Mary and I did the bike tour of a lifetime with Lizard Head in August and September 2014! It was called Zion to Taos, but we actually biked all the way to Santa Fe. We covered nearly 900 miles in 13 days and biked EFI (every fricking inch) of the planned route plus some bonus miles without a shuttle, except for 25 miles after Mary fell and got a concussion. That required a quick trip to the ER for her to get a doctor’s OK to continue.
For the first week of the tour we had 15 guests and two guides, which was more than would fit in the single van that accompanied us after we left Zion. Three guests besides Mary and me biked EFI, which meant that there was enough room in the van for the others when they took a bump at the end of the longest day 🙂 Six guests left after the first week.
Bertrand and Ben were our guides for the first week, while Bertrand and Joe were the guides for the second week. Bertrand is a French chef, so we had some good meals along the road 🙂
Here is our itinerary for this awesome tour!
Day 1 (Sunday, August 31): Hike in the Virgin River Narrows with condors overhead, shuttle through the Zion-Mt Carmel Tunnel, and then bike to Mt Carmel (17 miles & 1,100 ft of climbing).
Day 2 (Monday, September 1): Mt Carmel -> Bryce Canyon (64 mi & 4,100 ft) followed by an afternoon hike
Day 3 (Tuesday, September 2): Bryce Canyon -> Boulder UT (77 mi & 4,800 ft)
Day 4 (Wednesday, September 3): Boulder UT -> Hanksville (87 mi & 5,500 ft)
Day 5 (Thursday, September 4): Hanksville -> Blanding (126 mi & 8,700 ft), the Queen Stage!!
Day 6 (Friday, September 5): Blanding -> McElmo Canyon (65 mi & 2,600 ft)
Day 7 (Saturday, September 6): McElmo Canyon -> Durango (70 mi & 5,000 ft)
Day 8 (Sunday, September 7): Durango <-> Pinkerton Hot Springs (31 mi & 1,000 ft) for a rest day bonus ride
Day 9 (Monday, September 8): Durango -> Pagosa Hot Springs (54 mi & 3,200 ft), Mary’s fall!
Day 10 (Tuesday, September 9): Pagosa Hot Springs -> Chama (48 mi & 3,600 ft)
Day 11 (Wednesday, September 10): Chama -> Ojo Caliente (94 mi & 5,300 ft)
Day 12 (Thursday, September 11): Ojo Caliente -> Taos plus a bonus out-and-back ride to Palo Flechado Pass (78 mi & 4,600 ft)
Day 13 (Friday, September 12): Taos -> Santa Fe (77 mi & 6,900 ft)
Photos and commentary follow.
Day 1: Sunday, August 31. Mary and I are ready to start the tour with a warmup hike along the Virgin River in Zion National Park. 
Condors circle overhead! 
After shuttling through the 1.1-mile Zion-Mt Carmel Tunnel on the east side of the park, we are ready to start biking for 13 days! 
Mary climbs out of the park.
Day 3: Tuesday, September 2. We enter Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument soon after we leave Bryce Canyon. 
Sunflowers are in bloom in a dry wash. 
Escalante, with less than 1,000 people, is the largest town along today’s ride. 
This is the view from Head of the Rocks. Can you find the road we will ride? 
Mary does one of the last climbs of the day. 
We spend the night at the Boulder Mountain Lodge, which serves us a delicious dinner and breakfast.
Day 4: Wednesday, September 3. Mary nears the top of the climb above 9,000 ft over the east shoulder of Boulder Mountain. 
I get ready for a death-defying descent. I hit 49.7 mph on the way down! 
We follow the Fremont River in Capitol Reef National Park. 
A sheep watches warily from the bushes beside the road. 
Irrigation makes a spectacular green oasis in the desert. 
Factory Butte towers above the desert floor.
Day 5: Thursday, September 4. This is the long, lonely road that will take us 126 miles from Hanksville to Blanding for the Queen Stage of the tour. We leave in the dark before anyone else, and an owl flies beside us for awhile. 
We wait at Hog Spring for Bertrand, who arrives in the van with a hot breakfast! We leave before any of the other guests arrive. From here until we near the end of the day’s ride, I see two outhouses, one ranch, and no services. It is really good that we have a van with us. 
We roll downhill to the Colorado River. 
We cross the river at Hite, the lowest elevation on the tour. We now have an uphill ride into a headwind with the temperature in the 90s. 
We get some salvation in late afternoon when the wind dies down and a shower cools the air. This plaque at Salvation Knoll seems apt.
Day 6: Friday, September 5. At the first rest stop of the day, the trailer gets stuck on the drop-off by the side of the road. After disconnecting the trailer and jacking it up, we are able to put the rig back together again. 
We cross into Colorado and stop for lunch at Sutcliffe Vineyards, which is in the irrigated bottom of McElmo Canyon. 
We spend the night at Kelly Place in McElmo Canyon. 
I explore one of the kivas nearby.
Day 7: Saturday, September 6. On our way from McElmo Canyon to Durango, we stop for lunch in Mancos. There we see the historic Bauer House. 
Later we find this plaque commemorating the 1776 expedition of Dominguez and Escalante. These two Spanish priests and their party were the first Europeans to explore western Colorado, Utah, and northern Arizona.
Day 9: Monday, September 8. Mary falls after hitting a pothole when leaving Durango and gets a concussion while cracking her helmet 😦 Bertrand drops us off at the ER and goes to Walmart to get a new helmet. After the doctor OKs Mary to continue, we rejoin the other guests for lunch by the side of the road. 
We continue with the rest of the guests to Pagosa Springs and then do a bonus ride outside of town to make up for the miles we missed in the morning. 
Later we soak in the hot springs. This is my favorite. 
We regroup for dinner. Mary seems concerned but perks up when asked about what it’s like to be a rocket scientist.
Day 10: Tuesday, September 9. We enter New Mexico. This is a rougher place to bike. There are bullet holes in the welcome sign, and the shoulders of the roads are covered with glass from broken beer bottles. We have several flat tires on the rest of the tour. 
We bike through some rain to finish in Chama. Bertrand prepares bouillabaisse for dinner outside our motel while Mary and Barb watch with eager anticipation.
Day 11: Wednesday, September 10. We bike south from Chama to Tierra Amarilla and then go east over the Brazos Summit at 10,528 ft on our way to Tres Piedras. This is the highest elevation of the tour. 
There is little traffic on this high-country stretch of US 64. 
We turn south at Tres Piedras and go to Ojo Caliente, where we soak in the pools and spend the night.
Day 12: Thursday, September 11. We bike on backroads to rejoin US 64 just before it crosses this bridge over the Rio Grande. Mary has two flats, and I have one along the way. 
This is the impressive view of the Rio Grande Gorge from the bridge. 
Wildflowers are still in bloom on the other side, even though it is September. 
After a 42-mile ride to Taos, where we will spend the night, Mary and I do a 36-mile bonus ride out and back to Palo Flechado Pass. 
Back in Taos we check out the historic plaza.
Day 13: Friday, September 12. On our final day of the tour we bike the High Road to Taos from Santa Fe in reverse. 
We have great views from parts of the road that really are up high. 
At our lunch stop, guide Joe takes a photo of the very fit team that bikes the whole 13-day tour. From left to right are guests Ron D, Barb, Dan, Liz, Mary, Wayne, Ron K, Debbie, Robert, and guide Bertrand. 
Mary leads the team up one of our last climbs. 
Near the end we take a detour on a dirt road to avoid some busy traffic. 
Two happy bikers celebrate completing this awesome tour in Santa Fe!
Wayne Pfeiffer 