Ugh. long assed day. The ride was GREAT. It seems that every time I ride Pinecrest I remember how awesome this place is… then promptly forget. Someone has done some major reworks on Pinecrest… tons of trailwork on this trail. I didn’t much care for the 300 or so rock or log water bars they added but there are a couple of technical sections that they reworked/ added that were a total blast. The technical sections at the bottom of Pinecrest are still super fun and I was in top form today. Overall, still one of the most underrated trails I have ridden. I also heard after the fact that there is about 1/2 mile of additional singletrack at the top of Pinecrest. I’m not quite sure where it starts yet though, somewhere near the actual peak I believe.ÂÂ
The “RR Grade” headed out from Strawberry was every bit as fun in this direction as I imagined it. Just a slight downhill grade, non-stop high speed tree dodging action, the thick covering of pineneedles made for sketchy traction and I found myself drifting around corners and actually countersteering in a few places to keep vertical.
We were starting to feel the miles by the time we hit the flume section and it was long enough and repetitive enough that we started to get a bit bored with it. I also think Joseph was starting to get tired. Too much work on the heavy bike of his.
After the Flume we were in dark territory… I wasn’t sure exactly how to get to Crandall Peak. We settled on a road that appeared to go the right direction and although it did it dropped us down to the Crandall Peak Staging area. Good news, we know how to get to Crandall Peak and Pinball from there which was ultimately our destination for the day… but not for me, I had run out of time and wound up doing something that I really really hate to do which is skipping out on a group ride. I was leaving them at a known/ well marked area, with a map, and both Joseph and Jon were familiar with the area so I didn’t feel too bad but still 
Anyhow… for me the rest of the ride was hauling butt down fireroads and RR grades at race pace for the next 45 minutes. By the time I got to the car I was wiped out but I was right on time… 3:30. Only to discover when we landed in Phoenix at 9:45PM it was 101 degrees out
No pics for me. Dummy forgot to charge the camera before heading up the hill so I drug around a dead camera all day long. I don’t think anyone else was taking pix either… we just didn’t stop for any breaks.