Cathedral Rock Trail

#followcamfriday taking on what I would consider to be Sedona's most dangerous line with Lars Romig. 

Some things were never meant to be ridden on a bicycle. Cathedral Rock Trail definitely falls into that category. Although it is technically legal to ride, I certainly cannot recommend that you go and ride this one. Sedona has a great number of wonderful mountain bike trails to choose from. This is not on that list. 

Lars has been thinking about this one for many years and had ridden most of the sections, just never the crux. There is just something special about linking the entire "hard" part together in one go. The game of chess comes to mind. With one notable difference. It is relatively hard to die playing chess. 

Simon Bosman gets credit for the first descent of Cathedral in 2016.  His ride was so remarkable at the time that it ended up on the evening news. To our knowledge, no one has attempted the line since, and with good reason. It is highly dangerous. Lars is the second person to clean this beast of a line. To be clear, I still have one small section to ride before I can claim a clean on this bit. I rode the "crux", but couldn't quite get my head around a section at the top. I'll be back. 

The hard part, pictured here, is definitely a consequential maneuver. If you fall to the right, you will be taking a helicopter  ride, directly to the hospital. 

In order to pull this off, we got up at 5am and began our hike to the top. No, it is not rideable on the climb. Cathedral is one of the most popular hiking trails in Sedona and is normally riddled with tourists. This trail is absolutely impossible to ride with random people hiking all over it, so we got an early start and were rewarded for it. This short section of trail is a conga train for most of the day. Early bird gets the worm. 

The saddle of Cathedral has been in 1 million instagram posts and is basically the most cliche' shot in Arizona. People in today's society feel social validation from posting this sort of thing. It is almost a contest in these people's brains to post all of the iconic locations and make others feel jealous in the process. What a vain existence. Almost as bad as posting selfies every day. To be clear, we do this sort of thing for the challenge, and personal growth that comes from overcoming fear, not for the "summit shot" or to make our friends jealous on their cell phone. This is all about the mental challenge for us. Nothing more. 

Well, personal challenge, and the beautiful sunrise that we got to witness without hoards of Iphone wielding tourists, gawking about on the ridge. Just us, our bicycles, and the sunrise. What a way to start the day. The top of the saddle is definitely a special place and I definitely get the allure. I will say though that with 50 other people standing up there, it is hard to appreciate in the same way as standing up there alone. 

Pete looks nervous here. He can feel the energy. Pete is smarter than Lars and I, so he opted to stay in the Ranchero for this one. Be like Pete. Stay in your Ranchero.