February 18, 2023
In Sedona
Bike school of hard knocks
One beautiful vista after another spreads before us as we drive through Sedona. There don't appear to be many pullouts and its a challenge to capture the scene on the camera from the car, but I love this one that Barry took of Cathedral Rock.
After taking a little drive up route 89A north of Sedona late yesterday, Barry is not excited about a ride there on the twisty two-lane shoulder-less road we saw. He's more interested in the trails in Sedona and is looking up bike shops this morning. Hmmm, this is getting serious. After breakfast he drops me off at the Arizona Cypress trailhead for my bike skills class and drives to town for some shopping. We'll see what transpires on that front while I get some schooling.
I'm doing a Ninja MTB Fundamentals class for women today, a combination of drills in the parking lot and skills application on the trail. There are four of us plus our instructor Julie. She has a trove of techniques to cover with us on body position, bike handling, climbing, and braking, demonstrating each drill and cheering on our attempts.
In the parking lot I get enough small success with front wheel lifts in the lot to see how it could be useful to get up over an obstacle on the trail, with a lot of practice. I think I'll start with trying to pop it up over a broomstick. Just hitting the timing will be a win. Other skills come into play on the trail, like looking ahead rather than what's right in front of your wheel, and knowing when to stay off the brakes.
That last bit is my weak spot. When we come to a rocky downhill section late in the morning I let the bike roll down the rocks, then choke on a patch of mud at the bottom and grab the brakes. It's a good demo for the group on how to crash. My back wheel comes up and I do a face plant, a thing I'm sure no instructor wants to see in their class. Luckily there's no significant damage, just a scratch on my forehead where my sunglasses pushed into my face plus assorted bumps and bruises. After Julie runs me through some movements to be sure I am functional, we ride back to the parking lot for lunch and recovery.
A couple of the women aren't able to stick around for the afternoon session so it's just Julie, me, and Jen from Phoenix. I'm sorry the others can't stay but don't mind the extra attention. Julie is an excellent instructor, offering lots of options, feedback and encouragement. We have a great afternoon, getting up and down a bunch of rocky stretches that I would not have attempted before today. There's not much time for picture-taking as we're focusing on the work at hand but at one especially pretty spot Julie offers to take some.
When Barry comes to pick me up there's a new bike on top of the car. He's all in! We'll get the details tomorrow, can't wait to see him ride it.
| Heart | 6 | Comment | 1 | Link |
Today's ride: 7 miles (11 km)
Total: 296 miles (476 km)
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