'Round the Peaks - Flagstaff

'Round the Peaks is a 80km (50 miles) route that takes you around the San Francisco peaks, near Flagstaff. Get ready for a big day on the bike with a mix of fire roads and single track riding. The ride starts at the Schultz Creek Trail Head in Flagstaff. It is actually 80km (50 miles), but we started from our rental house which added a bit of distance. It starts on the Schultz Creek trail and you climb on the singletrack for about 30 minutes before hitting a fire road climb for about 15km. The climb is gradual and offers wonderful views of burnt areas and aspen grove. We did the ride at the end of April, and as we reached the top of the climb, there were a few patches of snow and fallen trees that required to get off the bike...but that's part of the adventure! At the top of the fire road climb, you turn on the Inner Basin Trail and go down a fun single track that first has you slaloming through aspen trees, and eventually has you riding around rocks and roots on a pine needle floor. The trail was beautiful but had quite a few fallen trees that required us to get off the bike. After that single track, we hopped on another 20km (ish) of fire roads - going down and then climbing again - offering beautiful views of snowy peaks. After a while, we arrived to a nice grassy area with plenty of aspen trees. At that point, the fire road intersects a section of the AZ Trail. We were starting to be a little more tired at that point, and even if we kept climbing gradually, it felt really nice to get on this smooth single track trail after having climbed on the fire road. There were about 6km of gradual uphill and then we reached a widely open meadow. This is a good spot for a little snack before hitting a really awesome downhill, because from there, it's (almost) all downhill until the end. Yay!This was one of the longest and most fun trail section I've ever ridden for the next 10 km. You can let it rip and enjoy the speed of the trail, while jumping over some rocks and roots. But beware as there might be some hikers on the trail. This section literally makes you smile from ear to ear, but also requires good focus! You'll eventually get to a road crossing, but the trail continues on the other side. There is a few kilometers of up and down trails, until you reconnect with the Schultz Creek Trail. This is the same singletrack trail that we climbed at the beginning, but this time, you get to rip down it. Beware of riders coming from the opposite direction, but you can also get some speed and have fun on this super flowy trail all the way until the parking lot! What a way to finish a ride!That's it! You road around the San Francisco Peaks of Flagstaff! Congrats. This is not an easy ride, there is a lot of climbing but you also get rewarded by great views and an awesome singletrack descent. I enjoyed it and I think our whole group (6 of us - Caitlin, Franz, David, Lael, Rue, and myself) did too!Notes:
- We did not see any place to refuel, so make sure you pack in enough water and food, because it's a big day out there. - My ride segment says 1600m of climbing, but I think it's more around 2000m in reality...at least, that's what my friends computers said (and that's what it felt like). - The actual ride is 80km, not 99... But we road to the start of the ride and that added some distance.