Yeah Tom, the drivers were actually hoping to ride a bit as well (and they did since a couple of people in our group simply stopped and waited it out), so that’s why they were going the same direction, rather than from Mineral Bottom. The late start and lack of gas at the start of the day made the best laid plans go awry.

I’ve planned, permitted, and supported nearly a dozen rides out on the Rim. In my experience, a two or three night trip with evenly spaced campsites is really nice. It gives you time to do some of the side trips that are pretty cool and interesting.

I can also tell you with a great deal of certainty: almost any cyclist of at least moderate ability is faster than almost any 4wd vehicle over almost all of the White Rim. Other than a race to climb Shaefer Trail, Hardscrabble, or onto Horsethief Bench, the bikes tend to leave the vehicles far behind. Given your Potato Bottom camp, those support vehicles should have just entered at Mineral Bottom Road. Even if you had given them a head start descending into Shaefer, you would have been able to beat them by hours to Potato Bottom. But maybe you know that now.

There is looking to be a posse doing WRIAD on October 6 if you’d like to do that.