8th Annual GO AZ Motorcycles Sedona Ride Recap

Because of the large group of people, we picked four different restaurants to end the ride so not to overload one.  My group was the first to leave as the restaurant I picked, The Red Rock Café, closed the earliest at 2:PM.  We left GO AZ at 8:AM and headed towards the Beeline.  Once we reached Fort McDowell, we stopped for a brief moment at the Chevron station to regroup.  Once regrouped, we headed north on the Beeline through Payson and Strawberry.  The weather was nice and sunny with the temperatures not too hot in Scottsdale because of the early start, but once up close to Payson, the temperatures just kept getting better!  We then made a left on Lake Mary Rd and stopped for gas right before the I-17 intersection.  After our gas stop, we made a left on AZ SR89A and headed south to Sedona via Oak Creek Canyon.  Traffic was surprisingly light for this time of year!  Not even backed up at Slide Rock!  Once in town, the heat kicks up and the slow run through town gets a little harder.  Once through downtown, we turned off on SR179 and stopped at the Red Rock Café in the Village of Oak Creek for a delicious lunch!  After lunch, I hooked up with Road Captain and El Chino Loco for a nice ride down I-17 to the 303 and home!

by  El Vice Presidente:

We had a large turnout and as such it was planned to have several groups leave GOAZ Scottsdale staggered and with different lunch establishments. Our group had 11 riders, totaling 13 with passengers.

The route took us through Pine, Strawberry and then the long-awaited Lake Mary Road, which was beautiful and a smooth ride. We had a quick gas stop in Flagstaff for those of us that didn’t top off in Payson. Once in Flagstaff, it was a cool 73 degrees and it was amazing! The scenery, the air as well as a great group of riders.

Our restaurant of choice was the Sedona Pizza Company.  We all arrived around 12:30 and were ready to eat, relax and chat about the ride. Although, sometimes it is difficult to seat so many of us at the same time, Sedona Pizza Company was ready with tables for all of us as well as cold water immediately.  The food was amazing as well as the service.  After lunch, the ride is over with everyone able to go their own way in their own timing

Sedona is always beautiful and a nice little getaway from the day to day.  It was hot getting home, but a quick dip in the pool cooled us off and we relaxed for the rest of the day.  This by far was one of the nicest, smoothest Sedona rides I have done and definitely look forward to next year’s ride!

Thank you all that came on the ride, AZRATPack and GOAZ Motorcycles would like to thank you for your support and patronage. We’d love to see you on the next ride.

by  Todd Gilles:

We were the airport group!  About 8 of us ended up being the 3rd group to leave GoAZ with the intention of finishing at the Mesa Grill at the Sedona Airport!  After stopping in Fountain Hills at the scheduled gas stop we made a second gas stop in Payson to top off so everyone in the group could stay together and easily make it.  After that we enjoyed the pine trees, cooler air, and twisty roads. We all got caught in some clutch hand cramping slower traffic on the 89a coming down from Flagstaff but the silver lining was the slower speeds allowed us to enjoy the Red Rock Vistas!  Upon arriving at the Mesa Grill we were immediately seated at the two tables that were reserved for us and enjoyed some great food, and better conversation.  After we all finished we all went our separate ways and longed for our next ride!

by  Stephen Stoops:

It was a beautiful day for a ride up to Sedona. We left in the 4^th and last group out but in talking with everyone we were all filled with gas, so we decided to skip the first gas stop. We had a nice leisurely ride up the Beeline through Payson and on up Lake Mary Road. It seems our leisurely pace was a little bit rough on the Corvette club who decided they needed to go just a little bit faster than us. They were able to eventually get around us a few at a time and proceed on up the road. As we arrived at the Chevron in Flagstaff, I was surprised to see that the first group was there and we had caught up with them. Somewhere along the line we had passed the second and third groups without ever knowing it. We pulled out and had a nice ride going down Oak Creek Canyon in the Sedona with what turns out to be very light traffic that day. Our group went to the Creekside for lunch. They were going to set our whole group up out on the patio but some of the tables were in full sun and a few of us opted to eat inside instead. The food was wonderful, the company was great. I would definitely return to the Creekside Restaurant again.