Hi all - we are in Prescott, Arizona for lunch at the moment & are taking an hour out to update the blog for those of you at home. Commentary may be a bit brief, as time is limited. This will probably be the last update before we arrive at Newport Beach as we are now on the home stretch of the ride - just over a week to go. Please read on for the latest on our American adventure...

p.s. Tim, thanks for your comment on the blog. Extremely interesting stuff. Maybe you should set up a blog yourself.

Day 49 - 142km - Grand Canyon Village to Prescott National Forest
Goodbye to the Grand Canyon & hello to the final stretch! About 9 or so days of riding left. Today was a fairly quiet day, descending about 1500-2000ft as we moved away from the grand canyon & started moving towards the edge of the plateau & the low desert.

We stopped in Williams for lunch, where a thunderstorm passed over whilst we were eating. Not much rain but heaps of noise and lightning. Things got a bit windier after that. We made our way down the interestate for a while - a 20 mile stretch where we descended about 1000+ ft with a tail(ish) wind (temperatures immediately stepped up...). After refilling the water bottles, we cycled down the road about 10 miles towards Prescott, where we found a lake (amazingly for this area) and a nice wooded area in the national forest to camp - as Arizona hasa pack in/pack out, no fee approach to camping in the nat forests - we are maximising this as much as possible.

Williams also has a stretch of the historic route 66 running through - it is a bit of a tourist event tracing the path of the '66 accross the states.

Only other notable event was at lunch - the idea of pushing through to clock up a 200km day with the bags was floated to Dave & Ben B... No excitment or enthusiasm for the idea on their part though, so that one looks like it gets chucked into the 'bright ideas' bin...


Day 48 - Rest Day at the Grand Canyon
The rise to see the sunrise from a different part of the rim was flagged in favour of a sleep in. The boys all awoke to sore legs - obviously a strict diet of cycling doesnt give the best prep for a reasonably full on day of hiking...

Today was a much more restful schedule - tripping along the rim to the east & west checking out the canyon jumping on a free shuttle bus between each view point. The hardest part of the day was stepping on and off the bus (and the sore pins were making it pretty hard work!). Was another must do if at the GC, and is a lot easier going side to side than up & down...


Day 47 - "Rest Day" at the Grand Canyon
So yesterday afternoon we did some investigations into the tramps into the grand canyon. It turns out that for day hikes, you dont need any permits... perfect.

So the plan was to hike down to the Colarado River (the great carver of the canyon) - approximately a mile vertical drop from the rim - and back in a single day. As fast as possible as it gets pretty hot pretty quick in the canyon - it is averaging 80+ degrees F at the rim & 100+ degrees F down the bottom.

Unfortunately we cant post photos at the moment, but all over the place (and at a number of points on the way down the trail) there are posters warning "do not attempt to hike down to the river and back in a single day" and stating that each year 250+ people have to be rescued from the trails because they try to & most of them look like us - 25-40 year old males with low levels of risk adversity... however that just made the challenge more enticing!

So we arose early (4am) and got a good breakfast down, loaded up with water & food in our converted pannier bags (now hiking bags) and headed out. After wearing our thermals for the start, it quickly warmed up and we all had a good bead on. The views were just great down in the canyon & we reccomend getting out on the trails should you visit the GC.

We saw one girl who had suffered a bit in the dry heat - she was vomiting and not moving far & was still right down by the river - it was going to be a long, hot day for her. Dave raised a flag with the rangers - however she wasnt yet at a state where they were concerned... a lesson learnt the hard way.

After 7 hours (3.5 down & 3.5 up) and a mile vertical lost then gained, we made it back to the start of the Bright Angel track. The swift conversion from cycling to hiking was yet to be felt...

An afternoon of relaxing with some cool celebratory beers followed...


Day 46 - 115km - Flastaff (in the bush) to Grand Canyon Village
And hello to the Grand Canyon. After a chilly start at 8000ft whilst we waited for the sun to shine through, we made easy pace through to the Grand Canyon Viallge. The village is located on the south rim of the grand canyon. We set up camp at the main campsite, the Mather Campground (a great place to be as the sites are huge and amongst the trees and all the oversize RVs are not allowed - giving the place a great, laid back, camping feel as most people have tents).

The easiest way to sum up the Grand Canyon - you have got to see it to grasp just how awesome it is. Absolutely blew us away.

Tomorrow we move to a new discipline and go tramping...