Itinerary

Day 1: Colorado National Monument and Unaweep Canyon

After a morning meeting at the meeting hotel and a quick shuttle from Grand Junction, we begin our tour with a ride start near Fruita, Colorado and into Colorado National Monument. The 23-mile route along Rim Rock Drive in Colorado National Monument follows the redrock rim nearly 2,000 feet up a series of canyons above the Rio Colorado.
After the morning tour through Colorado National Monument and a short shuttle cyclists ride along scenic byway Highway 141 into the stunning confines of Unaweep Canyon – a geologically unique canyon that cuts across the Uncompahgre Plateau. Although smaller in scale, the experience of riding in Unaweep Canyon is akin to riding a bike through the Grand Canyon. The splendid resort of Gateway Canyons Resort in Gateway, Colorado awaits us for dinner and lodging this evening.
Colorado National Monument: 27 miles with up to 2,610 feet of climbing
Unaweep Canyon: 43 miles with up to 2,775 feet of climbing

Day 2: Layover in Gateway – Unaweep Canyon Out & Back

With a layover day at the Gateway Canyons Resort, there are two ride options offered this morning. The first is to pedal 30-miles round-trip up and down Highway-141 through magnificent Unaweep Canyon to Gateway Canyon Resort’s Stables. In the spring and after rain storms there are multiple waterfalls on the west side of the canyon. Look for a waterfall near milepost 122 and then again near milepost 132 at Fall Creek. E.F.I. riders will also have the option to Reach the Summit by riding a few miles past the stables to the route’s high point and turnaround point at the Unaweep Divide to extend the ride which makes for a 47-mile round trip road ride.
After the morning ride on this layover day make certain to visit the amazing auto museum in the afternoon or to lay pool side at one of the two pool complexes. Gateway Canyons Resort is simply one of the most beautiful, luxurious, and relaxing resorts in the Western US
Standard distance: 30 miles with up to 2,370 feet of climbing
Longest distance.: 47 miles with up to 3,160 feet of climbing

Day 3: Gateway Canyons Resort to Camp V

We consider the first 25-miles of Day’s 3 ride to be the most beautiful section of road on all of our tours. The route follows the dazzling scenery of Highway 141 southward. The first 25-miles from Gateway Canyons resort are beneath 1,500-foot Redrock Canyon walls and alongside the Rio Dolores. Many of our guests have called this section the “most beautiful ride” they have ever enjoyed.
Views of the Hanging Flume are visible from Highway 141. The flume is an engineering feat of over 100 years ago and also one of the world’s most extraordinary monuments to human greed and folly. Its purpose was to deliver water to a placer gold mine. Construction started in 1889 and a million board feet of lumber was used. The mine went bankrupt in the early 1890s. Today travelers are awe struck at the lengths gone into the creation of this means to convey water.
The road riding is high above the Dolores River and tight against vertical sandstone walls. It is quite simply one of the most stunning roads in the country. We finish our ride near Naturita, Colorado and check into our lodging at Camp V.
Distance: 49 miles with up to 2,340 feet of climbing

Day 4: Camp V to Old La Sal

Starting from Camp V, we ride back north on Highway 141 and end the first segment with an aid station at the San Miguel River Preserve. From here we shuttle onto a gravel road to the Hanging Flume and then to the Rio Dolores & Rio San Miguel confluence where we will have lunch, swim and afterwards continue our shuttle to Bedrock, Colorado. From Bedrock we start our second segment by riding west on Colorado 90 to the Utah Border with an optional EFI climb to Old La Sal, Utah. From Old La Sal we shuttle to Moab and to our lodging.
Distance: Standard, 27 miles with up to 1,790 feet of climbing
Longest distance: 40 miles with up to 3,645 feet of climbing

Day 5: La Sal Mountain Loop

Our desert-canyon tour turns massif country, if just for one day, as today offers its riders the stunning La Sal Mountain Loop Road. The ride starts from downtown Moab proceeding south through Spanish Valley and then onto La Sal Loop Road just as we past Kens Lake. Soon the climbing starts as we ascend from desert into sub-alpine scrub terrain with rolls, turns, twists, and sometimes hairpins, through the La Sal Mountains and 100-mile views.
Upon topping out at the spectacular vista atop the La Sal Mountain loop cyclists will enjoy lunch with a view. The descent that follows into the stupendous scenery of Castle Valley is simply breathtaking as we drop nearly 4,400-feet along the last 18 miles of the ride to end at Red Cliffs Lodge along the Colorado River.
Standard distance: 46 miles with up to 4,965 feet of climbing
Longest distance: 60- miles with up to 5,650 feet of climbing

Day 6: Optional Rides and Activities

After breakfast guests are own to engage in activities offered in the Moab region. Optional out and back rides include Arches National Park, along the Potash-Lower Colorado River Scenic Byway or the Upper Colorado River Scenic Byway.
If you ever wanted to go adventuring, you can on-your-own choose from the multitude of adventure options Moab offers. If you ever wanted to go hot air ballooning, bungee jumping, mountain biking, rafting, jeeping, side by side driving on Slickrock, sky diving, hot air ballooning, rock climbing, tandem base jumping and more, Moab is your place! Check out the Moab Utah Vacation Planning Website for a comprehensive list of area activities. We will help facilitate transport if needed to your activity of choice.
Alternatively, from your beautiful location, you can do absolutely nothing and just read a good book next to the Colorado River.

Day 7: Shuttle from Moab to Grand Junction

On Day 7 we depart Moab early in the morning for an 8:00 AM arrival at the Grand Junction, Colorado airport (GJT). If flying out on this day, guests should plan for a 9:00 AM or later departure.

* This is a general itinerary. Tour itineraries are subject to change based on the group, available accommodations and other unforeseen circumstances such as the weather, local conditions, government intervention, that may affect the quality of the trip and/or safety of the participants. Please view this itinerary as an outline as to what to expect on this tour.

Lodging

Nights 1 & 2: Gateway Canyons Resort, Gateway, Colorado.
Nights 3 & 4: CampV Luxury Cabins. Naturita, Colorado.
Night 5 & 6: Western Canyonlands Lodge, Moab, Utah.

Included:

• Exceptional Lodging.
• 6 Days of meals (aside 1 dinner), daily lunch en route, energy food, liquid refreshments. Shuttle to and from the Moab region.
• Entrance fees.
• Mechanical support and luggage transfer.

Not included:

• Night before and after the tour not included.
• Bike rental. Be sure to bring your own helmet. We have a very limited supply and will only pack them if special arrangements are made ahead of time.
• Flights to and from the trip.
• Gratuity guides.
• Alcoholic beverages

Pricing / Tour dates

Tour price 2024: $3520.- pp .single fee $ 750.-
You can avoid a single supplement by sharing a room with another rider.
Bike rental:
The Scott Addict 10. $250.-
Scott E-bike road bikes with straight bars $ 395,-
Tour dates 2024:
25 Aug – 30 Aug
08 Sep – 13 Sep
15 Sep – 20 Sep
06 Oct – 11 Oct
13 Oct – 18 Oct
20 Oct – 25 Oct

Conditions

Deposit $950,- pp
The deposit payment for a tour must be paid within two weeks after the booking is confirmed.
The remaining payment is due 90 days before the start of the tour.
For tours that are booked within 90 days before the start of the tour you will pay 100% of the tour price

Information

How the Shuttle Works:
Our Moab & The Back of Beyond Tour offers cyclists a challenge while at the same providing easily accessible mileage options for riders of varying fitness levels and desires.  Our tour leaders offer advice and provide cyclists with profiles of each stage.  Cyclists customize their experience by reducing overall mileage and choosing to avoid or focus on climbing the big hills of any given day.

The system works through a support vehicle that jumps ahead rather then sags to set up aid stations.  This allows cyclists to linger at the back and then take a 10-mile, 15-mile or whatever mile “bump” forward to catch-up or get ahead of the group.  Many cyclists on our tours ride their first century with us and are surprised by their ability to pedal most of the miles offered.

The Daily Schedule:
Cyclists ride their own pace. Our tour operator does its best to support riders in their varying desires and efforts. Cyclists can either use our tours to simply support their tour experience or to engage in a guided experience along the route.
Q-sheets with directions, profiles and locations of aid stations are given out for each stage.

Weather and the Moab & The Back of Beyond Tour:
The bike touring experience is really about one’s attitude. In 2010, three of the Redrock Canyons Tours were run in near record heat, near record cold and “perfect weather.”  The tours that were run under extreme conditions ended up being exceptionally memorable.  It is the “war stories” that are told around the Thanksgiving table five years down the road. Bonding often occurs through adversity creating life long friendships. The weather will do what is does.

“There is no bad weather, just bad clothing.” — Old Norwegian saying

Super-Natural-Geology The pure geography on this region leaves one awe-struck.  Although located in a desert region, the Moab & The Back of Beyond Tour meanders along two of the great rivers of the southwest: the Colorado and Dolores rivers.  Additionally the Moab & The Back of Beyond Tour boasts views of multiple mountain ranges including: the La Sals, Abajos, Henry and San Juan Mountains.

It is difficult to mention just a few because the Redrock desert and canyon country of Southeastern Utah and Southwestern Colorado are full of highlights…

• Arches National Park is home to more than 2,000 natural sandstone arches including awe-inspiring pinnacles, massive fins and giant balancing rocks. Author Edward Abbey captured its beauty working as a seasonal park ranger in the 1950s in his 1968 memoir Desert Solitaire, a true classic read for Utah’s  red rock desert and canyon country. Arches is an optional ride for cyclists while in Moab.
• The Devils Garden Trail in the furthest reach of Arches National Park boasts some of the park’s largest arches, or more scientifically speaking, largest series of rock fins broken from the earth through erosion. Strong red rock formations they are, but they are not immortal. The Wall Arch recently collapsed in 2008.
• Dead Horse Point State Park (Day 2) is named so for its history as corral grounds for wild mustangs roaming the high mesas where the mesa edges which drop to deep canyons made it feasible for cowboys to pen the animals. Dead Horse Point is one of the world’s most photographed panoramas.
• The Manti-La Sal National Forest (Day 3 & 4) is home to the La Sal Mountains and is part of the southern most Rocky Mountains. En route across the Colorado Plateau from Santa Fe, N.M. to Los Angeles, Calif., the Spaniards named this cluster of 11,000 and 12,000-foot peaks the Sierra La Sal or “Salt Mountains”.  Mount Peale is the highest point in the range reaching 12,721 feet.
• The Paradox Valley (Day 5) reaches 25 miles long and five miles wide; vast is a more than apt adjective to describe this valley located on Colorado’s western edge abutting the Utah border.  The Paradox Valley is lined with 1,000-foot high red cliffs and home to range lands and sage with the exception of the more lush environs in the town of Paradox. The paradox: the Dolores River runs across the valley, not through it as nature would intend.
• “Most Beautiful miles ever Ridden”: Dropping out of the San Juan Mountains, the Dolores River runs to the confluence of the Colorado River near the Colorado-Utah border.  The 35-mile Dolores River Canyon section of Day 5’s ride is considered by previous guests of Lizard Head Cycling as one of the “most beautiful” rides they have ever done.