. He's got a tone of energy, and his guides are really playful. It was fun meeting him, and i got the bonus of personal recommendations for everywhere i'd be staying!
I drove out of town on 89A south towards
and the drive was absolutely beautiful! Incredible canyons that were suprisingly green. They reminded me a lot of the drive out of the Alps into Italy from Bolzano.
Once the canyons ended, and the horrible trinket shops began, I kept driving, waiting for downtown. I drove and drove, and it was just an endless horrible strip mall made of fake adobe. The scenery didn't stop being great once i was in "town" (the mall). Sedona is kinda shaped like the number "7", 89A is the top of the seven, and 69 is the vertical part. For how small the town is, the two ends are relatively far apart.
Chimney Rock Trail, Sedona West
I continued on 89A into west Sedona and the first bike shop I ran into was Mountain Bike Heaven. They were super friendly and immediately recommended a trail that could be a loop if i used the road right in front of the shop. Because it looked like some rain might be moving in, I decided to do the immedate and nearby ride rather than Cosmic Ray's recommendation, which ended up being on the south side of town. They hadn't had any precipitation in forever, so they were a lot more excited about it than i was.
The ride was a series of trails that paralleled 89A along the base of the Mesas collectively called the Secret Trails, made up of: Chimney Rocks Loop to Thunder Mountain to Teacup, up a jeep trail, down to Jordan Trail, and could have continued to Jim Thompson Trail. The shop recommended riding west to east. The trail is marked well with occasional signs, and wire-wrapped cairns. There are several possible exits to paved roads that can be used to vary the length of the ride.
A wet patch of slickrock on the Jordan Trail
This was my favorite ride of the whole trip! It was tight slickrock with lots of great rocks and little ledges. There were occasional sections where i ended up walking stuff, but was still well worth it. There were great views, although the view on the easterly half of the trail was often shared with housing for people with bad taste, grey hair, and plenty of money. The drizzle started almost right away but wasn't bad, and i was having so much fun that it didn't matter. I decided to bail off Jordan trail onto Jordan road and skip the Jim Thompson trail as the rain got worse. The rain was friendly to me until i hit pavement. As soon as i did, it got worse and worse until i could barely look up from the rain pouring off my eyebrows. I was getting a lot of chain suck, and figured that i could use a new chain and middle ring. I wanted to check out the other shop that had been recommended to me: Bike & Bean to get the goods.
Bike & Bean was a nice shop with a coffee shop back-to-back with the service desk! The coolest thing there is the relief model of the terrain under glass with the trails marked in colored pins.
Big Park Loops, Sedona South
The next morning I got the new chain and chainring on, and my chainsuck went away completely. I decided to do a very abbreviated portion of what Cosmic Ray had suggested to me since i had a busy day planned and needed to get on the road. Ray recommended parking at the Bike & Bean and pick up the trailhead less than 100 feet up the road. I wanted to ride the Bell Rock Path to the Mystic Trail connecting via a marked bike path through a neighborhood. The Mystic Trail ends at Morgan Road, and following it east takes you to the Broken Arrow Trail. Taking a right on the Little Horse Trail would take me to the Llama Trail which would bring us back to Bell Rock.
I chose to just do the Big Park Loops to get a feel for the area. Riding below Bell Rock and Courthouse Butte was beautiful, but the trail was too wide and too smooth for my tastes. I wish that I'd had the time to follow Ray's recommendation.
I showered and checked out of my room and headed back up to 89A to
which, by the way, is pronounced "preskit", where i lived as a four-year-old. I don't remember much, but wanted to see what memories might come back to me. As i drove into the downtown square, i was surprised to not really remember anything there.
Spruce Mountain, Prescott
I had lunch downtown, there seemed to be plenty of good options, then headed six miles south of town to ride Spruce Mountain. The trailhead was easy to find and i immediately hit the loose wide trail. (The surface was kinda wierd, there was some sand, but it was kinda big grain and easy to ride on.) The trail quickly started going up and had some fun roots and rocks. I read that the trail was a brutal uphill. I kept going up and thought that it wasn't too bad. 3.25 miles to the tower at the top. After two miles of uphill with babyhead rocks, and big erosion barriers that were either flagstone, or relatively large round-section wood making things more difficult, i stopped thinking that the uphill wasn't so bad and started really grunting. I was beat by the time i got to the top, but it's winter, i haven't been riding much, and i'd already done a shorter ride that morning. The downhill was defnitely fun, but there were so many rocks and large erosion barriers it really beat me up.
my kindergarden house in Prescott
On my way out of town i had an additional goal: to find the house i lived in as kindergardener! I only had the name of the street. After looking at google maps, i found my way to the street in southern Prescott. I drove it from one end to the other, and nothing looked familiar. I pulled over and got out of the car to call a number my mother had given me for an old friend of hers that might be able to get me more info. As i was calling, i turned around, and, from the other perspective, i recognized the house! I wasn't completely sure, but the more i walked around, the more certain i was. I emailed this pic to my mom, and she said that it was definitely it. The memories weren't exactly flowing, but i did remember the house well, despite all of the changes made to it in the past decades. I called my sister too, and she actually remembered more than i did, even though she was three when we moved.
I had to get to
Bikini Tiki bar (photo from tikiroom.com)
to meet some friends that evening. I was hoping to see Rachel and Danijela together, but because of a misunderstanding, and how far out Danijela lives, I ended up just meeting Rachel and her roommate at Bikini, a dive Tiki bar in a bad part of town that is in an odd transitionary period. Bikini was in a cool triangular building, with some art studios in other wedges that were closed, but had some great pieces visible through the windows. I checked out the hotel accross the street that appeared to be filled with people on the edge of being homeless. I'm really into bicycles and am never without my laptop, so I had to laugh when i saw a sign taped to the desk that said: ABSOLUTELY NO BICYCLES OR COMPUTERS IN THE ROOMS. Needless to say, i didn't stay there. The next morning, I left the gangbanger part of Phoenix, and met Danijela maybe 30 blocks away at La Grange Orange in an area where all the plastic women were driving Mercedes while their husbands were at work. It was hot, Phoenix wasn't doing much for me, and i was beat from riding twice the day prior, so I decided to forego riding in Phoenix and got on 10 south, got me a rootbeer float, and drove to
Jaya and a Kalanchoe
where i saw Traci, who i haven't seen in over ten years! She lives right near downtown, so it was easy to check Tuscon out (since Traci was too busy to be able to show me around much.) In front of her house she had a plant that I've had for a while and was really into, without knowing what it was. Her man told me that it was a Kalanchoe, and that there were actually four varieties in her front yard! The plant grows new seedlings at the tips of each of the serrations in the leaves. They definitely seem to be happier outdoors in Arizona than in the sun in my living room. Mine have never flowered like that! I picked up a couple of one of the other varieties.
Blessed Mother of Video Rental
Tucson had a couple of areas that seemed really cool, and the rest was just Phoenix style sprawl. 4th Street had quite a few restaurants that looked good and more crappy hippy stores than there should be anywhere. Not far away, across the tracks, is the Hotel Congress, and a good looking number of art spaces, bars, and other worthwhile establishments. I'd heard of the Hotel Congress long before going there. When i actually went, i was pretty blown away. Cruising around Tucson, i saw a lot of great old buildings, many art deco, that were in disuse or unrestored, perhaps i should say not torn-down, which would be a problem in most cities. Hopefully the town will grow in a way to encourage these buildings to keep their character as they change use over time.
Spooky Tooth two stroke bicycles
Traci is becoming a real estate agent, and had to go check out a bunch of houses and invited me along. At one point, after seeing a couple of boring new construction houses, we passed a sign that said Spooky Tooth in front of an industrial building, with two sweet looking bikes outside. I made Traci stop, and told her we wouldn't stay long, but there ended up being so much to look at, i destroyed her productivity for the rest of the day! We walked in and realized that all of the bikes were regular pedal bikes converted to run with little two-stroke engines as well. Now, that's an idea i can really throw my hatred into. Bicycles are one of the purest, most efficient, beautiful, and fun things on the planet. Putting a stinky-ass engine on there that probably pollutes more than a 12-cylinder Mercedes Benz luxury car is outright evil as far as i'm concerned. America already has a serious weight and pollution problem, this "solution" removes the way bicycles address these issues. Now, I'm not an eco-warrior, but i love bicycles, and i'll be one of the first people to knock over and draw blood from any god-damned segway riders i see on a "no motorized vehicles" bike path. I have a motorcycle and love riding it, but it has a catalytic converter and can go anywhere a car can and then some. A motorized bicycle isn't fast enough for highways, isn't comfortable enough for long distances, so why not just get a motorcycle and keep your bicycle free of motors? After all that, you'd think i hated Spooky Tooth, but i loved them! Why? Because their designs had character. They really got the soul of what they were trying to do into the project. The shop showed this, the people there showed this, and the popularity amongst Tucson's hipsters shows this. These things just look cool!
Nearly right across the street, i saw a sign made out of a bicycle for BICAS. Traci told me that it was a bicycle collective, similar to ones i know of in other cities. They make bikes out of old parts, take donations, teach kids about working on bikes, and, maybe uniquely to Tucson, they make bike racks, trash cans, and other things that you'll see around town, out of abandoned bike parts!
photo courtesy johnvanderslice.com
Traci couldn't get a baby-sitter for the night, and i would have felt guilty about leaving her alone at home whilst her guest went out, but i had heard great stuff about the Hotel Congress and simply had to check it out. The place absolutely blew me away. It's an old hotel, a restaurant, several bars, and an indie music venue! They had recently renovated the stage area, and it was really stunning. A rich red curtain hangs behind the band, while framing the stage looks like steel that has been cut out in various patterns that are maybe influenced from tattoo art, with some sort of white translucent material behind it that's backlit. The room is small but cozy, and definitely said "please come back" to me, and i defnitely will! We had breakfast at the Hotel Congress the next morning. Breakfast was good, and the prices were very reasonable for the environment.
Fantasy Island Trails
Cosmic Ray also said that if i only did one ride in Tuscon, it should be the Fantasy Island Loops. Other people I talked to didn't necessarily agree, but all thought it was a nice area. It's unique in that it's in the city limits, albeit way out east in the suburbs, not near any mountains or hills. The Fantasy Island Loops were basically the brainchild and sweat of one man: Chuck Boyer. I didn't get the chance to meet him, but would love to. Just riding the trail gives you a sense of his personality and playfullness. He made the trails on land that used to have a motocross course, but was mostly used for bird hunting and illegal dumping. A lot of the trash is still there, and a lot of it has been playfully repurposed to decorate the trail!
The trails themselves are mostly non-technical, fast singletrack. There are some occasional steep fun rides into and out of washes, and plenty of switchbacks. Its fun if you ride it hard, but also a great place for a beginner to get their start. Not being from Arizona, it's always a wonderful feeling to be riding amongst majestic Saguaros. The trail area belongs to a unique type of land ownership, and, resultingly, has a user fee. The problem for people like me from out of state, is that you can only buy the pass for year increments. The good thing is that it's only $15, which can still be steep if you're only riding there once. A bike shop i went to downtown said that they didn't sell access passes, and wouldn't even know where to tell me to get one. Anyway, you should pay. It's a great trail, and it's right in the middle of the suburbs, so everyone wants to earn money from it, and keeping it the way it is just won't earn as much if the person making the final decision sees only profit. Look for named highlights sections, like the half-pipe, and the part where the trail crosses over itself on a little bridge.
After the ride, i packed my stuff, and was on my way to Farmington for work. I was really tired, drove frantically, half-asleep, and was 2.5 hours late!
This background was modified from one found at squidfingers.com