Flag to GC

This past weekend I participated in the Toys for Tots Flag to (almost) Grand Canyon mountain bike ride. Usually, we camp in Flag on Friday night, do the ride, then camp at the finish on Saturday night. This is a great event with breakfast being served at the first check point.... and I mean real breakfast like eggs and bacon, biscuits and gravy, fruit, cookies, etc. ... the list goes on.

Wendy and I drove up Friday night and got in a bit late. So instead of pitching an tent, we put an EZ-UP over the bed of the truck and slept on the thermarest. It was a beatiful night. We left a small gap right above our heads so we could see the stars. Of course, it rained a bit in the morning and we had to move down a bit. By then, my feet were hanging off the bed of the truck.

The ride starts at 7 AM. Wendy was planning on running for 3 hours at Mt. Elden, then driving to the finish and picking me up. The ride is pretty easy, but a bit long. About 62 miles on fire roads with a small amount of rocky, semi-technical riding.

I rode with Trever, Dan and Rob. The first 15-20 miles felt like we were racing, but then the pace settled and became much more civilized. One rider was in front of our group, and he was flying. By the last checkpoint, we were about 30 minutes behing. At about mile 53, I got a flat and had to stop. Another ride (Mike) caught up with us. When we hit the last check point, we all stopped except for Mike - he kept going - for food and drinks. We finished the 62 miles in just over 4 hours, which is not too bad.

Wendy finally picked me up about an hour and a half later. She was estimating my finish in about 5 hours. We decided not to stay the night because our dogs were alone at home. Overall a great ride, but I think next year we'll be camping and we'll bring the dogs.