 | What are Saturdays for other than getting outside? I know the movie is "On Any Sunday" but I'll take Saturdays too. A group was organized on ADVrider to make the loop to a site on the Verde that was at one point a resort. It burned down in 1962 but some of the pools are still standing. The meeting location was at Bloody Basin road, a chilly ride but my newly installed grip heaters helped! We all road the back way to Cordes Junction to gas up. |
| We had quite a crew. 2 XR650L's, 1 XR650R, 1 KTM950SE, 1 KTM990, 1 KTM 625SXC, 1 DRZ400 and me on my KTM 690. |  |
 | We had a couple of mechanical difficulties. One bike that wouldn't start and one broken kickstand spring. Spencer here suffered the brunt of it though, we slid a good 5 feet down the trail and we found after the fact he broke some ribs in the process. |
| After that, life got rocky. The trail was litter with rocks. Embedded rocks. Loose rocks. Big ones, little ones, rocks rocks rocks. The rider on the KTM990 turned around here. He had a good sense of self/bike preservation that so many dirt bikers are missing. |  |
 | You'd be surprised how many people I've ridden with that I have a hard time identifing without their helmet on. Or their bike present. "Oh! You ride the bike with the doohicky on it." That's how you identify people, their riding gear and their bike. |
| Smiling faces, it was a good day. And we were sitting at the top of "The Hill." |  |
 | "The Hill" did not disappoint. I took off first to try to get a good spot to for pictures. This was a downhill boulder field. |
| There were no crashes for the camera but we all had to work hard through the rolling rocks. |  |
 | We dropped three thousand ft in 8 miles. It wasn't the steepest descent but it was consistent. Consistently downhill and consistently rocky. |
| One thing you should know about riding in Arizona: You have a high probability of coming upon a view like this. It's happened to me in countless races. This day was just not Spencer's day. He caught some cactus on the side of the hill and didn't even crash. Better to bite the bullet, show off your tightie whities to the world than ride on with cactus spines working their way deeper. |  |
 | This is a talented individual. I don't that I've seen anyone else to smoke through their helmet. |
| You can't get away from civilization. There's cell service everywhere! Calls I've made on the trail usually have some element of being lost or needing mechanical advice... |  |
 | An awesome view of the Verde before we drop the last bit of elevation. And people say the desert isn't beautiful. |
| This was the path from the motorcycle parking lot. The guys wanted to walk instead of riding the bike for some reason. It was a 5 minute hike to the former resort location. The only information I've been able to find online claims that the resort burned down in the 60's. There was mention of possible arson and it being a popular location during prohibition for less than legal reasons. Next time I visit the library I'll have to do some more digging. |  |
 | One of the rare pictures of me without a helmet. |
| The remenances of the resorts hot spring tubs. These people didn't hang around long. Yes, our group is that scary |  |
 | After a soak (or a splashing of feet) we headed back towards Phoenix. Everything seemed smooth after the Dugas road but there were still quite a few rocks along the way. |
| There's signs of Georgia Tech everywhere I go. |  |
 | I was at the end of well of energy. It wasn't pretty, I limped my way back to civilization and the closest food source, a Circle K. |
| After chowing down some carbs, caffine and protein I headed home my usual route through the reservation and Bush Hwy. |  |
0 comments:
Post a Comment