Day 3: Cordes to Black Canyon City

Wow. Wowooowooowwooow. Today was crazy. I’m writing from a plastic chair in front of a motel room next to a coffee can ash tray. Nothing more American than this (except maybe bullet holes in signage next to piles of empty cans of whatever kind of light beer). I’ll tell you how I got here.

It was 5 miles of highway riding from camp to the Big Bug trailhead where I got on the Black Canyon Trail.

I had read that the first several miles were no pedal downhill gliding. Clearly they meant a trailhead other than where I entered because it was a solid hour of uphill to get warmed up.

This uphill led to some spectacular winding cliff edge riding. I have no idea why, but it didn’t freak me out at all. At the highest I was maybe 100 ft up, but there was no margin for error and the trail was not champagne gravel. It was a blast.

And it just kept going. Bumpy. Loose. Cactus and other pointy things creeping into the trail. Nonstop. There were maybe 2 or 3 easy kilometers early in the day, but mostly it was total coordination of attention and strength for hours on end, and that’s really tiring. And when you are tired, mistakes become more likely. This here is one of 4 or 5 such mistakes.

So yes, eventually the excitement of riding a crazy trail and pulling off epic maneuvers wore off. Having said that, I can’t believe some of the terrain I rode up, over and through. I honestly didn’t know if I had it in me. Turns out I have at least some skill.

Anyway. The ride took its toll. My wrists hurt (never experienced this cycling before), three of my four limbs are pretty scraped up from erring on the side of thorny bushes when presented with the alternatives of falling off a cliff or cactus, and I did put a decent gouge in my bike frame on one of the falls. Some glamour shots.

What is not to love about adventure cycling?!

Rolled into camp just before dark. The place had a pool and I was very excited for a swim. Wanted to get the tent up before dark for a change so got to work on that, only to discover that my tent poles were AWOL. F***. Surely they fell off on one of my crashes. Damn.

So it’s a motel tonight and a big ride back to Phoenix tomorrow. Fastest way is 110 km. Don’t think for a minute that’s the route I’ll take.

For the record, I still have another day like this on the Black Canyon Trail available to me, but I’m going to skip it. The route creator told me it gets harder from here. I was pretty sure I would be taking an easier route tomorrow before I became tentless, and the loss of the poles just made it for sure. I have no interest in a $1,000 hotel room in Carefree or Paradise Valley (ritziest locales in AZ). And I most certainly moved the boundaries of what I can ride. Doesn’t mean that I’m obligated to do it again tomorrow 😉

Did I forget to mention that a prickly pear spanked me today? Pulling cactus out of your ass trail side is good fun. You should try it.