As soon as its dry

First person to make some sort of smart comment about the name of this route and the fact that I’m riding it will be kicked off the internet. Am I clear?

We came down to AZ to celebrate my dad’s 75th birthday (!!!) as well as my mother and brother Jeremy’s birthdays. It was a weekend of family, gatherings, and cake. So glad to be here for all this!

Also a weekend of rain. The southwest is catching the edge of a hurricane, and I have never seen so much water in the desert. Tomorrow is the last day of this wetness, according to the forecast.

As I am like to do, I looked up some bike routes around Phoenix and found one…

Starting in the next day or two (pending weather), I will be setting off on a 5 or 6 day, 400 km loop through the desert, following, to the extent possible, a route called The Fool’s Loop. It is primarily an off road route, using forestry roads and desert trails, most notably the Black Canyon Trail, which is over 100 km of singletrack (the western, southbound part). I am carrying an adjacent, easier route in my back pocket in case things get too spicy. I am also not likely going to do the little loop up at the top of the official route in the interest of time.

I will be sort of underbiking this ride, as it would most comfortably and sanely be done on a bike with suspension, but my quiver doesn’t (yet) include such a machine, so my rigid ATB it is. Truthfully, I am pretty curious to see how the bike and I hold up on this terrain, and one of the reasons I chose this route was to test limits. I’ve been out the last 2 days on MTB trails to see how it goes (fairly well, I’d say), and tonight I went out for a test ride with everything packed except the full 8 litres of water I will be carrying. The load AND the trails combined will be the real test. I anticipate some walking, but hopefully not too much.

Because it’s going to be a tough ride, no two ways about it. Carrying an extra 20+ lbs of water is one thing. Another is that for at least 1/3 of the ride I’ll be on mountain bike trails and for another 1/3 rough forestry roads. Water access (other than rivers, which may now be fiercely flowing) is limited, as is civilization of any kind. And I’ll be climbing over 3000 ft a day.

One thing working in my favour is that the hurricane dropped the temperature from highs of 33 c / 90 f to 20 c / 68 f. Lows will be 10 c / 50 f. Also, crucially, there is mexican food at about the 200 km mark and famous pie at about 260. I am most curious to see how much of each of these I can carry on my bike. I assure you the answer is a lot because where there is will there is a way.

Given the challenges, I’d like to set a really low bar for success. I’m thinking something along these lines:

• Not falling into a canyon
• Not getting into an argument with a rattlesnake
• Not hugging a cactus
• Not needing ER and/or mountain rescue
• Not crying myself to sleep every night (but a few nights is expected and acceptable)

Totally waffling about leaving tomorrow or Tuesday. Will check the weather at 6 am and make the call. Stay tuned.