First off an apology to the town of Trinidad. We were bagging it all night, but when we rode through the Main Street we found that it was quite pretty and filled with history. The life size horse statues were in reference to the fact that the Santa Fe trail which used to be the main trail from east to west ran right down Main Street. The old buildings were beautifully maintained and we even had a chat with a local watering her flowers as we rode through town. Moral of the story is never judge a town after riding 170km in the heat feeling exhausted and having to go to 3 RV parks before finding rest for the night. We woke to the alarm at 5:30am, not much movement. Time seems to speed up in ... read more

The alarm went off at 5:30am as usual. By 5:30:05am we had decided to sleep for another 30 minutes. It was cold. Very cold. Not surprising really considering the altitude we were at. The ride out was gently pointing up and we were wearing every article of clothing we had, the temperature was 5C. What a difference a few days make. The gentle climb is great to help warm the body up, fingers and toes were the last to stop aching. For me that was after about 20kms.Today was our day to climb to our highest point up to Wolf Pass at 3300m above sea level. How epic is that. The climb was about 6% and a steady grind rather than super hard. We were unsure if the altitude would get to any of us but ... read more

We woke to the alarm as usual but not the same jump to get going this morning. Everyone's starting to feel a little weary after 600kms of desert riding and sapping heat. Despite that we're ready to go at 6:30am with Tom in the RV for the first drive. Just as we take off Dave says his gears won't change properly. We all have a bit of a look and as we're adjusting it the gear cable snaps. That's a problem, a big problem. Out comes the tool kit and Dave even thought to bring spare cables but we can't get the cable out of the gear shifter. Change of plan, Dave does the driving to start with and Tommy is on the road, we think about if there,s a bike shop in Cortez where we ... read more

Today was our first rest day. We packed up and headed off before anyone turned up at the office so accommodation last night was free. Our destination today was the Grand Canyon. We had to drive about 200kms to get there but was it worth it!It's hard to put into words the scale of what you are looking at. It even takes you eyes time to adjust to the images you are seeing. From south rim to north rim of the canyon is 10 miles and it's a mile deep. And all of this was created by the Colorado River. The visitor centres were great and provided heaps of information on how the canyon was formed. For instance snow melt that would fall into cracks during the day and then refreeze overnight would help slit the ... read more

We started early this morning. Up at 5:30am and out of the park by 6:30am. Great to make use of the early morning when the temperature is much cooler although it didn't get below the mid 20s overnight. The first ride for the day was basically flat, as was the rest of the day mostly. We coasted into Blythe with a slight breeze at our backs, glorious. From Blythe we crossed the mighty Colorado River which is the border between California and Arizona. There was some meandering to be done around the freeway but soon we were on our way through the desert again. At this stage Tom, Dave and I were riding and the temperature just kept rising. We spent most of the ride at 42C, and when that gets intensified off the bitumen its ... read more