From the OZ to AZ in 2020 - Phase 2 SEDONA
Sedona during a Pandemic? No problem, we can make this happen.
Goal 1 - make it to Arizona and back with no cancellations.
Goal 2 - ship my bike across the country for the first time
Goal 3 - find a great place.
Goal 4 - no injuries, make it the whole 3 days of riding in elevation
Goal 5 - have a great time and relax while the sky is falling around us
Goal 1 - I got a direct flight to MESA airport (fantastic airport) roundtrip for $73, that’s right $73 which included fees and taxes. It’s amazing how a 1/2 filled plane of paranoia would be so reasonably priced. If you are getting to know how this works, I travel light no carryon, just a backpack at no charge.
Goal 2 - So I have driven 12+ hours with bikes on the top and hitched to my wife’s van, flew and rented a bike and now its time to ship. I built a custom bike to ride and damn if its not going to see that famous red Sedona dirt.
Here is how it goes - Round 1, called a bike shop asked for a box they said sure. Arrived 2 days later and they just threw them all away gave me one that ended up too small. Round 2, went to another bike shop, they gave me one they were pretty sure would work. It did… …kinda. Bike Breakdown : there are tons of videos on YouTube for this only suggestion is to remove the brake rotors otherwise I loaded the bike, helmet shoes, riding apparel and shipped it on its way. I shipped it through work so it saved me about 60% overall cost was around $60-$70. Had a tricky time with dropper post lever and minor rotor rub but otherwise worked out well. Only problem when you ship you have to freak out about having 5K worth of stuff being transit. All worked out but there has to be a better way to perform this practice (see Phase 3).
Goal 3 - Find a great place to stay. Okay, I try to make my trips around $500 but this is a different scenario so we spent $1006 for the place to stay. It was awesome could ride to the trails, had a garage for the bikes, said a hot tub but have no idea where that was. See “Red Rock Retro!” on airbnb - totally legit.
“Red Rocks Retro” - airbnb
Goal 4 - Day 1 road the “ …….. “ worked out the bugs on the bike and beat the darkness. Day 2 did a traditional XC ride and its just amazing to leave your car ride 12 miles then when you return you look at the mountain range and say “dude we road that whole damn thing”. Now this is the most interesting thing about Sedona, “you can climb your bike” the red rocks are just amazing. You never lose traction, unlike the midwest were mud and roots are the challenge. It literally is magic and I highly recommend making the journey. After this I went back to Phoenix and road the dry desert and it just wasn’t the same. Here is where the fun comes - What we learned after that is stay west of the strip - that’s were the locals live and the people are legit, locals only but they get it cause you are here to ride, not hanging out buying sh!t you can get in the smokey mountains. Food is okay but really those red rocks are out of this world. Day three we attacked it all. Bit of an XC ride once we hit the ridge, road that for a few miles then had a final climb to the top of “Ant Hill”. Once you realize that people just don’t make it up here because it would take all day to hike you look at your bike and go this is it. Eat a “Cliff Bar” drink some water and chill for 20 minutes. The drop was epic, the trails are cut by a water path and the berms are natural. It starts at the peak, moves thru this wooded area then you finish pretty much below everything in a pit of freedom. I have to say it was the most epic decent I have every had. Now the climb out was odd and we ended up in a church parking lot next to a bike park with no energy left.
Goal 4 continued - Once we made it to the church parking lot we looked at our phones and found a local brewery half way home (total asphalt miles - 3 miles) : parked our bikes and sat down and drank a couple local brews.
Goal 5 - This is where hanging out with your best friend who has become someone you can call family makes it. We dropped off the bikes back at the “Red Rock Retro” and called our Uber. “Take us to downtown Sedona (more like a mini Gatlinburg) got ourselves a burger and brew and thought maybe that was it. Now remember this is in the middle of Covid and they just opened expecting to be shut down anytime. Larson finds a local restaurant who is having a band. Now everyone there were locals having a date night, and this band was playing really chill stuff. Then we realized “man this guy sounds just like Sting from the Police”. Next thing an hour later we have the entire restaurant dancing to the Lambada and so it goes. WOW - how you can take everyone going on in the world and being worried to singing all the great hits is just pure magic. Now, I could have put my head between my legs took that Covid on the chin but MidLife is fearless. Grab it by the ears and head out, you never know when you can walk into the next great experience.
Finally, later that night we made it back to the local bar from the day prior and hung out with the locals. Now when there is no Uber; you go to the bar tender and ask how does this work. “No worries we have George, the local TAXI”'‘ A pick up from George in a ‘89 GMC minivan back to the “Red Rock Retro” rest a bit and then back to Chandler, AZ in the morning.
Summary - This is our motto : Text doesn’t tell the whole story, just a few experiences during the adventure. The cost breakdown is not perfect but the Covid adventure was hopefully an once in a lifetime opportunity.
Flight - $73, Red Rocks Retro $503ea. , Shipping $65, Food Beverage Cost $200ish
Trip of a Covid Lifetime : $850
I always say 3 is the perfect MidLife number; would have cut the cost right around $650.
