Days 14-15: Cortez to Durango and a rest day!

Posted by: Arin 

Riding from Cortez to Durango was my favorite day of riding so far. The day started off with some rolling hills, leading into a little town called Mancos. In town we stopped at an awesome little coffee shop called Farenheit Coffee Roasters. An iced americano and a coconut-carrot-ginger muffin left me feeling an awesome coffee buzz and we headed off. The next 15 miles or so was mainly uphill, but with an amazing tailwind and a few good downhill sections. It was gorgeous outside.

The last 10 miles was all downhill past a ski resort and into Durango. Once we got into town, we stopped into a little mountain bike shop called Pedal to Peaks for some advice on where to sleep. We got a little advice, but ended up just talking to a guy named Cliff about mountain bikes and ski bikes for a while. He's one of the only guys in the country who rents ski bikes. The most useful information we got, however, were directions to a grocery store and the skatepark.

When I got out of the grocery store, Brad was waiting for me with some awesome news. Some guy had ridden up to the store and told him we could stay in his back yard for the night. He also told us about a resource to find places to sleep (warmshowers.org), but we haven't used it yet. With bags full of food and assurance of a safe place to sleep, we headed to the skatepark.

Durango skatepark is awesome. They have a bunch of fun obstacles that caused Brad and I to not want to leave until dark (see Instagram). A bit before we actually left (and a while after we said we were going to), a couple guys rolled up to the park in a huge van and started grilling some hot dogs and skating. We got talking to them and ended up telling them we were staying town in some guy's backyard.

"You can stay at my place" said one of them. "I have an extra bed and a sweet-ass couch." We were sold. We hadn't gotten the first guy's contact info though, so we rode to his house to tell him. After chatting with him about touring for a while, we headed back to the skatepark. The lights weren't on, and the van was nowhere to be seen. Luckily I had gotten one of their phone numbers, so we called them up, got directions, and were on our way.

The guy who we stayed with, Roddy, had a sweet-ass house. First order of business for us was to buy some beer for our hosts. We all piled in the van to go to the local liquor store, where we picked up a couple six packs from Ska Brewing, a local favorite.

The van was awesome too. A huge white monster with front seats from an old bomber and a chromed 302 engine. The thing sounded like a boat. Also note the big bag of candy in the dash.

Back at Roddy's, we drank the beers and made a bonfire. Brad and I finally made the food that we had bought earlier and we all passed out around 1.

The next day, we woke up, had some coffee, and loaded in the van to head to an awesome skate spot. It was this bank to curb right alongside the Animas River. We skated it for a while and got some fun tricks, despite a slam I took falling from the top at the beginning of the session. Roddy was going in to get a tattoo later, so we drove back to his place to make some delicious egg-in-the-holes and potatoes. 

Roddy left for his tattoo with us home alone. We decided to go up the hill and skate the local college. The most awesome spot we found there was this insane hill down into town. It had two 10 mph hairpins and was super fun! Unfortunately I took a pretty hard fall going down the hill and scraped up my forearm, hip, ankle, and shoulder. It was painful, but I was ok enough to skate all the way across town to go say hi to Roddy getting his tattoo. It was my first time in a tattoo shop, and the walls were covered in some bad ass art. We got some groceries on the way back for dinner and to eat the next day.

(Photo by Brad)

Later in the night we went and met up with Justin, the other guy we met at the skatepark. He was at Steamworks Brewery (where he works) getting cheap beer with a bunch of his coworkers. We hung out and played a few bar games before heading back to drink more beer and sleep. Durango was awesome, I need to go back!

Day 13: Colorado state line to Cortez

Posted by: Arin

This was our first impression of Colorado: beautiful scenery, but tons of glass littering the sides of highway 160 and some of the most brutal crosswinds we've encountered this whole trip. We were pedaling hard on flats and slight downhills and still hardly moving faster than 10 mph.

About 18 miles in, we were ready for a snack. A sign up ahead said there was a casino in four miles, there had to be food there. The sign lied; seven brutal miles later and we finally arrived at a big convenience store, greeted by soda and cookies. On the way out, we grabbed some rice pudding from a lady on the side of the road and it was delicious!

We continued on to Cortez, another 20 miles or so through the wind. Once in town, we headed to the skatepark at Parque de Vida but it looked kind of janky so we continued on. Mexican food was what we needed, and a quick yelp search found El Burro Pancho (which turned out to be really good). We probably went through 3 bowls of chips and salsa along with huge plates of food. Some people at the restaurant started talking to us about where we were going, etc. and gave us a tip on a place to stay. Across the street from the town fairgrounds in Cortez is a mountain biking area called Phil's World, and he said we could easily hide there for the night.

We rode a few miles down the highway, then followed a dirt road up to some singletrack. After about 500 feet of trail, we found a good spot to set up camp and go to sleep. It wasn't a bad Easter.

Day 12: Cow Springs to colorful Colorado!

Posted by: Arin

It's one in the morning and I'm laying in the tent next to Brad. We're both still awake because we rode 120 miles today. That's the most either of us has ever ridden in a day, and it was on fully loaded touring bikes. It also puts us at 210 miles over the last two days.

We actually had a late start to the day. I showered, ate breakfast, and finished up the last couple posts on the blog before we got on the road around 10:45. Then we had a flat six or seven miles in! So we didn't really get moving until around 11:15.

Brad's knee was acting up in the morning, so we took it easy for a little while. With some ibuprofen and a little warming up we were able to pick up the pace and made it to Kayenta by 2. There we went to the grocery store Basha (a terrible place, but our only option) to pick up food for the next couple days. We ate a little there and were back on the road around 3. At this point we were a little less than 40 miles in, but we had a tailwind and we started jamming down the road. Somewhere between miles 75 and 80 we sat down on a big rock to eat some food. It was already 6, and we were running from storm clouds that had been chasing us all day with intermittent rain. 

After some peanut butter and dried fruit wraps, we felt some rain and continued on. Just a few miles later, we were surprised to see a gas station and stopped in for some chocolate milks. As we were there, it started getting dark so we had to pull out our bike lights.

We had seen a lot of tunnels under the road, so our plan was to find one soon. A few miles past the gas station, we had some luck: a perfect tunnel. We lifted our bikes over a short barbed wire fence (not as easy as it sounds when your bike weighs 90 pounds) and scoped out the tunnel. Other than some horse tracks it looked good. In the distance to one side we could see some lights, then one popped up and started moving... in our direction. If we could see their lights they could probably see ours too. A couple other lights started moving, so we decided to get out of there. We lifted our bikes back over the fence and got back up to the road. The lights didn't seem to get any closer, but we were still on the reservation and didn't want to have any trouble. We decided to keep going to find a safer place. After slogging our way through maybe thirteen more miles, we got to Red Mesa and stopped to get a candy bar and some donuts to lift our spirits. It was almost 10 and the lights from the gas station attracted hundreds of june bugs and moths that all hovered around the filling stations and entryway.

We got going again, soon passing the 100 mile marker for the day. We hit a good-sized downhill and Brad hit the gas. We were flying through the pitch-black night with only stars above us and an occasional car.

Finally we made it to Teec Nos Pos, where we made a left to stay on 160. Only five miles left to four corners! We though we could make it in to the park at night, but that was not the case.

A mile or two down the road we came across 2 signs. One of them said "camp➡️" and the other said "Welcome to colorful Colorado." We followed the sign for camping up a rocky, sandy dirt road for about a mile before we came upon a house. A young man came out and we asked him where we could camp. He told us to talk to his parents, who were just pulling up in their truck. They had just gotten back from the casino, and told us to go back down the road and find any spot that's flat off to the side. We started setting up camp just after midnight, ate anything we didn't have to prepare, and I crashed out midway through this post.

All in all, it was an epic day. The night riding we did was one of the most beautiful things I've ever experienced.

Day 11: Kaibab National Forest to Cow Springs

Posted by: Arin 

Another long morning.

Today started off normally; breakfast, packing, etc all done by around 9:30-10. What held us back from leaving then was a flat (not mine!). The wheel on Dave's trailer had been slowly leaking air for the past few days, but when he went to pump it up all the air escaped. We pulled out the tube and the base of the valve was busted. Also, no spare 16 inch tube.

We decided to patch an old 700c tube and fold it over itself to get Dave rolling. Now our problem was a shraeder valve hole and a presta valve with no threading, which was easily fixed with duct tape.

We successfully got Dave rolling and were on the road by 11. After a couple miles of downhill we said our goodbyes and Brad and I were off. The start of the day was great, with tons of downhill and amazing views. Our first stop was at a little roadside stand so that brad could buy some elk jerky. The location of the store was amazing.

After a bit more riding we came to a place called Little Colorado River Gorge (or something like that). We had to stop, and the views there were stunning.

We continued with almost exclusively downhill until we got to Cameron, where we stopped for some snacks. Unfortunately I got a flat right as we rolled into the parking lot so we had to deal with that too. From there it was 18 miles north on the 89 until we reached the 160, where it was another 15 to Tuba City. The miles seemed to fly by until we were about 3 miles from Tuba City. An old Native American man was yelling at us to come over to him across the street. We obliged, and the man told us that he was deaf and to call the cops. He didn't really speak English so we couldn't figure out what for. A younger man in his thirties ran over to help, but as he reached us a dust storm hit. None of us could communicate for almost a minute as we were barraged by sand and wind. Finally the younger man was able to tell us they had everything under control, as the old man seemed out of his wits. We continued on to Tuba City.

We were hungry, so we split a hot-n-ready cheese pizza before picking up some groceries. When all was said and done it was after 6 and darkness was coming. We thought we were going to ride maybe 10-15 more miles and then find a place under the road to sleep, but nowhere was suitable and we carried on. From Tuba City we ended up riding 22 miles to Red Lake (not actually a lake). It was pitch dark by then so we went into the little food mart to ask for some advice. They told us we could sleep out back, but one look at that spot and there was no way we were staying there. Broken glass covered the ground and we had heard there were a lot of drunk people around. Way too sketchy.

An Indian (not Native American) man started to talk to us about what we were doing. They were headed where we came from, but luckily another family overhead us talking from their truck. A 13-year-old boy came up to us and asked us if we had anywhere to sleep for the night. When we said no, he told us his mom said we could stay with them. We got some directions from her, and found out we had to ride another 9 miles down the highway to a place on the reservation called Cow Springs. Time to go.

We had a tailwind so going was fast, but the sprinkling that had been going on lightly throughout the day was progressing towards being real rain. We pushed on, getting wet on this pitch dark highway. We finally arrived and were welcomed into the house. What followed was a bizarre change of pace. After bringing the stuff we needed in and putting our bikes in the shed, we sat at the table with three kids and stuffed plastic Easter eggs for their family get-together while the kids dyed real eggs. 

Meanwhile, the woman who let us stay at the house was butchering a sheep with her mother. Her father was also around helping the kids dye eggs. The mom has a farm, and they had slaughtered the sheep earlier in the day. She spoke a Navajo language, but our host estimated the sheep would provide their family with 20 meals. We did a load of laundry and fell asleep in the living room.

The offer had been proposed for us to come to their family Easter event today (Saturday), but we decided that it would be best to continue our journey. Nevertheless, these people are amazing and saved us from a potentially miserable night. This trip is really showing me that there are wonderful people out there in the world, and somehow the stars are aligning for us to meet them.

Thank you so much to our hosts!

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!