Four of us headed west from Wisconsin a week and half ago to give the Coconino bikepacking loop a try. None of us had ever ridden in the terrain we were diving head first into.
My crappy quick recollection below.
Day1 - This was actually a pretty good ride. Only five minutes from Devon's place we were on some urban singltrack and 10 minutes after that we turned south on the AZ Trail. Within the first hour we had to hike a bike to the top of a couple of rocky climbs. After the first hour we rolled onto a mesa and started some but fun but really really rough singltrack. Lots of good contour climbing singletrack mid-day to gain some elevation. Unfortunately late in the day we encountered some heinous boulder strewn forest roads......total fuck shows of a "road"........we saw lots more of them the next few days. Camping above Sedona was awesome. All day this day Greg was at the back of the pack and generally looked his age.....or worse. He was not looking good at all. 57 miles.
Day 2 - The very first thing you do is bomb downhill all on singletrack to Sedona. Fun, rocky, fast, somewhat technical. Refuel in Sedona and get ready for a big day. After the pit-stop we hit some classic sedona singletrack which was certainly more technical than we expected.....I have a huge bruise on my right thigh to prove it! Minor mechanical as Todd's centerlock adapter came loose and we didn't have a cassette lock ring tool. Made do with a multi-tool and two allen wrenches. Very shortly after turning away from Sedona we hooked up with the lime kiln trail...which immediately went up an over a 500 foot ridge in super rocky nasty hike a bike. I expected more of a "good" trail but it was generally a crap show until just outside of the campground where we stayed in Cottonwood. The descent to Cottonwood was a fun ledgy end to the day. Haack looked ok the first half of today but then he and Sean started lagging way behind Todd and I. Afer being at the campground for 30 minutes or so Greg and Sean both puked their guts out into the bushes.....not a good sign. Fun fact = Pizza Hut delivered to the campground! A high school acquaintance met us at the campground and had procured a lockring tool for Todd. 39 miles.
Day 3 - In profile today looked like one huge monster climb followed by a long long descent to the other side of the valley. In reality it rode like one huge ass climb followed by a shitload of shorter nasty climbs with the only real descent coming late in the day. From the campground it was 3.5 gradual uphill miles to a gas station where we fueled up for the day.....enough food needed to be on board to cover two days of riding as there were no services between Cottonwood and Williams. Greg was trying to eat breakfast but commented on how he just didn't feel like eating. With two days food and 200 ounces of water each we rolled onward. The grade immediately steepens and the pavement ends for the climb up Mingus Mountain. I think the climb is about 12 miles and 4500 feet. Early in the climb when Todd and I would stop I'd turn to see Greg and Sean walking there bikes. After a stop or two like this I commented that at that pace we would never be able to make it to where we needed to be by dark. I think the next time we stopped Sean caught up, laid his bike down, and said "I'm done". Haack quickly joined him. Todd and I pushed on with the rest of Mingus. On the backside of Mingus was a pretty cool 1000 foot descent....Todd commented later that a crash there could have meant death....not sure it was that bad but you would have tumbled a long long ways. After that descent the trail turned to more nasty rocky doubletrack....it was in this stretch that I did my superman impression over the bars and added a few bruises and made it painful to breath deep on the right side.....kind of scary as far in the middle of nowhere as we were. Todd and I stopped to filter water.....cattle tank...stagnant...bird skull floating in it.....and then we moved on. Nine miles from where we were going to camp we were high on a ridge and the road changed to a nicely graded well maintained gravel road. Nine freaking miles of 20-25 mile an hour coasting to the Verde River Valley! Camp....littered with goatheads....stans is awesome. 46 miles.
Day 4 - Filtered water at the Verde River and set off on todays leg to Williams. Only 34 miles which was nice. No singletrack....just a 25 mile continuous climb on sometimes shitty sometimes mediocre sandy and rocky deserted roads. Beautiful desolate country. We detoured around Bill Williams mountain which would have added 9 miles and 2000 feet of climbing and took a nice flat 3 mile road into Williams. Grabbed a motel room, showers, and a nap. Devon, Sean, and Greg stopped in on their way back from the grand canyon and grabbed supper with us. My ability to pound all my sides, a full rack of pork ribs, Haack's fries, two beers, and a giant ice cream cone impressed all. 34 miles.
Day 5 - Cut 10 miles from the route by sticking to fireroads for the first part of the day...boring....but we made good time. The trail pitched upward shortly after as we climbed to the wing mountain moto trails. The moto trails were fun but not great. Another long fireroad section took us to the last major climb of the ride. A 1300 foot beast that took us to 9000 feet. Talked to a ranger at the top of the climb and he mentioned seeing three riders earlier in the day that talked of meeting two friends.....yep he saw our crew. So, sitting at 9000 feet and having fifteen miles to go what do you do? Point the fucker downhill and enjoy a silly good section of well built AZ trail. We descended about half-way or just less and at a road crossing found the guys waiting for us. Devon set a pace the rest of the way to town that damn near killed me. If ever flagstaff you need to ride that whole descent.....amazingly fun. Rolled through town back to Devon's place and the loop was in the bag. 62 miles.
Random thoughts
-I wouldn't hurry out to ride this loop...just not enough fun singletrack compared to the amount of rocky doubletrack
-We all said a when we got home we'd ride a loop at Blue Mound just to experience smooth trail again
-Haack thinks I'm a doper......he just doesn't understand the power of Mike and Ikes
-Based on how they felt (and looked) Sean and Greg exercised great judgement in bailing when they did
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