Sedona MTB Festival

[MrMentallo]

Has anyone been? Positives and negatives? I have an opportunity to go and would like to figure out cost and what to do and what not to do. 

[June Bug]

We've been and I can share my experience. 

First, I'm an introvert who doesn't drink beer, so the bike festival scene with tons of people milling around at the venue, crowded trails, beer drinking, live music on the last day wasn't that appealing. 

That said, we took over someone else's registration at the end of Feb - first days of March in 2020 and off we went. 

When we left Austin, there were some vague background noise about this weird illness called "Covid";  a week later we were wondering if we should even go into restaurants to eat while driving home.  

We stayed in a little camping cabin at the lovely and peaceful Dead Horse Ranch State Park  on the Verde River near Cottonwood and rode some fun trails starting from the park.  Other days we drove over to Sedona for activities.

If you haven't been to red rock country, Sedona is truly a stunning, magical setting.  It's not an exaggeration to say it's just amazing. 

Parking at the venue wasn't too much of a problem. You just parked relatively nearby and rode your bike over to the venue, which was on the edge of town. 

The venue was a lot of pop-ups with vendors; IIRC there were some options to demo bikes but don't remember the details, also some food trucks. 

The main thing: You have your choice of daily guided rides -- your choice, depending on skill level.  Alternately, if you are with a group, get a map and go ride.  

If you are a strong rider and love technical challenge, it can be just the  kind of Type II fun you want.  There are intermediate trails as well. 

If you stay in Sedona and like to socialize and do a bar scene, all good.  It's a busy place. 

 Sedona has one main drag through the center of town. It's a tourist mecca.  Lots of traffic.  There were real traffic jams on Sunday as everyone was trying to leave.  

 

 

 

 

[ATXZJ]

Northern AZ is always a nice place to demo a bike.  We'd also hit up Jerome AZ while there. IMHO way cooler than Sedona. Especially if you're a Maynard Keenan fan. 

[MrMentallo]

1 hour ago, ATXZJ said:

Northern AZ is always a nice place to demo a bike.  We'd also hit up Jerome AZ while there. IMHO way cooler than Sedona. Especially if you're a Maynard Keenan fan. 

I was going to swing by his winery while I was in the area as I'm a sommelier in my non-mtb life. I also heard his wife's general store is pretty cool. I hadn't looked into the logistics yet, but good to hear it isn't too far. 

[MrMentallo]

From what I've gathered so far is that the festival is free if you aren't interested in demoing bikes, but if you are (and I am as I'm in the market for a new or new to me bike), you pay just over $100ish for a registration and the demos are free. The terrain is obviously amazing as it's been covered ad nauseum on YouTube. I may take it easy and stick to blues as I've newly been given the ok to ride after a shoulder and pelvis injury. 

[June Bug]

Info on passes and what you get with your pass HERE (basically demos and shuttles to rides) + socks and beer glass! 

[ATXZJ]

23 hours ago, MrMentallo said:

I was going to swing by his winery while I was in the area as I'm a sommelier in my non-mtb life. I also heard his wife's general store is pretty cool. I hadn't looked into the logistics yet, but good to hear it isn't too far. 

Cool!

It's such a rad little town. Lots of MJK options there. Next to Bisbee, Jerome is one of our favorite AZ stops. The Jerome Grand hotel is supposed to be super haunted too. 

Currently in southern Arizona for the next 10 days and gonna hit up the southern wine country while here.

Lastly, glad to see you're still alive 😎

Edited December 27, 2023 by ATXZJ

[MrMentallo]

On 12/27/2023 at 9:48 AM, ATXZJ said:

Currently in southern Arizona for the next 10 days and gonna hit up the southern wine country while here.

Lastly, glad to see you're still alive 😎

Stick to tempranillos and southern Rhone varietals (Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre) as they do well in arid conditions and rocky, poor soil like Arizona. It's also why those do well in the semi-arid Hill Country here in Texas.

 

Thanks! I've spent the last couple of years in a constant state of injury recovery. Wrecked a shoulder at Spider, healed that and tore ligaments in my knee right away, then reinjured my shoulder and cracked my pelvis. Doc just gave me the ok to ride again after actually making me stick to my rehab plan about 3 or so weeks ago. Hence my wanting to demo a wide range of bikes. I'm looking at a Ripmo AF for the price point and range of capability, but want to see what else is out there that may fit my riding style and budget. 

[June Bug]

On 12/29/2023 at 10:01 PM, MrMentallo said:

Thanks! I've spent the last couple of years in a constant state of injury recovery.

Finally got around to reading a book I got about three years ago titled "Built from Broken: A Science-Based Guide to Healing Painful Joints, Preventing Injuries, and Rebuilding Your Body".  The author is a physical therapist who struggled with re-injuring himself and dealing with chronic problems from re-injury and decided to get after what kept going wrong.  Really liking the morning mobility routine. 

Also ordered something called Morpheus (review HERE), basically a heart rate monitor paired with an app, to monitor what your body is up to, to better structure training. 

Best wishes for your continued healing! 

[MrMentallo]

I just ordered that book thanks to your suggestion. 

[MrMentallo]

The festival itself was fun. I had some good times watching the events like the bunny hop contest, the whip off, the last man standing contest where you can't go outside the circle or dab, and the Big Wheel race. The best part was the demos and chatting with people I follow on YouTube. Lenosky was super nice, Jeff Kendal-Weed sat down at my table and ate lunch with me. He was very friendly and down to earth. Mo and Hannah were friendly but having to deal with having to talk to everyone there. Understandable. Heather Munive was getting hit on by every dude there. I felt bad for her. Normal Mountain biking guy (300+lb) was really fast, he passed me on a trail ride like I was standing still. I wasn't there to meet those people, I could care less about that aspect, it was just a small venue and you almost didn't have a choice about it. 

The bike demos were great and kind of surprised me as a bunch of the big names were conspicuous in their abscence. Both Trek and Specialized were not there. Giant was there but stuck in a back corner. Revel was up front and probably the most popular at the festival. I got to ride the Rascal and it didn't dissapoint. The rear end rode the fine line between short and just long enough to provide some stability at speed. The Gates Belt Drive crew had a booth they shared with Zerode and I got to ride one of those. It worked absolutely amazing but was heavy as hell. There was a bit of drag from the drivetrain when coasting, but not enough to make a real difference. The biggest drawback was the weight. The Haniwha Trail I rode was right around 38 pounds with only about 150mm travel and not that burly of a build. The Pivot Trail 429 was awesome. Great on climbs and going downhill. The biggest surprise for me was the Polygon Siskiu T8. It's just over $2,000 and kept up quality wise with bikes over triple it's price. Climbed very well, stable on high speed descents and would do very well here in Austin. It handled square edge hits better than the Zerode and as well as the Pivot. It was a bit heavy(35 lbs) and the Tektro brakes sucked. It comes with tubes so going tubeless will take some weight off right off the bat. The brakes were the only thing I would have immediately changed component wise besides contact point things like saddles and grips. 

The trails themselves were crazy good. The best trail marking I've seen. World class views around every corner. I rode three different trail systems, Adobe Jack, Mescal and the Scorpion to Pyramid loop. The Mescal to Canyon of Fools loop was so freaking good. Loads of janky off camber slickrock on Mescal to a killer descent through Canyon of Fools that went through a 6-7 foot deep ditch where there were a ton of wall rides, whoops and g-outs. My next favorite was the Scorpion to Pyramid loop. Do this one counter clock wise. Scorpion was a solid blue trail that basically loops around to the backside of Pyramid mountain and joins up with the Pyramid trail. Nothing too crazy tech wise and has a bit of climbing as it loops around to Pyramid proper. Once you get on Pyramid, the easy going blue very quickly changes to a gnarly black descending trail. Holy crap this was fun. I spent a solid two hours sessioning a steep maybe 3-400 foot descent. There were some parts of it I still couldn't clean. Adobe Jack was a trail loop/system that was rideable from the festival itself. Solid blue with a few black parts. It reminded me of a red rock version of the Lakeway and Steiner Ranch areas here with less flow killing switchbacks and more slickrock. This is where the guy from the Norml Mountain Bike youtube channel passed me on a climb like I was standing still. Here I also got to meet an (former now based in Flagstaff) Austin guy named Hojo. I had met him a few times years ago on trail work days and he recognised me as I was pulling a stick out of my wheel next to the trail. Nice guy. 

All in all I think it was well worth going to. Bring a bike as the demos may be all out when you get there. When the festival opens, there's a mad dash to all the bike tents and you may not get one in the size you need. After that it's a crap shoot depending on when the riders before you return their bikes. The food was fine, there was a good mix of band and all the vendors had a bunch of stuff to give away. The trails themselves were world class. It's also much higher in elevation than I realized. Most of the trails were over 5,000 feet which is on par with Denver. I was super gassed that first day with headaches that night. Nothing an asprin and a trip to the dispensary can't solve. The next day was fine. Food there was fine but overpriced outside of a few places. The pizza at Pisa Lisa was good, the tortas and burritos at Tortas Del Fuego right across from Thunder Mountain Bikes were killer. Cheap too. The Coffee Pot was a good breakfast diner. 

[AntonioGG]

Did you see any cool EVs? 😄
 

seriously, thanks for the report!  It’s on my list of places to visit but I’ll probably avoid crowds…and you know who, please don’t litter this thread with that stuff.  I just made myself laugh, hope others got a good chuckle too.

Edited March 26 by AntonioGG

[MrMentallo]

If I ever go back, it will be in the winter and during the week. The shuttles from the festival were nice, but the crowds were a bit of a buzz kill. Loads of hikers as it was the first weekend of Spring Break. The trailhead parking lots were totally packed from 8 am until dark. Lots of oblivious Chinese tourists by the bus load.