Send-ona: The End-ona

Our last day in Sedona... what to do?

Matt had to spend the day tying up loose ends before leaving town on a Hermosa Tours trip, so he provided us with a route for the day.  Something that would get us back in enough time to get our bikes put in boxes, drink beer, and eat Thai food (best I ever had BTW).

Scorpion > Pyramid > Rams Head > Ridge > Sketch > Ridge > Carroll Canyon > Old Post > Skywalker

See?  Look at that.  When I actually have to navigate, I remember things.  Well, we mighta took a wrong turn at one point, but it turned into an awesome descent (followed by a less than awesome turn around and climb).  Whatever.

And this happened...

Just a beautiful day of getting out and done before things got stupid hot.

These trail were more up my alley, and I wish I woulda started here (mebbe).  A bit of a confidence booster, and I also figured out that as long as I was in my 18 or 21 tooth cog, things felt just about right when pedaling through the technical stuff.

All in all, an incredible trip.  Although my heart belongs in the mountains of Western North Carolina, I love being in the desert or up on some stupid high mountain once in awhile.  I think it was unseasonably warm while we were there, but it wasn't all that bad IMHOMO.  We barely even scratched the surface of what's out there to ride, and so much of it is a short ride from town.  Most of what we ended up riding was either Black Diamond or Double Black Diamond level difficulty (very and extremely difficult), which would probably explain my "pants shattened" moments. 

Huge thanks to Matt for making it all happen.  This trip wouldn't have got off the ground without his halp, and watching him slay all kinda of gnar throughout the week was an insane pleasure (he's got mad skills yo).

Anyways, bikes, beer, frans.  Buenos.

Oh yeah, weather.  I think it was at some point while we still had two days to go that The Pie sent me a text.  Charlotte had some massive flooding.  While things under the house in the Murder Room/crawlspace were fine, part of our backyard had washed away, ending up against the fence and out under the fence into the front yard, driveway and street.

So I got home at 10:30PM on Friday and began my leisurely weekend the next morning doing this:

Sunken sod pulled aside, I collected my yard back up by the bucket loads and put it back into place.  It was only after I felt like "good enough" levels had been achieved that I realized that the previous owner had left an uninstalled French drain behind the shed... so I tore it all back up, tossed the drain in, and put everything back into place.  I know that's not how it's supposed to work, but I didn't wanna throw money (and gravel) at my half-assed solution* when I know I'm gonna whole-ass it later this summer.

Nothing like getting away from it all and then getting right back into it all.

Speaking of...

PMBAR.

*  half-assed meaning that I used a spade, garden trowel, leaf rake, garden rake, bucket and a snow shovel to get 'er done and improperly installed a French drain and some "found" landscaping bricks to shore it all up