You’re never too old for spring break

Words by Josh Patterson, photos by the Dirt Rag staff

You can blame MTV for cultivating the notion that spring break is all about binge drinking and making as many bad decisions as one can cram into a week. Rather than squander a week blacking-out in a tacky, overcrowded resort, and waking up next to someone you’d rather not see again, why not spend a week doing something you will actually remember, with people whose company you actually enjoy?

What’s that you say? You’re not in college and you can’t afford to skip out on work for a week? Not a problem. A long weekend should do the trick.

There are few things more quintessentially American than the road trip—covering hundreds, or even thousands of miles of Eisenhower’s Interstate System in order to discover a new place to ride. Start by packing a vehicle full of friends and gear, and strapping mountain bikes to the roof and rear by any means necessary.

Pro tip: Mini vans=mega fun.

Once you are locked and loaded choose your destination. This may seem a bit backasswards—someone once said the journey is more important than the destination, and that notion certainly applies here. As long as trails are good the beer is cheap does it really matter where you’re going?

Use this felicific calculus to help determine your destination: multiply the number of days you plan to ride by the miles of singletrack you think you can ride per day. Take this value and compare it to your possible destinations. Select a destination with more miles of trail than you can ride, stick the key in the ignition and hit the road, Jack.

Adam at the wheel, dodging semi trucks and tumbleweeds.

Our spring break trip was born out of necessity: Dirt Rag HQ was locked in a vicious late winter freeze-thaw cycle, the trails were a mess, and we had bikes in need of testing. So we assembled a spring break crew and hopped aboard planes, trains, and automobiles to meet in sunny Sedona for eight days of “work” in the form of “product testing.” There we found warm temperatures, sunny skies, and an abundance of sharp, pointy plants.

Matt was the first to discover that, in the desert, every plant is out to get you.

The Arizona is the perfect place to make the switch to tubeless. Thanks to NoTubes for hooking us up with a spring break support kit.

Matt and Kevin from Hermosa Tours guided us through Sedona’s ever-expanding web of trails. They did a great job of making sure our every need was taken care of.

Karl on the lookout for vortices or UFOs.

We’re still not sure what we’re supposed to experience inside a vortex but there are plenty of people in Sedona willing to tell you, after taking your money, of course.

It was a great trip. We came back with sunburns, scabs, and plenty of stories. Everything a spring break should be.

What about you? Ever spend a spring break discovering new trails?