Utah Road Cycling Tour

from $3,042 NZD

Show currencies in:

USD GBP EUR AUD NZD

* Prices may vary with exchange rates and the terms of your credit card.
7 Days
  • 2013
  • Best time to travel: May and September
  • -
  • -
  • -
  • -
  • 19 May to 25 May $3,042NZD
  • -
  • -
  • -
  • -
  • -
  • -
  • Availability Guide:
  • Current date selected
  • Plenty
  • Limited
  • Closed or too close to departure (Call Us for options)

Go canyon crazy with serious road cycling in southern Utah, touring 6 national parks in 6 days. At night, you'll stay in lovely lodges.

After a night in one of the prettiest towns in the USA, tiny Springdale, you'll head to Zion National Park with its epic canyons. You'll ride to the red rock hoodoos of Bryce National Park, then onward to Grand Staircase Escalante, Capitol Reef, and Lake Powell, one of the world's most beautiful lakes.

We'll finish with a ride up the remote and little-known Burr Trail.

Zion to Capitol Reef & Bryce National Parks

Las Vegas
  • Road cycling
  • Grade
  • Group size for this tour is 4-13
  • USD395 single room surcharge
  • USD245 bike hire
  • This tour is invoiced in USD
Print page

usa



Utah Road Cycling Tour Fitness and Preparation

The cycling is hard, with many climbs. You'll need to be fit! However, there are limitless energy drinks and snacks plus water available from the support vehicle, which will attend you all the way.

At night you'll be staying in some beautiful lodges.

Grade 4 - Hard Tours

Hard tours are designed for the more experienced participant wishing to push themselves and experience new challenges. Routes will include longer climbs and more technical skills.

This tour offers long distances with 3 days in excess of 100km, the climbs are long and the descents are part of the attraction of the tour.

Fitness required

A high level of fitness is required, you will need to be exercising four-five times a week during the build up to the tour.

Full Itinerary

DAY 1

Arrival Day: Las Vegas to Springdale

Cycling/Elevation gain: optional 37 km/457 m

Welcome to the tour! We'll pick you up from a hotel near the Las Vegas Strip and the airport. We suggest you arrive the day before the tour, so you're ready for the morning pick-up. From here it's a 2 hour drive to Springdale, Utah. This tiny town at the gateway to the Zion National Park has been named one of the 20 prettiest towns in the United States. After checking in to our hotel, we'll have a brief orientation, set up our bikes, and still have time for a short 37 km ride down Zion Canyon Scenic Drive.

Meals: Dinner

DAY 2

Springdale to Zion National Park to Bryce

Cycling/Elevation gain: 144 km/1981 m up

Today is our biggest climbing day, riding through Zion National Park, with its massive canyons and blazing blue skies. We'll approach its eastern entrance via a series of switchbacks drive through a 2 km tunnel. Then, a beautiful ride past geological wonders such as Checkerboard Mesa, where millions of years of erosion has left grids in a Navajo Sandstone mountain. Later we'll head north through sleepy towns, eventually reaching Scenic Byway 12 and the Red Canyon. We'll stay in a historic lodge at Bryce National Park. Check out the sun setting over the hoodoos ('tent rocks').

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

DAY 3

Bryce to Grand Staircase Escalante

Cycling/Elevation: 120 km/1524 m

Riders always name today's route as one of their best ever days on a bike. Today we'll leave Bryce on Scenic Byway 12 to Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. This is one of the West's most scenic drives, with panoramas of vast slickrock (petrified sand dunes) and scenic canyons cut by the Escalante River. We'll start with a morning walk to Bryce Canyon's hoodoos. We'll end the day riding a spectacular unsealed high country road called Hell's Backbone, to our mountain lodge in the small town of Boulder.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

DAY 4

Boulder and Capital Reef National Park

Cycling/Elevation: 77 km/1381 m up

More climbing, with a 22 km, 1220 m ascent up Boulder Mountain. Continuing along the famous Scenic Byway 12, we'll pass through fir and aspen forests as we climb toward the summit (2804 m) where we'll be rewarded with fantastic views of the Grand Staircase geological feature from above. Also, there's 16 km descent on the other side! Then we drive into the Capitol Reef National Park for an optional hike on the slickrock domes, famous as a mountain biking surface.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

DAY 5

Capitol Reef National Park to Lake Powell (Bullfrog Marina)

Cycling/Elevation: 180 km/1402 m up

Today's epic 180 km ride is the longest of the tour! However, the first 56 km is a gradual downhill, through incredible narrow canyons of the National Park en route to the vast expanse of the Canyon Country region. We'll ride through the badlands to the remote town of Hanksville, then head out into huge vistas along the Trail of the Ancients Scenic Byway. We then climb through red rock country on our way to the Glen Canyon Lake Powell National Recreation Area. Tonight's accommodation is a Lodge overlooking Lake Powell, arguably the most beautiful lake in the country.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

DAY 6

Lake Powell to Burr Trail to Bryce

Cycling/Elevation: 88 km/1310 m up

The Burr Trail Scenic Backway is today's ride, a serpentine road between sheer canyon walls with a slow climb to Scenic Byway 12. En route are great views of the Waterpocket Fold landform, Boulder Mountain and Capitol Reef; and a gripping ride up switchbacks. Those still feeling energetic, may start from Lake Powell for an 88 km ride, but others may prefer a shorter 56 km from the far boundary of Capitol Reef. Both rides require a scenic drive over a 25 km section of dirt road. Later, we'll drive back to Bryce. For dinner, you could choose from 3 nearby restaurants.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

DAY 7

Bryce to St George

Cycling/Elevation: 64 km/853 m up

Its our last day of cycling and we'll head out along the Bryce Canyon Rim Drive. The high point is 2740 m at Rainbow Point but you can stop at all the pullouts along the way for views into the canyon and its famous hoodoos. If you didn't hike into the canyon on Tuesday, now is your chance. After the ride we'll drive back to Zion Park and eventually St George, about 200 km from Las Vegas Airport. You could stay here overnight, or catch a shuttle back to Las Vegas. Talk with us if you'd like to arrange an extension.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Hi, I'm Sandy

Call me if you have any questions.

Sandy

+64 (0)3 982 9933
NZ - 0800 829 933
AU - 1800 090 635
US - 800 732 0861

Email: reservations@globaladventureguide.com

Tour Inclusions and Exclusions:

Tour Includes:

  • Accommodation: 6 nights in comfortable hotels, resorts and lodges (3 star plus)
  • Meals as listed in the itinerary (breakfast is continental)
  • Experienced tourguide(s)
  • Support vehicle and luggage transfers
  • Snacks, drinks, energy bars while cycling
  • 'Riders Guide' with relevant tour details
  • Mechanical support
  • Detailed route profiles
  • Entry into all National Parks

Tour Excludes:

  • International and domestic flights
  • Passport and travel visa requirements
  • Cooked breakfast (continental included)
  • Personal expenses
  • Alcoholic drinks
  • Tips for tourguide(s) and support crew