SBFL

Finished the pre-ride for the GPX file for the Sedona Big Friggin Loop this weekend. It is big, and I think next year, it is only going to get bigger. Here is what I rode yesterday.
The highlight of the day was crossing at Red Rock Crossing two times in about hip high water (GPS was safely in my dry bag..... dave, now you see what I carry one sometimes) and coming across an injured hiker. This is how it went down as I was going down the hair pin switchback from Cathedral to the Crossing, almost out of water.

I turned the corner on the 2nd to last switchback, the one with the big tree on the right. Well, right there was a group of guys, about 5 of them huddled around the biggest guy in the group. So, I slow down to a skid and ask if everything is ok. One of the guys says we have an injured ankle, and points to the big guy. I immediately notice that his ankle is pretty swollen. They ask me for some advice and I direct them to the quickest way out of their bind...cutting through private property. As I am passing, I realized they have a big cooler on the side of the trail (what little trail there was), so I do what any thirsty mountain biker would do, ask them if they have beer in the cooler. Oh man, was I happy to hear that they had some watered down Miller High Life, super cold. I downed it and they even offered to take the empty can for me. I felt simply amazing, until I realized that I had one more river crossing.

Here are the stats from my ride yesterday:
45.48 miles
8288 feet of climbing (I still cannot believe Topofusion says that is correct??)
7:21 hours of moving time

A nice shot from Girdner... this one is for my cousin Kyle, who had a little incident in this vicinity.

The completed SBFL topo map after plugging in the info into Topofusion
and finally the new info for the race, almost finalized....
SBFL Stats
60.32 miles
11623 feet of vertical feet

That is roughly comparable to the Antelope Peak Challenge, if the elevation change is correct.

This is for my brother, Josh. We rode this section back in 2004 on the Wal Mart bike and the Motiv.... oh yeah.
Jim Thompson/Wilderness Boundary