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Women travelled from all over the country to shred the red. The terrain and scenery is beautiful on every trail.
Sedona, Arizona is an ideal winter mountain bike destination. With sunny skies and hundreds of miles of trails, including some of the most technical in the country, I jumped at the chance to go to Roam Bike Fest West.
Earlier this year, I attended Roam Bike Fest East in Brevard and it was insanely fun. I was looking forward to demoing a couple of women’s mountain bikes in particular and I was ecstatic to have so many extra small frame options from Juliana, Pivot, Specialized, and others.
Upon arrival, the energy and stoke-level was high, and it would stay that way for the entire weekend. The schedule of activities has options for every kind of rider — chill to hammer — plus time to shmooze and learn from the badass women of the bike industry.
Sedona has over 250 miles of trails. Be smart and use a paper/downloadable map to get the lay of the land as you don’t want to get lost in the desert for obvious reasons: dehydration, overheating, and the javelinas!Mescal trail makes a good intro to Sedona. It’s an “intermediate” trail but one of the easier ones to start with.Shout out to the gals at Hermosa Tours! They shuttled (and partied) with us all weekend. And yes, rad was certainly had!On to the rocks! Plenty of opportunities to session these type of rock features. Sarah from Specialized shows us how to attack this descent.This fireball, I mean, Specialized Stumpjumper, loved playing in the rocks.At Roam, you’ll always find plenty of other women to ride with. Exploring is way more fun with new friends.Roam Fest partners with industry brands that support women mountain bikers. Female brand reps thoughtfully handle the bike and product demos, lead group rides, put on info sessions, and even prep craft cocktails for Happy Hour.Roxy Lo, designer for Ibis Cycles, chats with women about what it takes to design a bike. Roam Fest had at least a dozen info sessions to educate women about everything from suspension setup to smartphone photography tips.photo: Jo Hillman Steeh. Athletes like Jill Kintner (pictured here), Chloe Woodruff and Rose Grant (both with Stans-Pivot), and Kelli Emmett (Juliana) attended and some shared inspirational stories and insight into their personal lives as professional mountain bikers.Pre-ride yoga. We need to this every day, amirite? Our hips and shoulders will thank us.Lots of line choices, hardly a bad one.This is how the ladies of Sturdy Dirty Racing like to get after it.Scouting lines.Hardcore hardtail, loving all the descents.All smiles after another full, fun day of riding.
Schwag for days. This raffle was serious, like Black Friday serious. You could get trampled fighting for a pint glass.Grand prize of the raffle? A women’s Specialized Stumpjumper Comp. Told ya it was serious.At Roam Fest, all women are treated like Queen of the Mountain, whether a pro athlete, rowdy rider, XC-all-the-way, a true beginner, young or old.Vegans and sharks are welcome at the taco line.The fun never stops at Roam. The Animal House dance party was full of crazy cats!And not one but three dancing dinosaurs.Cheers to a good day of riding and embracing your inner unicorn.Barrel of Fun, even better than La Croix!I couldn’t stand the cuteness of this dog costume — straight out of Llama Llama, Red Pajama.These gals are known for their over-the-top parties, and perhaps the biggest reason to celebrate this time was this very special engagement. Congrats Ash + Andi, wishing you endless stoke in the years to come.
Here’s Ash and Andi sharing a little of what they do best at Roam Events.
Be sure to check out their smaller, more intimate gatherings, known as Roam Retreats. Registration opens todayJanuary 10, 2019 for these all-inclusive mountain bike vacations in epic destinations like Bentonville, Oakridge, and Whitefish. Hope to see you at Roam Bike Fest in 2019.
Go to ride fast or go to chill, just go and have fun!
