Road Trip: Sedona, Arizona and Over The Edge Sports Bike Shop
As we pulled up into the dirt lot and the modest entrance of Over The Edge Sports in Sedona, I beamed with excitement, eager to try a full carbon Intense Carbine 29er amidst all the majestic and beautiful scenery of Sedona. As promised and reserved over the phone, three high-end rental mountain bikes were ready to go after some fitting and a few minor adjustments. One of our buddies needed to have the stem swapped out for a different length and Jared, our friendly tech got right on it. Our pedals were installed, the shocks were adjusted to our weight and finally the tire pressure was set to our preference with consideration for rough, local terrain. It is worth noting as well that the tires were sealed up tubeless, which is key to having a good experience in Sedona.
Then the friendly trail recommendations ensued. Jason First, a former top-level NORBA racer and downright cool dude from SoCal with mad bike handling skills is one of the owners and he started recommending trails with his calming, friendly and understated zen-like demeanor. He gladly offered up some advice after asking what type of terrain we preferred. Though we were lucky enough and very grateful to have our buddy Kyle Doherty join us from Flagstaff later in the trip, we were on our own for a couple days so Jason’s recommendations for the first days were very welcome. If you are in need of a guide, step to the left of the shop and get some help from a crew that truly understands the options Sedona has to offer.
After buying some trail snacks and goodies we were off to the trails. If you haven’t put Sedona on your list of mountain bike destinations, I can’t tell you enough to do it, just do it and thank me later. You will experience pure bliss and will be challenged, wowed and thrilled with the trails and scenery. It seems like the iPhone’s ‘panorama’ mode was invented in an attempt to capture Sedona’s landscape. There’s no bad angle really. And there’s always good light to capture the fast action the technical singletrack trails have to offer.
While enjoying the ride and amazing scenery on these sick trails about an hour into our ride, my buddy’s rear hub blew up as the ratchet failed. Unfortunately, as we all know with anything mechanical, sometime &*^t happens. The good thing about Sedona is that most of the trails are only minutes from town so we were able to help push my buddy along and get us back to the shop. How a shop handles adversity defines the character and true spirit of the shop and Over The Edge Sports came through to help a trail brother out. Jason wasn’t there, but Matt and Jared assisted to help determine if a quick fix was possible. We found out that the pawls had completely sheared off, thus the reason there was zero engagement. Fortunately, they had another bike to swap and we were back on the trails, this time for High Line Trail.
After our guide Kyle Doherty led the climbing efforts around the perimeter of Cathedral Rock, an inspiring tower and monstrosity of rock, we were treated to a hair-raising, white-knuckle descent down some steep and technical sections. Kyle showed me the local knowledge lines and I just pointed the bike down and eased off the brakes to generate flow on the rocky but grippy singletrack. I had such a blast that I found myself hooting and hollering like a kid at Toys ‘R Us.
We enjoyed two more awesome days on the trails and I captured some great bro-ments of bikes, beer and grub. We’ll let the pictures do the talking from here.
Overall, what sets Over The Edge apart from the other shop in town is their rider knowledge and passion for the sport, not to mention their great selection of bikes that will wow even the most hard core of riders. If you’re worried about leaving your prize rig at home, don’t. Rent some of their trail worthy steeds and have a blast. Rest assured they will not only take care of proper fit and set up, but they’ll recommend a route tailored to your style and they’ll do it with a smile! Coupled with expert advice on trail selection, it’s easy to recommend Over The Edge Sports and Sedona, AZ for your next road trip adventure.
For more information and bike rental rates visit otesports.com/locations/sedona.
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