Day 10: Flintstones Campground past the Grand Canyon

I've got a little story to tell, but let me start off by saying the Grand Canyon is beautiful.

We got up around 7-8 in the morning to make breakfast and start the day slowly. All three of us were packed up and ready to go around 10:20, but as we started rolling I noticed a huge thorn sticking out of my tire. I pulled it out and an instant hiss of air told me we'd be there for at least another 15-20 minutes. I switched the tube out for a Duro tube that Brad had and we were on our way.

After about 7-8 miles we stopped to have a snack and were caught by a couple of guys touring from San Diego to Toronto. We all rode together for about a mile before Brad and I realized we wanted to up the pace. We had to make a detour into Grand Canyon Village to pick up a package from my dad and still wanted to cover some distance, so we said goodbye to Dave and the other guys and started flying down the road. Unfortunately my tire popped again after about a minute (flat count at this point: Arin - 9, Brad -1). All those guys passed us again as we were forced to make another tube change. This time the problem was a faulty tube, where the valve base had separated from the body of the tube. The same thing had happened to Brad before so I'm convinced that Duro has some poor QC. After a quick tire change we were flying, passing everyone and making it fairly quickly to the Grand Canyon National Park. From there it was another 4 or so miles to the visitor's center and a lookout point. We hung out around throngs of people for maybe an hour looking at the canyon before heading to El Tovar Lodge, another mile or two down the road, to pick up my package.

Inside the package was a gold mine; the rain covers I had ordered for my bags, six tubes, eight Honey Stinger waffles, and some chamois butter. We divvied up the stuff and headed to the little grocery mart. There we topped off our water and grabbed a bunch of free condiments from the condiment bar at the cafe.

We were finally back on the road. Riding out of the village we saw 5 young moose on the side of the road.

Brad and I soon got back into a rhythm, and the miles were flying by. But with scenic views of different parts of the canyon, we couldn't help but stop and take photos periodically.

As we zoomed down the road, we saw someone up ahead. Who else could it be but Dave? We were reunited for another night, as he had just kept riding down the highway when we were detouring around the village for a couple (few?) hours.

We rode together for the rest of the evening/night, making one stop before finding our place to camp. That stop was at the historic tower on the side of the canyon, where we had possibly the best views of the whole day.

We rode on into the dark, past the closed campground. Dave had heard from some guy that there was a spot in the national forest that we could camp for free. It got darker and colder so we had to stop and put on warmer clothes. Finally we arrived at a place that matched the guy's description, but there was a trailer with lights on way in the back and an address on a pole out front. The three of us sat there thinking for a while, too sketched out to enter, when a man came walking out with a lamp. It was the guy that Dave had talked to earlier and he showed us in to a good spot to sleep. After some dinner we all hit the hay. 

Now it's morning and Brad and I are heading off towards Tuba City and beyond, while Dave will continue along the rim of the canyon towards Zion.

Day 9: Ash Fork to Flintstones Campground

Birds of a feather... Or so they say.

Anyways, today we met a fellow bike tourer! His name is Dave and he's riding from Phoenix, AZ to British Columbia. Did I mention he's from Australia? I guess he's on a year long vacation in the states, the first part of which was spent on Vail, CO working at the resort and snowboarding every day.

We met him pretty early in the day, on the climb out from Ash Fork towards Williams. We slowed down as we caught up to him so we could chat for a while and ended up spending the whole day together. He's actually filming some interviews to make a documentary so we filmed a quick interview as we sat in front of a Safeway to eat lunch.

The rest of the day was pretty unremarkable. We rode together towards the Grand Canyon, making it to about 25-30 miles from the south rim. We spent some time looking for a spot to sleep on the side of the road, but came across the Flinstones Campground and knew we should stay here.

A six pack of beer and some dinner later and we're sitting around playing Dave's guitar and shooting the shit. Now it's time for bed and the Grand Canyon awaits us tomorrow!

A big thank you

Posted by: Arin

I just checked out PayPal and the support you guys have shown us is amazing. You guys are all the best! If you donated anything to us (before or during the trip) send us an email with your mailing address!

Cyclenorthamerica@gmail.com

Thanks again!

Days 7-8: Peach Springs to Ash Fork

Posted by: Arin

As a cyclist you don't find yourself sitting discouraged on the side of the road after a 5 mile descent, but that's exactly where we found ourselves at 5pm Monday evening. We had planned on getting to Williams by the end of the day, but howling crosswinds throughout the day found us 5 miles from Ash Fork and 23 from Williams. We had only ridden 50 miles in 7 hours, with a couple of very disappointing burritos in the middle. 

One high point of the day had been at an A&W in Seligman. We stopped to get a root beer float as a little pick me up, and happened to meet a rep from Fulcrum wheels on his way back to Florida from the Sea Otter Classic, who hooked us up with a tube and pair of socks each!

On the side of I-40 we realized we weren't going to make it to Williams, so we rode 6 more brutal miles to a Family Dollar in Ash Fork to get some food. Outside the store we met a lady who just started telling us some jokes, the most memorable being: "What do you call a bicycle that can't stand up?"

"Two tired." Just how we felt. 

We thought we were going to sleep behind some trees, and spirits were still pretty low, so we decided to get some beer and refill Brad's fuel for his stove at the local gas station. Spending a long time deciding on the beers, we finally bought a couple 24oz Sierra Nevadas. As we were leaving the store, we met a couple guys and started talking to them about what we were doing. One of them actually offered for us to sleep on his property, so we loaded up our bikes in the back of the truck and sat in the flatbed for a 6 mile ride that included some bumpy dirt roads. It was out of our way a little bit, but he told us he had a jacuzzi and a sketchy skate ramp, so of course we were in.

We got there and had a few beers with the saviors of our day before getting into the jacuzzi.

We set up our tent and went to bed buzzed and happy. There was a lunar eclipse later that night, but we were too tired to stay up and watch. What followed was a freezing night, one that my sleeping bag was just able to handle. I had left all my warm clothes in my panniers and there was no way I was getting out of my bag. We also neglected to put on the rain fly. Despite the cold, it was a good night of sleep.

In the morning we woke up and our hosts made us omelettes with eggs from the 5 chickens they own and home made bread. It was amazing.

We started doing some laundry and packing up our stuff, but when the idea to stay another day arose we had to take the opportunity. We had been riding for a week straight and this seemed like the best possible place to take the day off. What followed was a day of goofing around with the guy that let us stay here.

We did some easy off-roading in his truck, played horseshoes, hit some golf balls, skated the ramp, and just chilled out all day Northern Arizona style. After a delicious dinner, we hung out a little more and once again went to bed. We wore more clothes and put on the rain fly, so the night was nice and warm, despite colder temperatures.

This morning we woke up to more fresh eggs, this time in a burrito with bell peppers and onions. I really have to get some chickens at some point in my life. We're about to leave in a few minutes, and I really can't express enough how amazing this day and a half has been. Our hosts are the most generous and welcoming strangers I have ever met in my life.

Thank you so much for having us! I know we'll be back here again.

Day 6: Kingman to Peach Springs

Posted by: Arin

Another day, another ditch. The only difference is this one is underneath Route 66 on the Huatapai Indian Reservation in Peach Springs, AZ.

Today started out innocently enough. We made some breakfast and had a little skate sesh at the ditch that we slept in last night (see Instagram video). We left the ditch around 10:30 am to go fill up our water at a gas station and get on the road. Riding through town was mellow, and as soon as we got on Route 66 it seemed like smooth sailing; there was a tailwind and the road looked slightly downhill.

After a couple miles, however, I had a flat so we pulled over into a parking lot with some shade to fix it (and use my last tube). When I examined the tire, it had at least 20 thorns in it. Uh oh. Better check all of them now. I finished changing the tube and checked on my front wheel. Also flat, with tons of thorns in it. Luckily only one made it all the way through and I was able to patch it using the Mudfoot (Rema) patch kit I had gotten at the dirty hundo a couple weeks ago. Finally, we were ready to go. 

Psyche! Brad gave his front tire one last look through and he had a big thorn that was slowly leaking air, so we were back at it. We finally got moving again around 1:30. By this time the winds had changed and we had a brutal crosswind. About 10 miles in, I noticed a funny feeling. My rear tire was flat again! There was no shade is sight so we pulled over onto the side of the road to fix it. Now I had 2 patched tubes for the first time in years. We continued on, and the road curved to the right, giving us a killer tailwind that we rode all the way to a tourist stop another 10 miles away. After munching on some baby spinach and a couple of Cokes, it was time to go. But wait, I had another flat on my rear wheel. My fourth of the day and our fifth collectively. This was getting out of hand; and the puncture was less than 1cm from the last patch! After adding another patch we finally got going. Spoiler: this is the end of our flat tire woes for the day.

We had been riding for just a minute when I noticed something weird; Brad wasn't wearing his sunglasses for the first time on the whole trip, so I asked him about it. Turns out he had left them at the rest stop, so we rode straight back and luckily found them on the ground. The wind was so strong that it had blown them off of the table earlier. From there it was about 25 miles to Peach Springs, and we had a tailwind so we felt good... For about 10 minutes. The road took another turn and we were back in the crosswind. What followed was a tough couple of hours, eased only by the beautiful landscape.

We rolled into the only open building in Peach Springs, a hotel/visitor center, around 7 and asked where the nearest camping was. 12 more miles they told us, so we sat down to charge our phones and think. We decided to just ride in the dark, but as we were about to leave a woman approached us.

Here's the highlight of the day: she was so stoked on what we were doing that she offered to buy us dinner, and we couldn't refuse. A veggie burger and fries for me and a chile verde burrito for Brad later, we hit the road expecting to ride far in the dark and pay for camping. Fortunately we found this tunnel under the road pretty soon and set up camp for the night.

If it weren't for Denise, today would have been way tougher, but her kindness really helped us out, something for which I'll always be grateful. When you read this, thanks Denise!

Here's a view from the tent in the morning.

Also, I'm posting this on Monday and it's my mom's birthday! Happy birthday mom.

Day 5: Bullhead City to Kingman

Posted by: Arin 

The real riding began about 5-6 miles from camp. We didn't realize it at the time but we were in for 10 straight miles of climbing up to Union Pass. That was grueling to say the least; temperatures were at 90+ and empty water jugs littered the side of the road, relics of trucks broken down from too much strain. We had to stop part of the way up to refill our water bottles from the bags in our panniers, and when we finally made it to top, another break to eat and rest.

After a quick descent, we entered Golden Valley. A segment of ride that looked unassuming turned out to be anything but. We were battered by crosswinds and found ourselves using close to the same gear that we had on the climb. Lucky for us in the middle of the valley was a shady oasis: Sonic Burger. We sat in the shade there for over an hour and enjoyed a Polynesian punch slushie (the first thing I have ever consumed from Sonic). We couldn't stay forever though, so we continued into the wind and up another mountain, which lead to Coyote Pass. Here you can see the view from Coyote Pass back through Golden Valley and towards Union Pass.

From there it was a smooth few miles into Kingman, where we headed to Safeway to grab some food. Once we got there, however, we found out there was a skatepark a couple blocks away and decided to go there first and see if we could meet any people who could help us out in finding a place to sleep. A few hours at the park yielded us nothing but some info on a tunnel nearby. We went back to Safeway to get some ingredients to make sandwiches for dinner and headed to the tunnel to eat and sleep.

Day 4: Into Arizona

Posted by: Arin

Day 4 was our laziest day so far. We started off by eating the remainder of our food, then headed down the 17 miles to Needles. Right off the 40 was a KOA campground, so we decided to go in and steal some showers (and wash our clothes while we were at it). Brad went first, and finished with no issues. I got in next and while I was washing my clothes Brad comes in and tells me "some lady says we have to move along." I didn't take it too seriously, so I told him to tell her 5 minutes. About a minute later, a lady comes into the bathroom and says "you need to get out right now! I'm calling the police and you're trespassing." Once again, I'm gathering all my stuff in a hurry and run outside to where Brad is waiting. We strapped all of our wet clothes to our bikes and took off into Needles.

In town, we decided to splurge and got a huge veggie pizza, which we devoured. We chilled at the pizza place (River City Pizza Co) for a while while out clothes dried a little more and our phones charged.

After some time we headed to a park that some train workers at the pizza place told us about to digest and finish drying our clothes. Sitting and looking at the Colorado River was really nice (especially with a full stomach). 

Once we were ready we headed 20-something more miles to Bullhead City. It was getting later into the day so we were on constant lookout for a place to sleep. The majority of the highway was not what we wanted, with an almost nonexistent shoulder and stores and houses lining the sides. After a few miles into the city, we found our spot; a big sandy area with lots of trees, used mostly for off road recreation but with plenty of unused space. We set up camp there for the night and cooked up some beans that made delicious burritos (along with some pepper jack cheese, avocado, and tapatio that we picked up at Safeway earlier in the day).