In May I had a chance to meet up with some of my mountain biking friends from Kauai in Sedona and St. George. Having never ridden either spot, and missing my friends, and being over due for a bike trip, I jumped at the chance. Rather than write a travel piece which isn’t really my thing, I’ve decided to keep it simple and post some pix with captions. I hope you enjoy them. If you’ve been to either spot, add a comment below and share your thoughts.
30 second review: Visit Sedona? Yes. Definitely yes. St. George? Nah. Shitty beer options and kind of a strip-mall of a town without much personality (the fact that I got an industrial strength stomach virus there may have clouded my experience). The biking in St. George was really great so I’ve got to give ‘em a bunch of stars for that — seems like Hurricane UT would have been a more interesting option. Next time…
The guys at Over the Edge Sedona where we rented bikes (an awesome shop) pointed us to a new trail which was right by our condo. Pyramid trail or something like that. Five stars. Here Lois keeps those big wheels rolling.
This is my buddy Eric on the last critical section at the end of a super critical chunk of trail. It was fine if you didn’t think about the cactus, or cliffs, or shards of rock, or all the ways it could go bad. This video doesn’t really do it justice — but it’s worth a watch.
Sedona has crazy rock formations no matter which direction you look. And you get to ride around them. So fun.
It’s good to have options, but don’t let the sign fool you. Both lines were extremely difficult. One included a big fall if you didn’t clean it. Choose wisely. Mr. Lizard knows what’s up.
A great trail network and awesome signage (plus you can ride from town!). This is the trail we were supposed to take, but we’re not fools, so we went the wrong way.
Orange is the new orange. After a decade of riding together Eric and I have adopted the same color pallet and riding posture. Weird.
One of the many rocky climbs in Sedona. None were especially long and grindy. Short technical punches.
It’s hard to take crappy photos when the backdrop looks like this.
I’d guess that the trails we rode were at least 30% rock and 70% sand (with rocks, of course). If there was a nub to be dropped, it got dropped.
Eric nailed this climb in three tries. Took me more.
This one took at least 12 tries. Track-stand skills and a twitchy throttle are required.
OK. Flash forward to mountain biking Gooseberry Mesa. Definitely one of those epic rides everyone should do once. Or yearly. Or weekly if you live there. Ten stars.
Not too bad unless you realize that you’re gonna fall hundreds of feet if you make a mistake. I probably would have walked away, but like mom always said “if your friends ride their bikes off a cliff — you should too.” This video will give you a sense of the exposure.
Me at bike shop in St. George: “How’s the signage out there? Do we need a map?” Bike shop bro: “Nah. The signs are great. Here’s your shitty three year old alloy Tallboy. Have fun.” Meh.
Eric and Lois following the dots. Lose the dots and you’re lost.
Gooseberry Mesa is a black to double-black XC trail, but it also has some insane vistas. You could probably do it in 90 minutes if you ignored the views, but it took us all day.
On the Zen Trail in St. George. Lois: “Hey. I’m gonna climb out on that thin slab of rock. Take my picture.” Me: “Holy shit.”
The Zen Trail was literally right outside of the “resort” where we were staying. About seven miles of techno bliss and rattlesnakes. Single track that swoops over and across slabs and boulders.
In St. George, you need to take advantage of shade whenever the opportunity arises. The area in the far background of this photo looks pretty awesome, but I was hurling up a storm after this ride and for a few days — so we never got out there to explore.
The desert has both amazing beauty and lots of dangerous stuff at every turn. Together, they just work. Can’t wait to get back there next year.
This article was contributed by Robert Rekward. Robert is part of the team that created the BendTrails website. During business hours you can find him at Delicious, a marketing company here in Bend which he owns with his wife, Valerie. If it’s not business hours, Robert’s probably on his bike. Or in the garage, working on his bike.
I just moved to Bend from Kauai and doing research on trails came across this article. I took tennis lesson with Eric since i was a little kid what a trip to come upon pictures of him riding on here. Looks like an amazing trip!
That’s pretty funny — small world huh? I spent about 27 years on Kauai before moving to Bend.