Williams

Paula and I headed west from Flagstaff to meet up with Enel (Eric Nelson) for some Williams singletrack.

I commented to Paula as we left town that this was the first time we’ve driven to ride/run since arriving in Flag early in the summer. In this case, the trail is well worth the half hour drive.

A quick descent and a few miles through town and along Perkinsville Road brought us to the Benham Trail.

We counted 31 switchbacks on the way up. Some required hopping. Between the two of us we cleaned all but three, or thereabouts.

We both gave that one (above) many tries. I finally got it on attempt ~10, after an illuminating suggestion from Eric.

Along the way we met some strange forest creatures:

(is this AZ?)

Lady bugs were everywhere at the peak (9256′).

A good view of the CocoMingo loop presented itself from up top, though the cabin was locked.

Time to bomb down. I have to admit that I was a tiny bit disappointed when Eric pulled out his Milk Money (3″ travel singlespeed, and he owns both a Behemoth and Lunchbox–the full Lenz fleet), but any disappointment was gone once I started following him down the descent. He rides that bike like a Behemoth, and it was amusing to see him poppin’ and catching air all over the place.

The first clip there is a good sample of what the best parts of the descent is like, and also of Eric’s penchant for bike popping. The second is a failed but valiant attempt at a switchback on the climb.

Good stuff. Can’t wait to ride it again as part of CocoMingo in the fall.