Cycling around the Grand Canyon Area

[taiaroab]

Hi
I am new to this type of site, I am travelling to the States for a month (September) form Australia and hoping to do some cycling in and around the Grand Canyon for a few days. Generally I have used guided tours in Vietnam and France but I am open to any suggestions or tour companies.

Thanks

Bevan

[zzzz]

Hi Bevan:

When I first read this I thought you had a month. Closer inspection says a few days. If you can be a little more specific as to how much time you have, I (or we) can give you a little better advice. The northern Arizona / Southern Utah area is as chock full of extraordinary places as anywhere on earth and they are all pretty close to one another. The Grand Canyon is the most famous of these but if I was to rank them I would put Zion at the top and the GC at 3 or 4.

This is the go-to itinerary :

http://www.us-parks.com/roadtrip/the-grand-circle-road-trip.html

Depending on your milage it would be 10± days on the bike. Throw in 4-6  days for all the iconic hikes and you're probably way over your time budget.

As for guided tours, when I've ridden thru this area I have seen multiple concessions running bike tours. But if you even think you would like to be off on your own, I can't think of a better place than this area to go it alone.

Pete

[taiaroab]

Hi Pete

Thank you for that information, if I had more time that cycle sounds perfect but I don't. Probably got 7 days in the area to cover all the sights and play golf so a tight schedule.

Thanks again

[zzzz]

Hmmmmm..... 7 days AND time for golf. That's tough.

I can't piece together a worthwhile ride thru here for you in 5 days of riding though maybe someone else can.

Your first instinct of finding a tour group may be your best bet. I have crossed thru this area twice as a subset of a larger trip and each time I was passed repeatedly by large passenger vans loaded with people and giant bike racks on top stuffed w bikes. I never got the story from a participant but I think they skipped riding anywhere that didn't warrent a picture in the brochure.

If you got golf clubs your lugging around I assume you're renting a car at least for some of the time. If I was advising a pal who was coming over from Oz on your schedule,  I would tell him to (Heresy Alert!) forget the bike. If you are physically up to it I would tell him to hike to the bottom of the GC, then the next day drive over to Zion and over the next 2 days hike up Angel's Landing & thru The Narrows, then on day 5 go over to Bryce and take a hike there and then drive over to St. George and do your golf thing. Thats assuming you can still swing a golf club after the GC and 2 hikes in Zion.

Hopefully someone else has a better idea.

pm

[zzzz]

Hi Bevan:

I was leafing thru the latest issue of the ACA magazine and when I got to the back cover there was an ad for various ACA sposored tours. There are 2 tours they are running at and about the North Rim (the much better half of the GC) in September, each goes for 7 days.

Here are the links :

https://www.adventurecycling.org/guided-tours/van-supported-tours/2017-grand-canyon-i-van/

https://www.adventurecycling.org/guided-tours/van-supported-tours/2017-grand-canyon-ii-van/

Hope this helps.

Pete

[John Nelson]

do some cycling in and around the Grand Canyon

Around, yes. In, no.

[BrianW]

You could always just rent a bike in GC Village on the South Rim and bike the road along the rim. Makes for a very nice day ride, and the road is closed to cars (park buses only) for a good portion heading out to Hermits Rest. Be aware that the South Rim is high altitude and it can get hot, too, so don't assume that you can do as many miles as you do at home. Thankfully the free park shuttles have bike racks on the front if you tire out.