Who We Are
Cheers! Nice to meet you!
Lizard Head Cycling Guides and guests welcome you!
Since 2008, Lizard Head Cycling Guides has provided vehicle-supported road and mountain bike tours through some of the wildest, beautiful and inaccessible areas in the American West.
We are a cyclist centric outfit that strives to deliver authentic tours. We prefer remote landscapes with little traffic and big scenery. As a result the cyclists attracted to our company seek a sense of adventure and like to pedal a little bit longer. Our itineraries offer a higher degree of challenge than what is generally offered on bike tours. At the same time we are known for our ability to seamlessly offer varying mileage options for both the E.F.I. (every freaking inch) cyclist and intermediates. Either way everyone wins. 🙂
Join one of our unforgettable cycling adventures, and you’ll enjoy sleeping in beautiful lodges, desert spas or camping beneath the stars. We delight in fine dining with “one of a kind” local flavors.
Cycling in Redrock Country
One of our guiding principles is “Sourcing the Best of the West” On each Lizard Head Cycling tour we have chosen our favorite restaurants, undiscovered MTB trails, quiet car- free, scenic By-Ways and eclectic lodges.
We understand vacation time is limited and life is fleeting. Trust that a vacation with Lizard Head Cycling will be rewarding and time well spent.
World Headquarters at 9,800-feet in Ophir, Colorado
This is where we live… Telluride in winter!
Ajax from Caldera Creative on Vimeo.
Our Tours
Lizard Head Cycling Guides offers bike tours from 4 to 14 days in length. They’re all-inclusive, offering lodging, great meals, shuttles and guide service (bike rentals and some amenities at an additional cost). Our Climbing Camp tours offer a no frills less-expensive format.
Although acknowledged by the New York Times in 2010 as having some of the most challenging bike tours available, our intermediate to advanced clientele easily customize their daily mileage options on each of our tours.
So if you’re up for the challenge, come join in on the fun!
View our In the Press Page and see what others are saying about our one-of-kind cycling tours.
A Lizard Head Cycling Van and Trailer
Our Company Name and Location
In case you were wondering, our unusual company name comes from the striking tower of 13,000-foot Lizard Head Peak in the San Juan Mountains of Southwest Colorado.
We’re headquartered in the village of Ophir high in the Colorado Rockies at 9,900-feet.
Say hello to Lizard Head Peak!
The High Mountain Valley & Village of Ophir, Colorado: photo Brett Schreckengost
Lizard Head Cycling Guides is a proud member of the Grand Staircase-Escalante Partners in support of their commitment to education, stewardship and restoration of the full National Monument.
Our Guides
The majority of Lizard Head Cycling’s ten guides have at least 20 years of professional guiding experience leading expeditions ranging from the world’s highest peaks to remote waterfalls in Utah. They have extensive knowledge of flora, fauna, bike mechanics, logistics, culinary skills and emergency medicine (a truly rare set of skills!).
Chuck and Leslie in Zion National Park
The Lizard Head
The company’s owner, John Humphries, grew up in Pennsylvania and moved to the southern Rockies in the early 1990’s.
Early on John worked with troubled youth as an educator leading tours in the remote mountains of New Mexico and teaching in native America schools. He also managed and served as a heli-skiing guide for Telluride Helitrax.
In 2008, John launched Lizard Head Cycling Guides with the goal of offering tours that speak to adventure, provide exceptional customer service and are simply “damn fun.”
John has two young sons, Marshall (age 14) and Ellis (age 11), who have been told they will need to pull their dad around as he grows old.
Owner John Humphries with guides Leslie and Emily
Unity
Unity in the 21st-century is more important than ever. To me unity is a shared vision of environmental sustainability and caring for one another. In the big picture, our time together on this planet is both short and challenging. Our legacy will be the love we offer one another and the environment we leave for our children. At this point in time, the planet’s warming climate and associated drought, pestilence and infestations are humbling the world. Working towards a brighter future will require both a unity of vision and patience.Â
John M. Humphries
Client Testimonials: * Click here for more
You can be inspired by riding with men and women who, despite considerable accomplishments off the bike, are quiet and humble while being some of the most amazing riders you’ll ever fine. You can push yourself to the point previously recognized as absolute failure, dig deep inside your legs, lungs and mind, and then take that tenacity back home to everything from relationships, child rearing, to fence building. – Bill S, Lake Mills, Wisconsin
Great tour, good company and tasty food. It was all good. Both you and Erik did an outstanding job. I’ll be back. – Bob Armstrong (Redrock Canyons Road Tour)
It was what mountain biking is about at its core: the freedom of the hills, backcountry trails, 360 degree views, and friends around the campfire to end the day. – Charles G, Medford, Oregon
Monument Valley at Sunrise: Our Redrock Canyons Tour