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Mountain Biking Trails of Sedona Mountain biking in Sedona Arizona is always an adventure! There is much to enjoy whether you want to pedal easy or accept all the challenges the trail has to offer. Whatever style you choose, be sure to bring your camera. Sedona mountain biking trails offer many different types of terrain that require different skill levels. The trails range from a wide pathway to very narrow and rugged single track with lots of technical rock features. All the trails include some red slick rock, patches of sand, gravel, and hard packed trail tread. Although the trails are well maintained by the Red Rock Ranger District and local volunteers, they are not park-like, in other words they don’t have that manicured structure that you might see parks around the country. They are maintained just enough to keep the water off them and slow the erosion. This give the mountain bike trails in Sedona an “organic” feel to them. This a feature that most mountain bikers love as it makes the trails more challenging, or as I like to say, cognitively engaging. Most of the trails in the Sedona area are short in distance. However, if you interlink them you can create loops that take an hour to all day to ride! Although this feature allows for flexibility in creating routes it can also mean spending lots of trail time trying to figure out the map! This is why hiring a guide is the best way to go. Our guides can assess your riding ability and show you the most suitable trails for your skills and challenge preferences. In addition, they will tell you about the geology, ecology, and history of the area! (Be aware that some Sedona bike shops advertise or say that they do tours but in fact they do not have a permit with the forest service. This is not only un-ethical but you could incure a fine.) The terrain in Sedona is very sensitive to erosion in spite of its rugged appearance. Therefore, off trail riding is discouraged and in some locations prohibited. We also have some extreme high desert weather including monsoons which cause severe erosion of the trails, high temperatures that can suck all the moisture out of you, and deadly plants that can send you to the emergency room! So please stay on the trail, be prepared for the weather conditions, keep control of your bike! But most of all, HAVE FUN! We now have a presence on YouTube.com. Click here to view more helmet cam video of Sedona Trails. |