Spring Break Training Continues

March 13th, 2012
Ha! And I thought yesterday was Spring Break training. That was simply the warm-up. Since I was still able to walk after getting out of bed in the morning, my 16 year old and I went mountain biking. All was good until I actually put my rear end on the bike seat. Bike seats were not designed to match the female anatomy. Oh, tender. As this is a family blog, I will forego an anatomical description of the raw (quite literally) details. I was in for the long ride. My son headed off with me chasing behind. This time, I was pretty determined to actually ride more than walk the bike. We went up, down, up, down, around and more up. "Mom, you need to pedal more." "Mom, you need to lean back behind the seat on the downhills." "Mom, stand up on the pedals." My quads screamed. So did my lungs. I was sure he was trying to kill me. I began thinking some not nice things about my son. No, these were not nurturing, motherly thoughts. And then we turned around and came back. He flew ahead of me. We whipped down Llama Trail, joined onto Bell Rock trail, hung left onto a side trail and flew down the curves, bumping over the rocks, flying along the slick rock. I let out a few wild yells. "Yee-haw!" Even the hikers moved out of our way. One hour and 45 minutes later, we arrived back at the motel. It was so-much-screaming-fun, I may never come back to work. I love my 16 year old.

Climbing up the steep Cathedral Rock

But that was just the morning. We checked out of the motel and headed over to Cathedral Rock for the short, but steep, "hand-over-hand" climb up to the top of the butte. Did you read "hand-over-hand?" Yes, this was a strenuous rock climbing adventure. The 8 year old shot up the face of the rock with the 13 year old chasing. "Stick with him," I yelled. "Make sure he doesn't jump off the ledge at the top." My husband and I flanked the five year old and up we went. The 16 year old bounced back and forth between our groups. Up, up and up. More up. Slick Rock. Smooth. Steep. Only a crack to go up in places. Steep, red, glowing rock. And at the top, a sheer ledge overlooking the valley on the other side. Of course, the boys all took turns walking out to the tip of the ledge and hanging off it. See picture. See mom freak out.

Coming down was a slippery challenge but it was a fabulous thrill of a hike.

We are in love with Sedona.