The "Vortex" called Sedona...

We spent the weekend Sedona, AZ for a Mt Bike Race/Ride that I did called the Sedona Big Frggin Loop, which is essentially a tour of all the single track trail that Sedona has to offer and equates to approx. 60 miles of trail and 10k feet of vertical climbing. This is a long post and of course in reverse.
After the race Andrea, Myself (Aaron) and our friends Chad and Kendal went on a group ride on the Baldwin Trail and cruised down to Oak Creek for some chillaxing on this cool swing that is set up. Here is Andrea having some fun on her Birthday.
Here I am getting some air...
Here is Chad pushing Kendal, here goal was to try and touch the tree with her toes but we couldn't get here going that fast.
Here is Chad...
Andrea is quite the mountain biker now she is getting very good at maneuvering the technical aspect of trails as well and the steep climbs that are required to "clean" a trail without stooping and walking, Sedona is one of the most challenging places to ride because of the sand and rocks that pose obstacles.
Here is Kendal and Andrea on a "Hike-a-Bike" section just off of the creek, Kendal got the best work out because her rental bike weight much more than everyone's even though it was a extra small....we teased her about this...
Here is Kendal and Andrea, they had quite the Epic weekend full of riding, the day prior they road several trails around the Bell Rock pathway and road for appox 3 hours, they even ran out of water and had to "borrow" some from a church they past, they said that Jesus was watching out for them because as soon as they filled their water bottles the water turned off...
Here is my beautiful bride at the start of her birthday group ride on the Baldwin Trail...
The day after the race we Chad made us breakfast, the weather was so perfect and we couldn't have asked for more.
Me and Buck-o the Wonder Dog, chillaxing on the couch after an epic day of riding, I finished only 34 miles of the 60 but had a great time...
Kendal and Chad enjoying a great night after the race the weather was perfect it wasn't cold at all and we enjoyed a nice warm fire anyway...
The group all met at Oak Creek Brewery after the ride and we enjoyed a good atmosphere of fun people...
Here are some pics of the "Race" there is only about a 25% finish rate on the race because this is one of the most technical and challenging races on the face of the earth, it includes water crossing, scaling rocky cliffs and much more I was surprised at the level of difficulty and a little unprepared...here is a group I hooked up with and we road the first half of the race together...Kirk and Nivette
Here I am on top of a saddle overlooking Grasshopper Point this is honestly on of the best views I have every experienced and even though we were "racing" I stopped and took 15 minutes to enjoy, this was Cow Pie trail to the rogue mountain bike trail "Damn if I know" named after the condition and location of the trail literally 2 foot wide traversing 300 foot drop off cliffs.
I just had to stop and enjoy the slick rock trail this was picture perfect
This was the condition of the trail the first 20 miles or so I had vertigo set in early on as I saw a rider in front of me go down over the side of a trail and roll approx 20 feet, luckily it was not a steep cliff like this and the one below.
To give some perspective my handle bars are maybe 3 feet wide and the trees below are 30 -40 foot tall pines...
The race started at appox 7 am and I road until about 3:30 pm and completed about 30 miles or so my group I was riding with finished the race at 12 hours which was spectacular, I however did not finish partly because I had ran out of water and road 7 miles or about 1 and a half hours with out water and got a bit of dehydration, ended up getting water from someones hose in a front yard...we had a lot of funny water stories this weekend.
Here is Andrea and Precious the day before the race we hiked the Bell Rock big loop and enjoyed the scenery. I was not prepared and was not wearing hiking boots and got two blisters which plagued me during my race...lesson learn...always be prepared...
On the way up my folks celebrated Andrea's Birthday with us in PHX. Thanks for the gifts and dinner...