Sedona Big Friggin Loop

I'm confused.....I'm laying flat on my chest, bike wrapped up in the manzanita to my right just off of the singletrack....my head took a hit and I'm dazed.  I look over to my right and see my GPS mount cracked, my GPS face banged up and my wheel out of alignment against my handlebars.....it's 8:15 and I'm just 10 minutes into the race.......for a moment, I'm not sure how I got here....the riders I had just passed are now streaming by......

30 minutes prior, the scene outside the Bike & Bean was one of joviality prior to the Arizona Endurance Series: Sedona Big Friggin Loop.  I'm not really feeling it this morning, having still not recovered from a mix of poor judgement and a beatdown the previous weekend along with a healthy mix of poor nutrition and poor hydration all week....but I'm always game for an AES race, even if I'm operating on one leg or one lung.....there's nothing, and I mean NOTHING...like an AES race.

Wiping my chin of the Mars-like Sedona dust that makes its way into every moving part of your bike and body; I straighten my handlebars and rig up an impromptu mount for my GPS....and move on.  I make a note to pay more attention to the tree gaps along the narrow singletrack...my new, and wider, handlebars don't have the clearance as my previous setup.  Stoping at the first overlook on Highline, I shoot riders on the ridge just before the slickrock traverse.....

Early light glows warm in the longer shadows of day and fracture......

After a techy and punchy start....things stretch out in a flowy mess of goodness called Aerie.....I put'er in the big ring and punched this section, banking and yanking with my hips....very little cockpit input required.

I'm not sure where this was taken.....but I remember seeing the clouds and feeling a strong desire to sit down and watch shadow play over rock for the remainder, sun moving overhead.....but I move on.

Overlooking the entrance into Thunder Mountain, I spy the cliffs that mark the eastern boundary of the valley....and the eastern extent of the race....the start of the end is in sight....and yet so many more ups and downs to go.  Just because you can envision the end, should not mean that you should feel you are close at hand to the objective....reason here, is not your friend.....

On the home stretch, the view east from Broken Arrow is one of radiant cliffs in afternoon light set against cool skies colored with smoke and azure.

The scene after the ride (race) is much as it always is......good times, with good (fast) people and good conversation.......

As riders come in.....bikes get thrown down on the ground in haste after the ride..........

....because there is serious post-race nutritional needs to be met.......

Legs are shot....the Mars-like Sedona dust covers all but scar tissue.....I have lots of scars.....

Late afternoon light plays the King-maker from the parking lot at the Bike & Bean who hosted the party....there is no better place to start and end a fine ride from.  Thank you, Bike & Bean!

Scott Morris snatches my camera while we talk pixel nerdery........

.....and captures the moment Lee comes in......that's a big grin.....