Fish Tales from Sedona

Four Days in Sedona with Magura Direct, Crank Brothers, and SKS

It’s not every day that an Olympic gold medalist and Tour de France racer pulls you and your bike out of a rock gully on a cross-country ride in the Arizona desert. That was only one of many pleasant experiences (the help of a humble pro, not the falling) at this week’s Magura Direct press camp, which also was hosted by Uvex, Vaude, Crank Brothers and SKS.

I admit I was a bit anxious about coming to Sedona, Ariz., though. When he described it to me, Editor/Publisher Brian Riepe said we got to stay in a cool house with outdoor living spaces, including beds on the verandas. He said we’d go on epic, four-hour rides in the Arizona desert. He said we’d have good food, time to pick the brains of cycling gurus, and see presentations highlighting some new products.

But beyond the words “epic, four-hour rides,” I didn’t hear anything. Line up the excuses in whatever order, I was fearing the epic four-hour rides with cycling greats like Ruthie Matthes, Mario Kummer, Leonard Zinn, and others who race or have raced, (including Riepe, who always kicks ass whether in race mode or not).

Yes, let’s get one thing straight: Three days of cycling and talking bikes hardly counts as work. On the other hand, for someone who loves to mountain bike and never pays attention to the details, I knew this would require mental fitness as well. One of my biggest downfalls as a cyclist has not been caring enough about my gear to learn the techy details. At the top of the excuses on this one: I’m not a numbers person; I’m not a quantum physics geek; I just don’t have time.

Another of my faults is that I settle. Throughout my years of recreational riding, I’ve been strong enough to get up tougher technical sections—even if inefficiently or without style—so I don’t make changes or upgrade what I have. I settle.

What you gain out of a gig like or from digging a little deeper on other rides with good friends who know about the equipment, is learning what you love about your current ride and what works for you. Be forewarned: You’re likely to also discover the things you don’t like about your current set-up! (I now dread going back to my bike with the 100 mm front shock and the low-sitting bottom bracket.)

And when you hang out for a few days with bike wrenches, product designers and pro racers, you do get to learn about some cool—yes, maybe even techy things—like why Magura uses a 2 mm thick rotor versus dropping to 1.8 mm. (A thicker rotor has the capability of taking on more heat, which results in increased safety, an area the German-based Magura places at the top of their list when designing a new product.)

But most of all you get to see firsthand that when people follow their passion and work in an industry they love—in this case cycling—it shows, even if it means that a world-famous road racer has to trade in his Lycra for plaid baggies and help some gumby get up from a fall.   

At the end of the trip when I thanked Mario for fishing me out of the ravine, he smiled, gave me a hug and said the pleasure was all his:

“I liked the fishing. The fishing was good.”