May 2-4, 2026
Getting to the start for the May 4, 2026 grand depart
Because the start and end of the ride are in remote locations, transportation can be complicated. We wanted to ride as a duo, but how would we get to the start and home from the finish? Thru a Facebook message on the RAAZ page, we connected with Shawn, another Tucsonan asking the same questions.
Shawn had already figured out that he could leave his car at the Outpost RV Park in Alpine, close to the end of the ride, for a small fee, and he could rent a U-Haul to go to Topock, the start location, and drop it off. The only hotel in Topock was fully booked, so we booked camp site at the Pirate Cove Resort, 3.5 miles away on the California side of the Colorado River. We gave ourselves 2 days to make sure any hiccups could be worked out.
Everything went as planned. Shawn drove his car and we caravanned to Pinetop. There he collected the U-Haul and Ed drove his wehicle. We all continued to the Outpost RV park in Alpine where the owner Kevin gave us parking spaces and we paid him a small fee. From there we loaded the U-Haul and drove to the Pirates Cove Resort near Topock on the Colorado River. We arrived around 9pm, so it was a long day. We set up camp in the dark.
Sunday morning, Shawn dropped off the U-Haul and rode back on his bike. The rest of the day was dedicated to finding shelter from the wind (gusting up to 45 mph) and trying not to dehydrate (it reached 99F). It continued to be windy during the night, pretty rough.
We packed up in the dark and rode the 3.5 miles to the grand depart. It was not forecast to be as hot or as windy, but it was still pretty windy. We decided to delay our start for the day and stay in the hotel. We were able to get into the room around 10:30am. We had showers and napped, ate at the restaurant, and recovered from the weekend.
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