Sometimes, things like pandemics and general community trauma lead to irrational thinking... and so at the onset of COVID 19, Ani and I were sure that it would all be over by October, and so we bought super cheap plane tickets to Morocco for a 3-week bike tour. As October grew closer and closer, we had to deal with the reality that it was probably not going to happen. And then it was mid-September, and our flights to Morocco were cancelled.
If anything, we are resilient. So we pivoted and decided Morocco would happen another time and turned our gaze towards the dirt roads of Utah. We had one relatively unproductive (dang you brandy!) planning session, and then magically, we came together and put together what would become the adventure of a lifetime.
PRO TIP #1: Gazetteers are my favorite to see vision a bike tour, know what the major attractions, and most of all, know what to Google to see if its worth it. I always piece together a rough version of what I think the tour should be (see yellow highlight), potential detours or Plan B/C/Ds (see pink highlight), and prospective overnights (see blue stickies). It's really just a suggestion until we know what is happening on the ground, but who doesn't love maps?!
And, it never quite goes as planned. While route below was close to what we had originally planned, we made some last minute changes to our route and plans... it's always so important to have just enough flexibility to follow a whim and a fancy! If you want the quick and dirty, the RidewithGPS map I put together is here.
PRO TIP #2: Bikepacking.com was the starting point for our dreaming, but we never let ourselves get stuck in their routes. We used a combination of various blog posts, our imagination, Google, Google images, and the dotted lines in the gazetteer to craft this route... and at the end of the day, opting for the dirt roads was always the right call. More to come!
