Area 52

Area 52 – orange rock and white scree, no trails and free ride lines. Dream riding.

Louis, the supreme overlord of Area 52, travels the mesa like he was born there.

No gimmies out there, it isn’t a very forgiving place.

But beautiful. Every minute out there is one well spent.

My mind has been on touring and “cross country” riding. It took a couple hours to retrain my brain to read the terrain and predict the outcome should I attempt to ride any of the dozens of choices before me. Engaging, stimulating stuff.

No free ride buds showed, so it was just Louis and I. That left us free to explore. Last year we found a moto trail along the southern wall of Area 52, but didn’t have time/energy/water to explore it. We found good trail that traveled easy and took us right to the oasis of trees that’s on the AZT 300 course. Inclusion possible.

I’m absolutely loving the new color aerials in TF. I can even see pieces of the moto trail.

We blasted down the Gila descent (on the 300 route), carving turns in the sand. Neither of us realized that we were one wash over from the road that climbs back to Area 52. Oops. Uphill sand was avoided with some challenging XC travel.

Then it was back onto the lower mesa, to familiar ground and familiar lines.

I couldn’t resist climbing back up to the Anvil and Keyhole, just to visit those places and refresh my memory. This is such a special place, it’s always hard to leave.

Then Louis pulled out the big guns and went hyuuuuge.

The dust blew in. We heard thunder as we packed up, then got pounded on the drive back to Tucson.

Great day on the orange rock. When I closed my eyes to sleep I saw front tires reaching across gaps and floating down ledges. Fleeting moments that burn deep.