HighMountainGoat

Riding in Frozen Slickness

2012-01-28T22:17:00.000-08:00

I met up with Bill this weekend. Saturday we rode up Ireland and then connected via Crank to Betty. The trail was in about 3 inches of crusted snow. It was tough to ride up Ireland. Crank required pedaling downhill.

Once we dropped down Betty to the road it seemed easy sailing, but the road was coated with slick-as-glass ice. Bill went down and I almost did, but seeing Bill down led me to stop in time. Thanks Bill.

That was very treacherous, I had never seen the road that bad.

In hindsight, maybe rollercoaster up and then up the altar would have been good. Or perhaps down to the racetrack then up Betty.

Winter riding is always unpredictable.

Bursitis from new saddle.

2012-01-03T07:26:00.000-08:00

For years I have used a regular saddle on my mountain bike, but I have heard of problems with some special artery being affected negatively by many hours in the saddle.

One guy that I ride with had prostate surgery and he rode with a strange saddle that worked wonders for him.

It was the Adamo saddle. I thought it looked weird. Rather than a nose like most saddles, it forked the nose into two sides. It reminded me of the mandibles of a spider.

Pretty soon there were four guys that bought the same saddle and they really liked the saddle.

So, always wanting to be in on the latest good thing, I bought one.

At first the saddle was uncomfortable, putting more pressure on the sit bones than usual, but probably relieving stress on the middle part of my crotch, which is what I wanted to avoid.

After several months, I still experienced discomfort riding on that seat, but I learned to ignore it and cycled on.

Now after 4 months and close to a hundred hours on the saddle I can say the seat is even less comfortable than the first time I used it on a ride. But the discomfort is not the worst part of this story.

I have developed bursitis in my right hip. It doesn't manifest itself very much while riding, it mostly is painful running or walking.

Maybe I am wrong, maybe it is just a coincidence, but I searched for some other theories and I found a doctor who has had experience with Adamo type seats:

In the past year I have treated 27 cases of proximal hamstring tendinopathy or ischial bursitis. 19 of those patients had been using saddles similar to the Adamo design—a noseless seat.

Here is the link to his full article

So, I am planning on switching out my spider mandible seat for my regular more comfortable seat.

Hopefully that will cure my new found bursitis.

Dirty Rat

2011-07-17T09:13:00.000-07:00

So I call this the Dirty RAT, its the RAT (Ride Around Timp) on Dirt only. Normally you have to hit a section of pavement going up to Aspen Grove but we cheat a little.

So we met at Dry Canyon and Jerod and Russ shuttled us up in their trucks to Aspen Grove. Then we headed up to the Lame Horse trail. That first part is a tough one, it climbs through loose rock while it forms several switchbacks. After a while it turns into some really nice single track and eventually spits you out at the Summit parking lot.

Once there we tried to catch our breath, well some of us, like me, I was completely out of breath as you can see me coming into the summit.

Birthday Ride

2011-07-16T14:44:00.000-07:00

For my 50th birthday, I wanted to do a ride up American Fork Canyon. I really love riding up there and with the late melt we've had here in the Utah mountains, most of the trails have seen little traffic.

I met up with Jeff Hiatt and Bill Watson at 6AM at the split to Tibble Fork. We drove up to the Timpanookee trail head and started off.

The stream was still pretty high and was lapping at the plank bridge. That bridge beckons me to ride it, but I am too chicken. I've seen Matt fall off of it and I have nearly fallen off of it myself. So again I walked across the bridge and then got on my bike and then fell down. For some reason I couldn't clip out and with my foot bound to the pedal I fell over in a pathetic pile.

So we started off: for some reason I was in front and really I was trying hard not to slow any one down but I'm sure I did anyway.

At the turnoff to the summit, Jeff took this picture of me. Yeah, a 50 year-old who still wants to be a kid.

Our next stop was at the 4-way. The trail to Tibble Fork/Mud Springs was still closed due to wet conditions so our options were: 1. South Fork of Deer Creek; 2. Follow the Ridge Trail up to Chain Break and over to Mill Canyon, up Mill Canyon and back down the ridge trail.

Jeff was not in for the longer ride today so Bill and I went over to option 2. That was at 7:20AM and I thought: "Well, we'll be able to do that loop in like 45 minutes."

What was I thinking?!! Yeah, Mill Canyon was really wet. This is July 16th for heavens sake! But yeah even before we got there we went through several marshy places that we had to slog through, a beaver dam washout, and lots of muck caking our dogs up to the ankles. Then when we hooked up with the trail up Mill canyon there was a decent river flowing down it. But soon we left the riverbed and climbed and climbed. Bill was pretty fast, and I wasn't slow, but I must have been 5 minutes behind Bill by the time we hit the last climb.

Bill stopped at the horse trough and the last I saw of him was when he said: "Go ahead Steve, I'll catch up."

Well I don't know what happened but he never caught up and I had to high-tail it home because my wife had tickets to Harry Potter for my birthday date with her. I couldn't be late for that!

On the way down the steeper section before the split to mud springs (not from the 4-way) there was a huge mud slough that looked like pudding. I tried to ride through it. Bad idea. The pudding caught and held on to my front wheel and I endoed right into that mud mousse. On the upside it was a soft landing. On the downside, it was really hard to climb out of.

I did stop at the spigot at the Timpanookee trail head and wash my shoes, my feet and my legs. Just too much mud to take into my car. While I was there I guess I blocked the path to some motorcyclers. I thought they could get by on the right side, but maybe not. I should be more tolerant, but they really damage the trails. Mountain biking is pretty gentle on the trails.

Well that was a great way to start out my birthday, I'll have to make it a tradition!

Julie Andrews Meadow

2011-07-12T11:00:00.000-07:00

Yeah, it's been a late spring. Even though summer is here, the trails are just beginning to open in American Fork. So I've got to admit, I miss Julie Andrew's Meadow. So Tuesday when Russ and crew went up there, I was glad to be in their company.

We had a medium size group: Russ, Matt, Lionel, Bob, Royce, Dean and myself. I'm not sure what Lionel is doing in that photo, but the rest seem to be singing a tune from an old musical.

I think it's time Royce either keeps his tires up to 40lbs or gets some tubeless. He flatted twice today :)

Here's Royce and Dean coming up the trail after flat #1

Chris King Warranty part II

2010-12-24T07:50:00.000-08:00

It took about a week and Chris King did a good job of fixing my bottom bracket.

The BB arrived earlier than I expected. I thought maybe it would be completely replaced, but it was rebuilt with new bearings on the side where the bearings had been damaged.

It's back on my singlespeed bike and working well.

I was a little worried that Chris King would not honor their warranty but such fear was unwarranted. So if you're looking for a good bottom bracket, you can't go wrong with Chris King.

Chris King Warranty

2010-12-05T21:19:00.000-08:00

My last ride of the season ended with a bang. Or maybe a crunch. I was riding up a fairly easy hill in Orem. It was the week before Thanksgiving and probably about 30 degrees so the ground was in great shape.

I hadn't seen anyone but just up ahead I did see a lone rider so I sped up just to see who it was, when my crank or bottom bracket made a clicking noise and got significantly hard to pedal.

I stopped and looked at it. Everything looked ok. Just tight and hard to pedal.

So I coasted back to my car, pedalling as little as possible.

I pulled the crank and looked at the bottom bracket.

It had a problem. Some of the bearings were loose and the plastic bearing cage was crushed.

The non drive side of the bottom bracket looks fine, although I haven't taken it apart. The drive side actually fell open when I pulled the crank off.

So I didn't get to see who that was ahead of me. Maybe next time.

Now, I know these are great bottom brackets, I have one on another bike and have been happy with it. So I'm not sure what caused this one to fail.

Now I will get the chance to see if Chris King really has a good warranty or if it is just a paper tiger.

I will report later on my success with getting Chris King to honour the warranty.

Timpanookee frozen loop

2010-11-07T16:20:00.000-08:00

Thursday morning Jeff and I met and carpooled up to the Pine Hollow parking lot. The gate was closed so we rode the road up to the Timpanookee trail head.

We began riding the frozen trail over to Salamander Flat and across to the Summit trail.
We rode up to the Summit and although the trail had snow on it occasionally, it was very rideable.

From the Summit we continued up the Ridge Trail to the 4 way and down South Fork of the Deer Creek. That trail was primo. I love being able to drop my seat with a flick of a finger. That Gravity Post seatpost has got it together.

We climbed over to Mexican Flat and began climbing back to the summit. About a mile from the summit the trail melted from ice to mud and we could no longer ride so we bushwhacked up to the paved road and rode back to Pine Hollow parking lot.

It really didn't help that the motorcycles had churned the trail into the consistency of chocolate pudding.

I don't have any footage of the really bad mud here. But I have some video of the climbing up to the summit early in the ride. Notice the water running down the trail. There is also a shot of Jeff riding down to the 4 way.

SingleSpeed Friday

2010-11-05T15:03:00.000-07:00

After realizing that I am lazy and can do most of the rides around here without stopping, I thought I need to build up some better leg strength. And all these fast guys around here seem to ride single speeds. What is so cool about that?

So I got a Niner SIR frame and started building the single speed in May. Six months later, I finished.

The crank was created from a Shimano XTR M960 Crank. I modified it for single speed use by trimming the four mount points to where they just fit the middle sprocket. This makes for a very strong, proven crank all for only 500 grams.

I built the wheel up using Stans Crest and Chris King.

I rode my new SingleSpeed for the second time on Friday. With Brent DeHart. He can ride the singlespeed much faster, but was gracious enough to wait for me several times.

Parked by the Gate before the road that goes up to Dry Canyon trail head. We rode the Bonneville Shoreline trail up to Franks and then up Franks to the Belt Route to the Altar. Then we rode Buckle over to the top of the Dry Canyon twisty decent and down to where we parked.

We started at 4:10 and ended at 5:40, a little slow, but we were in no hurry, this was a ride to be savoured before the snows come.

On Tuesday I had ridden after work for the first time on the single speed. I took the Meekonector from the Belt Route and I was a little faster, 1:24 vs. 1:30, but then again I was alone and didn't talk as much. Here's a shot of the bike on the trail from Tuesday.

Thursday Mud Fest in Draper

2010-11-04T16:02:00.000-07:00

Dude, I hate the Mud.

It sticks like snot to my bike and then dries like cement.

Thursday we met at the shoreline trail off of Mike Weir drive.

We rode up the shoreline trail to what I think is Draper Hollow trail and up over the ridge to the Utah county side. That ride over the ridge is where we loaded up on mud.

Then we rode some more and went through this cool tunnel.

That is Bob riding through the tunnel. Shortly after this we hit the draper downhill. An expert downhill ride with slick muddy conditions. If I wasn't awake yet, this downhill was a real wakeup call. Jumps and drops and steeps and deeps.

Yeah. That works for an early morning ride.

Mooses at Mexican Flat

2010-09-28T10:28:00.000-07:00

Today we saw 4 moosers in the field to the north of Mexican Flat.

They had smaller racks but they were good sized animals.

Terry, Jeff, Matt, Royce, Bob, Russ and I rode from the summit trail head to the Horse Flat and out the back to the whups then up to Mexican Flats, where we saw the mooses. Then up to the 4 way and down to Mud Springs and then down Tibble.

Great ride! Lots of colorful leaves. No motorcycles, only a couple of other bikers were seen with a boxer-looking dog.

We finished before 8.

The Dirty Rat

2010-09-20T08:41:00.000-07:00

Saturday was an epic ride. The Dirty RAT. RAT is an acronym for Ride Around Timp, Mount Timpanogos that is.

I rode most of the RAT last year (See The RAT).

But you have to ride a bit of pavement to ride the RAT correctly. You have to ride the pavement from at least Canyon Glen in Provo Canyon, up to the Lame Horse trail in Aspen Grove.

The Dirty Rat cuts out the pavement nonsense. I mean it's not nonsense if you are on a road bike, but on a mountain bike, come on, you really just want the dirt.

So park at Dry Canyon above Lindon and shuttle to Aspen Grove. Then take the Lame Horse trail up to the Summit and from the Summit head up to sheep camp via the Timpanookee campground and up to Bear canyon, etc.

From sheep camp ride to the top of Grove Creek, pass the turnoff to Grove Creek and follow the trails to the base of Big Baldy.

Make the arduous climb up to the saddle of Big Baldy then drop off the saddle into upper Dry Canyon, but don't miss the turn off to the Great Western Trail which will take you south to the saddle of Little Baldy.

Descend off of Little Baldy on a section of some of the sweetest single track you've ridden and then take a right to Area 51 and follow that to the Dry Canyon twister singletrack down to the good part of Dry Canyon.

Smoke the pipe on the way down if you wish and end your Dirty Rat at the Dry Canyon trail head.

The Pipeline

A successful pipe smoking (Dec.2008, filmed by Paul Hillyard)

The ride starts on the Aspen Grove side.

I Showed Up at the Brian Head Party

2010-09-13T20:41:00.000-07:00

I did want to go to Brian Head with Bob, Russ, Matt, Royce, Bill and Brent; but since I had just left my family to go to do the Whole Enchilada, I didn't think I had that much of a chance.

I concocted a "vacation" for my family whereby I would bike with the guys on Friday, and then Saturday I would take my wife to bike the trails that I had explored with the guys.

It worked out pretty good. Except for my fork mistake

You can read about that mistake here.

By the time I finished the forks and got the bike together it was late, we left at around 7PM and got to Brian Head at Midnight.

The next morning I got up at 5:30AM to find the guys. I finally found them at 6AM. They were willing to let me come even though I would make the shuttles extremely tight. We had to fit 7 guys into a six seat truck, well that was Russ' truck. One of the shuttles we did in Bob's truck had 7 guys in a 5 seater.

The first ride of the day was Casto to Red Canyon. We left a shuttle truck at Red Canyon and loaded the 7 guys into the other truck with the 7 bikes and drove to the the Casto Canyon turnout and started the ride. The weather was perfect, it was about 7:30 AM when we started.

The first problem was a dérailleur adjustment that Royce needed.

The trail starts winding through trees and the wash while being surrounded by cool redrock formations that made us want to stop and take a few pictures.

After a while the trail leaves the wash and heads into the timber for a while. In case you didn't know this is a trail, someone put up a sign to remind you...

We exited at Red Canyon and then some of us waited while others went to get the shuttle truck. Then we all shuttled up to do Thunder Mountain.

Royce makes sense of the map with Carey...

Carey contemplates the safety issues with the Thunder Mountain potty.

Thunder Mountain has some very scenic climbs, the trail winds through some beautiful redrock mixed with pines.

After riding Thunder Mountain we needed to refuel.

Our final ride was down Bunker Hill. By then I was getting tired and I'd only been riding with these biking machines for only this one day. Bunker Hill starts way up on Brian Head peak and drops down to the road with some really sweet single track. By the time we finished it was almost dark. We shuttled up the highway to the turnoff up to Brian Head Peak. Where the dirt road heads up to the peak some of us got out to ride our bikes back. I rode on down the highway to the hotel to meet my family. Grateful for three great rides with some really good guides. No major wipeouts for me, but I did see Bill take a really hard endo on Casto. He escaped with a sore wrist, but it looked like it would have been worse because it was on some hard ground.

How To Turn an 80mm Fork into a Rigid

2010-09-11T14:39:00.000-07:00

Oh yeah, a few weeks ago I had rebuilt my fork. Well, that means I changed the seals and the oil, but I tore the fork apart and cleaned it to do this.
Well I bought the oil from JensonUSA, the oil that I thought I would use...

Yeah that's right, fox float oil. Ok that was the only oil they had on the website, so that must be the right stuff. I changed the oil in the fork and refilled it with the fox float oil. Cool. The fork didn't leak. But the fork didn't travel either.

I did some research and I learned that the float oil was only to lube the top foam rings when you do an overhaul, but a lighter weight oil went in the fork. I had put 75wt. oil in where I needed 7wt.

That is what the bottle for the right oil looks like. This is 10wt. and I actually used 7wt.

Thursday up Mill down Tibble

2010-09-09T19:29:00.000-07:00

For a September morning in American Fork Canyon it felt pretty warm, probably about 50 degrees.

I met Terry at the split at 5:30AM. The rest of the riders were on the Brian Head trip, probably riding Dark Hollow.

Terry and I parked at Tibble Fork Reservoir and began riding up to Mill Canyon. That's a pretty steep uphill and since it was still dark, it was especially challenging. Although when you can't see the obstacles, they are less scary.

I've descended Mill Canyon, but never climbed that route, but because we wanted to get some climbing in, we were willing to take the pain.

The uphill was very taxing to my cardio. There were rocks and gnarled trees and hidden gnomes grabbing my tire. After a while we made it to the part that has been groomed/rerouted. That smooth trailis great for an uphill ride. Lots of challenging switchbacks, but the trail was as smooth as a banker asking for bailout money.

We hooked up to the Ridge Trail (157) and rode over the the four way and decended down Tibble fork.Coming down I realized that my fork was not working. I have a Fox F29. Since the previous two rides I have ridden rental bikes, a Niner RIP and a Niner Jet, it became obvious that the forks on those bikes were absorbing shock much better than the ride I was now taking.

We stopped and adjusted pressure on the fork, and it seemed to help, but the fork really wasn't compressing.

As I rode down it became more evident that I had done something wrong in my oil change.

We came to a spot where the trail forked. The left fork was covered with logs to stop traffic. We decided to drop down that left fork and we ended up in the cabins. We saw Larry King's cabin.

We finished on the winding pavement through the cabins and crossed the dam to our vehicles.

Back at home, I researched the fork oil on my Fox. It turns out that I used the Fox Float oil to fill my fork. That is about 70Wt and only used on the soft float pads at the top of the fork. I should have used 7wt oil. So I had oil that was 10 times the viscosity of the oil that I should have used. No wonder my fork didn't move.

I took apart the fork and drained all the oil out. I wiped it and even took out the spacer to convert my fork from 80mm travel to 100mm.

I picked up some oil from Blayne's Cyclery on State Street in Orem. The owner, Blayne, just let me take his 7wt Fox fork oil and return it later without any ID or anything. The trust was kinda cool.
I spent Thursday night changing my fork oil, which for me was a two hour process. Then I packed and my family and I drove to Brian Head for a 3 day weekend of biking, hiking and recreating.

Mechanical Monday

2010-09-06T08:06:00.000-07:00

Monday we were joined by Matt's Friend Austin from Arizona.

Royce, Russ, Matt, Austin and I started at Trail Crossing and headed to the four way and up to Chain Break.

I had rented a Niner Jet9 from the Bike Fix in Bountiful, so I was eager to try it's climbing abilities. I was reminded that "it's not about the bike" as I climbed the Triple Bypass up to Chainbreak.

Yeah, we've never heard it called that, in fact I think Matt was saying that it was called The Three Sisters by some other bikers, but Austin while riding it thought it should be called the Triple Bypass. That name seems more fitting.

The Triple Bypass is that piece of trail from the Four-Way up to the top of chain break.

The first mechanical was actually on the climb up from the Trail Crossing just before the turn off to Salamander Flat. That was Russ' hammerschmidt shifter cable losing a zip tie. The weather was a little cool so Russ' repairs weren't working because his emergency zip ties were cracking and breaking upon bending them. I think Austin had a spare that worked so we were off again.

Soon the next minor mechanical was with Royce's pedals. He had clipless pedals that wouldn't release. So if he had to dab, his foot stayed locked in and he would topple like a bowling pin. He got that adjusted by the turnoff to Deer Creek South Fork.

Next it was me at the bottom of the fork to Mud Springs. I had a flat on the dang rental bike. I had to change the tightest tire that I've ever changed. Took me about 20 minutes and then I discovered that my CO2 inflater that I have been carrying for two years, didn't work. So I could have been left stranded by that piece of junk, but luckily Russ had a pump.

Finally Austin had his mechanical. He flatted. While changing his flat I discovered that I was out of time since I had to meet the mechanic from Bike Fix in Bountiful at the 1600 N. exit on the Freeway at 9AM. That would save me a drive to Bountiful.

So I left to finish the ride down Mill Canyon. That was where I had my second mechanical. I crashed into a little tree on the short steep switchbacks that cross the creek before climbing where we moved a long big fallen tree that had been blocking the trail all year.

The tree that had my number

That crash broke my Planet Bike light and my Garmin Edge. My Edge actually opened up and spilled its electronic guts, but nothing really broke so I picked it all up and managed to put it together later at home. The light still works with a little duct tape.

Yeah. Mechanical Monday. Although Matt seemed to make it through without any mishaps.

The Whole Enchilada 2010

2010-08-29T06:41:00.000-07:00

The Whole Enchilada conjures up an image of an Epic ride at first, but then you start thinking that an enchilada is like a burrito but slathered in sauce. Wet slippery sauce.

The Whole Enchilada is a ride that starts out in the La Sals, a mountain range 20 or so miles south of Moab. The La Sals have 12 peaks higher than 12,000 feet which is amazing considering that Moab itself is just over 4,000 feet.

We started our ride at about 10,000 feet just south of Burro Pass and within a mile or so had to climb up to 11,200 feet over Burro pass. Right off the bat, a sprint to the top.

I don't know about everyone else, but at 11,000 feet with my heart working as hard as it could and the thin air, it was hard to keep the pedals moving.

Then came the Rain
We knew we were risking a wet ride earlier as we shuttled up in Jared's truck and saw the strange looking clouds blowing around Moab, but it appeared that they were not settled in the La Sals. Maybe they would just blow through. Wishful thinking.

But still we were excited to get on the trail...

Notice how clean and fresh we were before the rain and the mud. Yeah, the mud came after the rain, a prewash and then a protective coating was applied.

As we climbed up to Burro Pass it started sprinkling, then raining then raining harder, then sprinkling, etc. Eventually it was apparent that the clouds had settled in and our best option was to ride through the sauce and get off the mountain.

There were several cattle guards like this one that we rode through during the day.

The forest around Burro Pass and the La Sals in general was pretty thick and prestine. The trail was carpeted with either pine needles or rocks with an occasional sprinkling of tree roots.

Coming down the La Sals was challenging, the rocks were wet it was muddy and the stream crossings were running pretty high. But the forest was beautiful, the water was clear and fresh and hey, the trail was not dusty.

It was cold. If anyone got hurt up here, as remote as it is, hypothermia would be a risk. Fortunately our crew got down and started on the Kokopeli trail safely.

After the the trail leveled a bit and actually had a few climbs, we hit some mud.

That's where the enchilada sauce really started. The mud on the road was just as sticky as hot gum on the pavement. You know when you walk across a parking lot in the summer and step on gum that some slob has spit out earlier. That gum stick to your shoe and is really tough to get off. Yeah.

The mud caked our tires and then globbed on to the forks, rear triangles, chains and derailleurs until it seized up our wheels and we had to stop about every 20 to 100 feet and scrape the tires and forks clean enough to free the wheels. Several of us crashed as the mud seized the wheels and sent us mud skiing out of control into the sogginess.

After a couple of miles of this we climbed up out of it into the drier, slickrock part of the UPS trail. We rode the UPS trail, hoping that some mud would drop off of us but it clung like a tick to Rover's heine. That was annoying, but it also caused a nasty mechanical failure.

Jared was riding along on a slickrock section when you heard that metal twang and click medley that signals a possible mechanical failure. Because the mud had now dried into a thick pottery, it had seized the gears on his derailleur. If the gears wont turn, then the gears follow the chain on its journey around the cassette. This will break and twist some essential drive train parts.

Yeah, the derailleur hangar snapped and other parts bent. All the kings horses and all the kings men, couldn't put that derailleur back together again.

So Russ and others helped set the bike up as a single-speed non-derailleur bike. I think they pumped up the rear air shock to max also to make it as rigid as possible to prevent the chain from stretching too much as could happen when the suspension is active.

At the junction to the Notch, I tried to dry some of my clothes. The sun had come out and I was wet, waiting for the derailleur repair team to join me I took a picture from there of the expansive desert to the north...

The group soon rejoined me and we decided not to go see the notch and just head out since we were a little behind schedule.

We descended to the LPS, skipping the notch and riding on to the Porcupine Rim single track.

I had never been on the Porcupine Rim trail and it was quite a change from the earlier terrain of the day.

Ledges, ledges, ledges. Yeah, you might say it was a ledge fest. I was able to launch off of a few with good results but most of them I went around or just dropped off of because the landings looked sketchy. I know that the rest of our group was launching from ledge to ledge and I was envious, but my skill is not at that Jedi level yet, and I prefer to live to ride another day.

I did however try to ride one-handed for a bit to get some trail video...

Towards the end of the ride, I caught Terry and Matt riding some of the rim...

Finally out towards the Colorado River, the trail decended to the road and we finished the ride.

Terry and Russ drove up to the La Sals to pick up the shuttle and the rest of us rode along the Colorado River and into town, which was quite an effort in itself because of the headwind.

just hung out at the Community Center in downtown Moab, debriefing the ride and generally resting for the drive home.

Check out this Garmin GPS Link for more details of the ride.

Horse Flat, to Julie Andrews and Bear

2010-08-24T18:41:00.000-07:00

It was actually a little cold this morning. Like 50 degrees at the split.

We shuttled up to the Summit Trail and rode to Snow Gage and over to Timpanookee.

From there we headed up to Julie Andrews Meadow and came down Bear.

I only have one short video of the boulder turn on Bear.

We had quite a crew though with Jeff, Russ, Terry, Matt, Bob, Steveolyo and Royce.

Happy Trails.

The Unexpected Epic

2010-08-22T08:47:00.000-07:00

Yeah, this was unexpected because I thought it would be the normal Saturday ride, you know 2 or 3 hours...

The plan was to hit Pole line pass, Ant Knolls, Ridge Trail 157, upper Mill plunge and dive, lower Mill to Tibble Fork Reservoir.

We met at the split and waited until 6:15.

Terry, Royce and I drove up to Tibble Fork and parked. We started riding up to pole line pass in pleasant 45 degree weather.

Before we left I noticed Adam and Aaron had pulled up. They were also on their way to ride up to pole line pass. Terry and I were riding with them for a ways until we could no longer keep up.

Somewhere we lost track of Royce. Later he caught up with us and told us he had a pinch flat.

The ride up to pole line pass is not very technical, it's just a graded mountain road, but it is relentless and climbs from 6540 to 8920 (2380) in about 8 miles.

After getting up Pole Line Pass, we went to the left and started up Ant Knolls.

After some riding up Ant Knolls, there is a fork, we went left.

At that point it was just Terry and I, Royce was out of time and had to head back.

This was the best trail of the day, just beautiful scenery, views into mineral basin, peaks all around us and soft trail winding up and down across the mountain.

This ride is an out-and-back which ends where 157 drops down the hill to the east or west.

Thus ended the easy part of our journey. We rode the beautiful trail back to Pole Line Pass and then followed 157 to Mill Canyon.

I must say that part of the ridge trail was tough, climbs that rob you of your breath, not so much breathtaking, as breath robbing.

Finally after many terrifying climbs which started as awesome, then tough, then hike-a-bike, we finally started downhill towards Mill Canyon. The upper part was rideable, but really you were surfing many baby head boulders, well I mean baby tyrannosaurus rex's. Because the boulders were more pointy.

After upper Mill Canyon, we got on Lower Mill Canyon and it has recently been rerouted. I liked it, wide switchbacks that were groomed. This was welcome trail after the loose rocks of torment that we had ridden down. We did see a Moose mama and her calf.

Finally we got to the parking lot at Tibble Fork a mere six and a half hours after we started.
Total elevation gain: 4500 feet.

Here's some extra photos of the trip...

Forest Lake...

Summit Trail to Mud Springs - Tibble Fork

2010-08-17T22:22:00.000-07:00

This morning was a good ride, we met at the split at 5:30, shuttled up to Salamander flats.

Russ, Royce Terry and I were in the first load, others joined later.

We unwittingly parked near some tent campers, and I think we woke them up, so we quietly unloaded the bikes, and turned on our lights and headed up Willow Hollow to the Summit trail.

At the Summit Trail, Lionel and Matt joined us.

Shortly after the turnoff to Snow Gauging, we turned to the right on an overgrown trail that dipped wildly into a fun little ride. Terry might have tried out his helmet once, and we flew down the trail in the dark like secret agents in the night.

I don't know the name of the trail, so if someone wants to comment on that, it would be great to know the name. How about "Nose Break"?

Well that trail met up with Snow Gauging and then we went on to climb over to Mud Springs. We decended Mud Springs to Tibble Fork trail and came out over the Tibble Fork dam.

I think I missed a trail name here or there, but since I'm struggling with the names, I'd love to be corrected.

Here's a video of a piece of Mud Springs Trail.

Later we actually saw a rattlesnake, never mind that it was on the asphalt, by the split, and run over beyond recognition.

Horse Flats and Whoops beats the pavement any day

2010-08-14T12:59:00.000-07:00

Saturday we met at 6AM at the split. The temperature was actually cooler than I expected, probably 55 degrees, and it was still dark.

I erroneously thought that I'd need a light, but by the time we shuttled up to the summit the trail was bathed in that soft morning light of American Fork Canyon.

While we drove up to the Summit Parking Lot, we noticed a ton of cars parked on the shoulder from the Timpanookee Campground turnoff to past the trail crossing. Probably due to several factors, the American Fork Canyon was immensely popular this Saturday.

First, the entrance was free, normally it's six bucks; Second, there was the 1000 Warriors bike ride and; Third, it was a Saturday.

We started biking up the Summit Trail and went straight through Horse Flat. At the back of Horse Flat we climbed a challenging piece of trail that some could almost clean, but at the top there are some treacherous roots that bar passage. They seem to say, "None shall pass".

After the climb we descended some fun single track which shall remain nameless until I can find the name. It had a neat little log jump. I don't jump it though, I kind of plop my front wheel down, which as you can see from the following video, is the usual way for most of the riders. I think if you got too much air your speed would preclude control and you might not make the turn that follows.

Down this trail we went for a while then we connected to the Deer Creek South Fork trail and rode the Whoops through Mexican Flats and continuing on the Deer Creek South Fork Trail to Ridge trail 157.

We stopped for a minute or two at the four-way and saw Steve. He was riding in some interesting looking pants and so Russ had to show him that he had the same pants under his pants.

Hanging out at the four-way

The climb from the four way to Chain Break is especially challenging. Today I managed to clean it as did Matt and Russ as you can see from this video...

Chain Break connects to Mill Canyon which is the trail we descended to Tibble Fork Reservoir and down the pavement to our cars.

Here's a gps reference to the ride.

Pine Hollow Iced the Cake

2010-08-12T09:51:00.000-07:00

Who says you can't have your cake and eat it too? Thursday morning we built the cake and then iced it and ate it.

Today it was Russ, Matt, Royce and myself. We shuttled up to the Summit parking lot. From there we headed up the Summit trail, made a right on the Snow Gauging trail and then headed over to Timpanookee.

On the Snow Gauging trail or a connector from that to Timpanookee, Russ pulled out his handy saw and with Matt's help he cleaned off some deadfall.

Trail Maintenence

From the Timpanookee shack we rode up a little bit of single track and then hit the dirt road up to Julie Andrews Meadow.

The turn off to Julie Andrews Meadow. I wonder if she knows about this meadow.

The temperature was perfect, probably 60 or 65 degrees, no noticeable wind and best of all, no Motorcycles the whole trip! Not even Horses.

Julie Andrews Meadow

Yeah I know, we have to share the trail, and we do, but the Motorcycles sure are noisy and stinky and seem out of place in some of these areas. I used to ride a motorcycle in the back country. This was before 1979, back when mountain bikes were rare, especially in Utah and there was not a need to evolve. Now that I have evolved I would like to see others evolve too!

Here we are riding the top of Bear after the long climb up to Julie Andrews Meadow .

So after dropping down Bear to Mutual Dell I thought maybe we were finished, but to the joy of my spirit, Russ was suggesting to ride back up to Trail Crossing, single track over to Pine Hollow and ride back down Pine Hollow. I had never ridden that so it was awesome to hit some new trail and add more time on to the ride. Pure sweetness.

For the GPS tracking info on the ride, follow this link: follow this link

Thursday Bart Rode

2010-07-20T14:50:00.000-07:00

I took bart on a ride

It was a great ride, we rode the timpanookee loop and rode the road down to my car which was at the split.

Tuesday I launched Matrix Style into a tree

2010-07-06T14:16:00.000-07:00

The Dawn Patrol pre launch meeting

Russ, Jeff, Randy, Bill and I met at the Tibble Fork turnout

We started at "Trail Crossing", denoted by a turnout spot on the paved road with a sign that reads "Trail Crossing".

We went North across the road and climbed the summit trail. Then we forked right to climb the Horse Flat trail, then the Snow Gauging trail to Timpanookee --down to the river crossing and the Timpanookee trail head and then up the dirt road to the Great Western and then Bear.

On one of the downhill sections of the Great Western I launched myself into a tree. Just for fun.

The morning ride with a sort of Blaire Witch effect

The sun was in my eyes for a second or so; I couldn't see the trail. An older pine tree, dead and white like driftwood, was laying parallel on the right side of the trail with the crown barely in the edge of the trail. I couldn't see clearly because of the sun in my eyes and the dust on the trail. My right toe caught that tree and that pulled me to the right, forcing a right turn off balance which threw me to the left into a sapling with a 2" bole which I completely folded with my left shoulder.

That was my worst wreck this year. I even have a black toe to show for it.

Little Baldy Saddle

2010-06-29T09:48:00.000-07:00

It seems that every year I manage to make it to the saddle of Little Baldy. This year I went with a couple of other riders and we even ventured a fair distance towards Big Baldy.

You might not know it, but in Orem we have a challenging trail up to a couple of saddles formed between a couple of small mountains and Mount Timpanogos. One of those mountains is really more of a ridge, but it does have a saddle, although it is hard to distinguish. That is the mountain that we call Little Baldy. If Big Baldy is the bald head, then Little Baldy is kind of like a sideburn or something.

On the morning of June 19, Terry, Jeff and I headed up to the trails. I rode up from my house to the Dry Canyon trail head and met Jeff and Terry there. We took the Bonneville Shoreline Trail, special Orem edition around to the Provo section and climbed up Franks trail to the Altar.

We rested at the Altar for a couple of minutes, enjoying the quiet while we rehydrated. I had biked with Terry on one occasion before but at this time I couldn't remember him.

We headed up the Great Western Trail to the saddle of Little Baldy. The temperature was around 58 degrees, no wind, the sun was still not fully up; we were shaded still by the mountain at 8AM. The trail was its usual rocky self. At one point I launched a rock from my rear wheel that somehow knocked Terry off balance and he had to restart his climb. Whoops. Sorry man.

This trail is a relentless climb that forces me to reach inside and summon my late Stepdad to yell at me. Then I have to pedal harder to leave him behind. I finally left him behind near some stinky horse stuff.

Right before the saddle there is a sweet downhill of shame. You must make it down without taking your feet off the pedal or you feel the shame. Then one more climb and you are at the saddle.

On the way up I felt like I was some kind of awesomeness because I was staying ahead of Terry. Later it turned out that he had gone off the edge and slashed his shin with some kind of mountain rubble. So that was my little hollow victory.

Jeff and Terry. Note the gash on Terry's shin. You can't buy stuff that cool.

On the way down I tried to keep up with Terry but he was too fast. I tried to take one of the sketchy ledge/rock hazards after he did and I landed it funny. That was my endo adventure where my right knee landed between two mean looking mini boulders. I was grateful for the knee protection. My bike came crashing down on my back but again I was lucky, no big owies.

I saw Chris Cockrell on his way up to the saddle. Not sure how far he made it, but that was the only other biker we saw riding up the Great Western Trail that morning. It's amazing that so few riders would be up there on a Saturday morning.

Coming down Dry Canyon we took the stair avoidance trail which is now washed out. You now cross the wash on foot because it is nothing but a steep sided wash which actually undercuts the trail. Terry found out about the undercut when the trail gave way underneath him.

Oh at the parking lot of Dry Canyon, it dawned on me. I had ridden with Terry at Lambert Park in Alpine last winter, but that was a bigger Terry. Since then he has lost 35 pounds and so I didn't recognize him.

I can't wait 'till we actually take on Big Baldy.

2010-05-09T12:47:00.001-07:00

I've been looking for a workout that would help me get some better climbing ability on the bike. Especially mountain biking.

Since I finished the RAWROD this year I've been thinking a lot about how I cramped up a lot on the ride. I hydrated fairly well, although not as well as I should have. I should have drank a liter before I took off.

So hydration and training I think were my biggest issues.

Reading this book by Chris Carmichael, I figured that I was always too anerobic during the first part of the ride, so I depleted the anerobic part of my ability and all I had left was some aerobic endurance that was hampered by the lactic acid that my depleted anerobic capacity had flooded into my muscles.

So what I need to do for next year is build up my aerobic capacity and only dip into the anerobic for brief climbs.

So what to do...

Probably more time on the bike for longer periods, i.e. 3 and four hour rides. The killer for this is the weather in Utah. It snows. The only way to get long mountain bike rides is to go south to Vegas or something. Not always a great option.

That leaves me with the option of spin class. I don't really like it. It's boring, and I feel less free than being out on the bike.

Another thing I could do is build up leg muscles with workouts like this one that Lance does.

Just watching this workout makes me feel stronger.

At 48, I hate feeling my body get weaker, so this kind of training is a must.

RAWROD 2010

2010-04-25T22:46:00.000-07:00

4-23-2010: Getting There

I first had to get to the campsite the night before.

It took me all night to get to the Horse Thief camp, but I made-it.. I left work at 3:15, then I stopped at home to get my shoes which I had stupidly forgotten. Then I stopped to get compressed natural gas for the truck in Orem just north of 800 N & West of the freeway. Finally at 4 pm I was southbound towards Canyonlands National Park.

I made pretty good time for the 84 miles to Price, although the weather was cold and rain and sleet were falling on the road. In Price I topped off the CNG, 5 gallons worth. I love my CNG truck. I buy CNG for 93 cents a gallon and that makes my truck cheaper to drive than my civic.

Driving south from Price I realized that I generally knew the way to Canyonlands, but to specifically get to the horse thief trail head, I didn't know the way. True to form I didn't bring the maps. So I did what I normally do under similar circumstances. I panicked and then I called Erin.

Erin told me to take the second road and that It forks left So I did as she said, but that led to the Horse Thief Campground. That is not the same as the Horse Thief Trailhead or the road into Horse Thief Canyon. I asked the Campground Host, he sent me back down the road and said: "It's the next road south with a big parking area."

So I went south about a quarter mile and took that road. I headed West to Horse Thief trail head.
I almost got to the end of the road & I remembered that Erin said it forked left and I needed to take the left fork.

Well I had seen some left forks. "oh no," I thought so I turned around and headed back. This was in the dark now so I couldn't see very well. I explored all the left forks, but they all dead-ended or went into ravines. I guess that's about as dead as an end can get. So I got back on the road and headed west again, I stopped an oncoming car. It turned out to be Eldon, the Fat Cyclist blog author.

He said, keep going west. The road is 13 miles long." So I did. I found everyone camped at the end of the road. Had I only kept on my original course, I would have been there an hour or so earlier.

I barely made it in time to see Kenny (the ride organizer) and all the guys around the campfire. Kenny was glad to see me (probably because I had brought 20 gallons of water to supply the riders for the next days ride).
He cooked me up a braut (German hotdog) and I threw a load of mustard on it and ate it.

It just goes to show you that it's better to know exactly where you are going before you leave. I could have easily mapped the exact location on my GPS and then I would have shortened my trip time by about an hour.

4-24 2010 The Ride
I started out sleeping in the bed of the truck I had a thick pad and a warm bag. There were storm clouds off in the distance, but they didn't look too threatening so I decided to risk sleeping in the open in the bed of the truck. J

The Wind was gusting and I thought the tent would be noisy and flap about.
At about lPM, snug in my bag, it started raining. So being lazy I jumped in the cab and shoved all my stuff -camelback, clothes, backpack, hat, and miscellaneous stuff onto the floor & laid my bed roll on the seat.

I am 5 '10 and the width of the cab is 5.0" so I had to scrunch myself, but I was dry and warm.

I woke up at 530 and started getting ready. I ate my can of peaches for breakfast. I had a hard time getting it down because the peaches were cold. I should think of a better breakfast for these events.

It was about 45 degrees so I started my ride with a jersey (of course!), pearl izvmi arm warmers, my black Pearl Izumi Shell, my brown mtn biking pants, mad dog cycling socks, thin ski socks, fingerless gloves, helmet, olive-green head sweat, performance sun glasses.

At Musselman Arch I took off my ski socks & stuffed them in the jersey pockets. It was getting warmer and the biking had warmed me up as well. I had taken my shell off earlier than that.

We rode the 13 miles of dirt road from the top of Horse Thief trail to the pavement of highway 313 and then south to the entrance of Canyonlands and the White Rim Trail. It was free! normally It costs 5.00 for the bicycle entrance.

I soon went down the left turn to the dirt road leading to the Shafer trail. The trail soon skirts Some awesome views, Including a view of the Shafer trail below. I felt pretty good. I was riding with Kenny. Well I really wasn't riding "with" him, I was really behind him trying to stay with him. I don't know how I caught up with Kenny but he must have stopped at the entrance because I was the last to start and I caught up with some people on the dirt road from camp.
By the time I arrived at the pavement of highway 313 no riders were in sight.I was too slow!

I wanted to not burn out too fast, so like Darren had told me when we rode the Traverse, I need to ride within myself. I rode all the pavement by myself because I was slow and didn't want to burn myself out. I later found that some 17 year-old did just that. Burned himself out trying to set to fast of a pace during the early part of the ride.

At least this year the wind was negligible. Last year there was a tough head wind on the pavement section. I remember drafting as much as I could.

So I Kept up with Kenny, down the Shafer trail for a while. But Kenny, riding easy and having ridden the same ride from the day before, riding in Levi cut-offs, sets such a pace that I could in no way keep up.

We met up at Musselman Arch for refueling and a group photo.

I filled up my bottle with carborocket and left before many of the other riders. That was my Strategy for keeping up with the group -leave early and take shorter breaks.

Most of the riders pass me when I leave early, which is good. By going ahead I can talk with them a while and then the ride seems more of a group ride. If I go last, I don't see anyone until the next stopping point.

Riding the rim was beautiful. I feel a little short-changed because I would
rather soak up more of the scenery. However, when you are doing the White Rim in one day, you have to keep moving. My legs were still good after Musselman Arch, which was not the case last year. I was pretty fatigued after Musselman Arch last year.

After Musselman the next stop was Vertigo Void, at about mile 60 and five miles past White Crack. I met up with another young old guy, Rick, aged 44. He was carrying the "Flower" which was a fake flower that goes on the handle bar of the last rider. So We can keep track of all the riders & know they are all in after the ride.

Home made cookies on the Rim?
Alright, I've got to say that I've never eaten home made chocolate chip cookies on the Rim, but as I was cruising past one of the many overlooks a guy shouts out: "Hey want a cookie?"
Oh my. Muscle memory took over and I slammed on the brakes.
"Uh, yeah."
A proper response.
Yeah so this guy was out doing the white rim in 4 days with a whole support crew. I must say that is stylin': hanging out on the rim and giving out chocolate chip cookies. Bless you with all the cooking skills you desire my new cookie doling friend!
My legs were cramping boy about mile 50. Any climb that I attempted would cause my calf, hamstring and quadriceps to cramp. Especially my right leg, which is my stronger leg. I don't understand cramping too much, but I was hydrated and loaded with electrolytes. I think the issue is training. Really I did 100 miles the week before and several 60 mile days (30 miles to work and 30 back), and while those were good workouts, how can you compare that with a solid 10-12 hour ride. Those other rides are about 1/2 the workout so I'm not sure that I was properly trained.

A Word About Cramping.
Well, maybe a few words.
There are very few scientific studies about this and many theories. dehydration, deficiencies such as: Calcium, Magnesium, Potassium, Salts. Not enough training, genetics, etc.

I cramped again this year. Dang!

My folkloric theory this year, not hydrated enough. I should have hydrated about a liter before I started riding. I think I wasn't hydrated enough before I left. So I started with a deficit and I never caught up. That was probably 30% of my problem. The other 70%? A combination of being old, fat and undertrained. I can work on the last two items and the hydration. Who knows maybe I'll figure this thing out and actually be able to make a dabless climb up Murphy's, Hardscrabble or Horse Thief. I'll take one out of three.

Climbing Murphy's Hogsback I watched Eldon climb it on his single speed. I was amazed. Riding the hogsback looks so much faster and smoother, all I could do was watch him glide by whilst I slogged up the same tread.

Chain Bustin'
I broke my chain while I was climbing Hardscrabble. It was because I had a new derailleur and the max adjustment for the largest sprocket was too tight.
This causes chain-drop where the chain barely makes it on the big granny sprocket and then drops off. This causes great strain to the chain, especially when climbing because you are putting all your strength into the pedal and when that chain slips off of the sprocket the chain gets a lot of energy, then it stops abruptly as it locks onto the next gear down. sometimes, like in this case, the chain breaks. While I was fixing my chain, John & Jilene showed up with someone else who was sporting the flower. They checked on me and Jilene dumped the flower on me and left. I pushed my bike to the top.

After I got there Kenny told me that I would be on my own. I think he thought I was the last guy for a long time. I would not have been last had my chain not broken. So I left the Flower on another bike and took off. Soon Kenny passed me.
Kenny rode so awesome, cranking & gliding on his Single speed. I was just trying not to cramp. At the 'bottom, by the river he lost me, but I caught up with Eldon and the lady he was riding with. He apparently was in one of those cool 8 square foot fancy bathrooms. I think the bathroom was calling to him.

I rode through all the sandy washes and finally later Jilene & John caught up with me. We made it to the bottom of Horse Thief and I adjusted my derailleur so I could Use granny sprocket. I was able to climb slowly at 3 mph. on the third to the last Switchback I walked. Then I rode the last two switchbacks. No one noticed that I arrived. I did yell to Kenny that I had made it, just so someone could notice. I think he said, "Good Job!"

Probably he was thinking "It's about time!"

I still don't know why I do it. the ride is so painful. The riders are so good I feel like such a pokey rider. "Why have you given me the desire to bike when I am such a stinky warrior?"

It is fantastic scenery and it really is amazing to watch and meet all the riders and how good they ride and to experience the mutual suffering. Like they say, "Misery loves company".

Hats off to Kenny for starting a truely memorable tradition.

For the record. The GPS coordinate for the top of horse thief:
38°30'31.53"N 109°59'40.02"W
Link to location on google maps

View Larger Map

Training for Raw Rod

2010-04-09T07:24:00.000-07:00

So getting ready to ride the RAWROD has been hard with all the rain and snow. But I think I've found it with this commute map to work. It's from Orem to Riverton going around Utah lake first. That makes it a 96 mile commute via bicycle:
Google Map of the Long Way to Work...

So in my small brain I calculate that if I can ride 30 miles to work in 1.5 hours, then pshaw, I could ride 90 miles in 4.5 hours, add another 1/2 hour for the extra six or so miles and such and I get to work in 5 hours. Yeah right. If I were Lance Armstrong maybe.

The reality is more like 7 hours. Hmm. So I leave at 5am, and get to work at 12 and ...

Ok this is stupid.

Here's my other idea...

I take a day off work and do a round trip ride, Arrive at home and CRASH!

Crash in this context would mean I walk into my bedroom on wobbly legs and fall into my bed, it hopefully does not mean crash while riding my bike and sustain injuries.

The Link to the Modified Map...

Anyone want to join me for this ride?

Helloween

2009-11-03T20:05:00.001-08:00

Group Shot of the Helloweeners

Helloween. Like is it Hell (oween) or Hello (ween)? You choose.

From Left to Right: (Help me out with what you were trying to be)
Backrow: Logan Football Player (Kanyon Kris), Sheep Man , Cowboy dude?, Kyle, Yellow Man, BrokeBack Cowboy (Kenny Jones)
Middle Row: Duck Rider?, Hot Nurse (Daniel Nelson)?, Blonde Rocker (Aaron Smith), Bernie Madoff (Ricky Maddox), Bikini Man (Brandon Smith), Red jacket (Mike Young), White faced Ghoul?
Next row down: Gorilla (Adam Lisonbee), Gorilla (Keith Payne), Fat Cyclist (Mark Albrecht), Spam man (Brad Wilson), Salem Witch (Serena Warner), Nacho Libre (Mark Warner)
Front Row: Black Clothes Dude?,Prom Date (Rick Sunderlage), Crazy Sheep (Jonathan James), Gas Mask Dude?, Goat Roper?

I don't know if this was the first of such rides or a sequel, but I do know that it was the first one at this location.

Oh location? This was a ride that started at the police shooting range parking lot; above the Orem Cemetery. It was a night ride on the evening before Halloween. So Friday October 30 at about 10PM the ghouls began appearing.

Sheep Man (Jonathon James) getting his picture by Blond Rocker Dude (Aaron Smith)

I didn't do the ride, just took photos. I didn't have any lights that worked. My trail rat bulb burnt out and I didn't get the replacement in time. Plus, I'm a wimp.

Rocker (Aaron Smith) and Snowman?

Nacho Libre (Mark Warner)

Keith and Adam

Bernie (Ricky) trying to hide from the Camera

Cowboy and Ghoul

Another group shot

Someone's prom date (Rick Sunderlage) and Spam Man (Brad Wilson)

The report is that this group went up to the Belt Route and then up the the Altar to have the witch perform several rituals on their souls. The they all cleansed themselves of the evil by riding down dry canyon. No significant wrecks were reported. Although there were sightings of the bicycle ghosts which circle around the belt route a la Blair Witch.

Clarks Trail, Jacobs Ladder and The Ghost After Work

2009-11-02T17:30:00.000-08:00

The view from the top of Jacob's Ladder

Riding up Clark's Trail after work on a Friday with good friends. It doesn't get much better as far as mountain biking goes.

This time of year (October 23) the trail can be muddy, but this day it was perfect. Just moist enough to keep the dust down, but not wet enough to sink in or stick to the knobbies.

Tim and Rex on Clark's Trail

Tim and Rex had never been on this trail before but they went up without any problems. I know that some of the fast guys around here can clean Clark's in under 8 minutes, but for us amateurs, we did well.

Rex on Clark's Trail

Although the brilliance of the fall leaves was diminished, the day was crisp and beautiful. The trail was paved with the golden hue of fallen leaves and there weren't any bugs to bite us due to the cold snap of a few days prior.

Tim and I at the top of Jacob's Ladder

At the top of Clark's we rode over to Jacob's Ladder. Jacob's is a lot of fun, I really love the uphill climb and then the downhill snakes all over which is great fun. Disc brakes are suggested just so you can brake at the last minute. I also like to skid my back tire around the sharpest turns to help me around the corners.

Tim at the top of Jacob's Ladder

Tim riding up Jacob's Ladder

Rex and Tim at the top of Jacob's Ladder

Rex and Tim did a great job climbing this. I didn't tell them that the last time I climbed this there was a rattlesnake in the road.

Rex riding Jacob's Ladder

I'm looking forward to another Friday Night Ride. How about you guys?

Wasatch Crest, The Manly Way

2009-09-23T18:59:00.000-07:00

View towards the West from the Wasatch Crest

I've been wanting to do the Wasatch Crest for a while now. Finally, my friend Jeff decided to let me tag along with him and Don. This would be Jeff's second time this month doing the Crest so he had a good idea of how to do the trail in epic fashion.

But the one catch: rather than drive up to Guardsman pass and shuttle a car down to Mill Creek Canyon, he thought it would be more manly to just park in Park City (might as well park there, that's its claim to fame) and ride up the service road to the Crescent Mine Trail and then connect to the Mid-Mountain trail, riding that to the Wasatch Crest trail. But here is the kicker, instead of cruising down Mill Creek, we would reconnect with the Mid-Mountain trail and ride that back to Park City where we had parked the car.

Going up the service road which passes below the alpine roller coaster bridge

We started up the service road which parallels the lower part of the alpine slide until that road intersected with the Crescent Mine Grade trail. Then we climbed up the Crescent Mine Grade trail until it connected with the Mid Mountain trail.

Climbing up to the Mid Mountain Trail from Park City; 1300 feet of Vertical in the first 3 miles.

Climbing up the service road and the Crescent Mine trail was somewhat of a slog, but the Mid Mountain trail was a piece of mountain biker heaven. It weaves through the trees undulating up and down fairly gently, giving the rider sweet transitions between mini climbs and little downhills which connect beautifully.

Jeff riding Mid Mountain

The Mid Mountain trail connected to Powerline Trail, then Powerline connected to Crescent Mine trail which wore us down good just in time for puke. Puke hill that is.

Going from Mid Mountain trail to the Wasatch Crest trail, another 1300 of vertical in 2 miles

Soon we connected to the base of Puke Hill. This is a road, not singletrack like I expected and none of us puked at the top, although it was a pretty arduous climb, all the climbing we had done earlier made puke hill seem less daunting, maybe like spit-up hill.

Don and Steveo triumphant at the top of puke hill

But seriously, the views from the top of Puke Hill are spectacular. But then again almost all the views from the Wasatch Crest fit that description.

Jeff and Don at the top of Puke Hill

After Puke Hill we made great time speeding down the trail with views into Brighton and Solitude to add to the spectacular fall colors. The trail was never the same, transitioning from aspens to open meadows, rough downhills through sharp boulders and then the dreaded spine which Jeff had warned us to be careful on.

The Spine. Looking close you can see Jeff coming down on the right and up a little higher is Don looking down over the Spine of many pains.

After the Spine, we flew down to have lunch at a meadow where a loose dog almost grabbed my PBJ. Then down down down we went flying through the trees like crazy teenagers on a joyride.

Jeff joyriding the Crest

Three bikers. Note the reflection of my photo-taking hand in my sunglass lens

Later we made the decision to stay on Mid Mountain Trail instead of bailing down to The Canyons resort to take a shuttle back to Park City. That was the manly decision. But it was enjoyable and painful. Painful because we were fairly spent at that point and the Mid Mountain trail has to climb quite a bit from that point on. So on rubbery legs (at least mine were, probably Jeff's and Don's were still powerfully able) we trudged on. The trail was a lot of fun and especially as we crested over to the Park City side it became really sweet as it hooked into Spiro. The switchbacks were smooth as butter and just a joy to descend.

Spent biker riding home

We started our ride at 9:35AM and ended at 3:20PM, almost six hours of pure mountain biking.

Driving back to Utah Valley we were three wasted but satisfied mountain bikers.

Complete map of the Epic ride

RAT

2009-07-05T08:37:00.000-07:00

Yes, the Ride Around Timp.
Sounds benign, but this is on a mountain bike on as many trails as you can ride, minimal pavement.

Map of our RAT route. Note 7 hours time (includes breaks)

Conrad and I decided to attempt this ride on the 4th of July, because we had the time and it required no money. We invited others, but when time came to ride it, only Conrad and I could find the time.

We left at 6:30 AM and rode up 1600 North in Orem to the road behind the Orem Cemetery, up to the Bonneville Shoreline Trail (BST). Then we followed the water tank road all the way to where it drops down to Nunns Park. From there we took the Provo River trail to Vivian Park.

At Vivian park we went out on the Highway to Sundance, then up to Aspen Grove. There were many roadies making the climb up around the Alpine loop. We followed them up to Aspen Grove. Well, I followed them, even passed a couple, but Conrad, I think he passed all that were in site. That can be humiliating to some extent, especially when you're on some $5000 road bike and dudes on mountain bikes pass you. Makes you want to throw something in their spokes.

At Aspen Grove we started up the dirt trail. This is also a great place to eat a few calories and refill the water. That is one great thing about this ride, you have a few places with bathrooms and water; namely Vivian Park, Aspen Grove and the Timpanooke trailhead.

Starting up the dirt trail from Aspen Grove, you pass the shack and you share this trail from those hikers that are hiking Timpanogos, but shortly after passing the shack we turned right onto the Lame Horse trail.

The Lame Horse trail starts out with challenging switchbacks. They are not too steep, but the trail for the first 1/2 mile is covered with loose rock, the most technical aspects are created by the bigger mini boulders that vary from bowling ball size to baby head size. I had to walk portions, but I've seen many riders clean this section.

Soon the trail turns to rain-forest quality. Lots of shade provided by numerous trees and a very rideable trail that gains altitude gently for the most part. Rocks are a rarety on this part of the trail, but roots are common so be prepared to hop over them.

The next stop was the Summit. There is a bathroom there and I think there is water, we didn't need either because we were only about 30 minutes from the Timpanookee trail head, which had both.

The Summit trail head is a circular parking lot with the bathroom and a posted map in the middle. On the opposite side from where we came in is the trail to Salamander Flat. That is the trail we wanted. So we came into the trail head from the East and on the West side is the trail to Salamander flat.

Conrad on the trail To Salamander Flat

Salamander flat is an open area where camping is allowed. This day predictably there were a lot of people camping, being the 4th of July it was pretty crowded. Just on the other side of this is where you catch the rest of the trail. It climbs a small ridge and then meets the Timpanookee trail which turning right takes you to Pine Hollow and left takes you to Timpanookee. We went left to Timpanookee.

Conrad at Salamander Flat

We flew down that trail only to realized that the trail became a muddy creek at some points. Kind of fun, but sketchy; when you hit the mud the traction is negligible. So I hit the mud at good speed only to realize that I couldn't slow down to avoid obstacles once I was in the mud. Somehow we made it over the mud sections without any mishaps.

Arriving at the Timpanookee trail head, I asked the TERT host that was there if the trail to the right of the shack was the way to Julie Andrews meadow. He told me yes. So after filling up water and using the bathroom at the trailhead, we headed off to Julie Andrews meadow.

Me at the Fake Julie Andrews Meadow

The trail to Julie Andrews meadow was very tough. By now my legs were really tired and the ride at this point was push the bike up to the next rideable section, ride a bit, fall. Pick up the bike and my pride. Push the bike up to the next rideable section. Repeat.

At least the trail was clear, no fallen trees blocking our way. But the climbs were steep and covered with debris. Rock, limbs, more rocks, etc.

Some of the trail was awesome, big trees for shade, soft forest floor trail and sweet pine smell.

A good section on the way to Julie Andrews Meadow

The views here were spectacular. There was a meadow before Julie Andrews Meadow which I actually thought was Julie Andrews Meadow, but we still had a lot of climbs before getting there. I call this the fake Julie Andrews Meadow because it faked me out. I thought we were there, but no, lots to go.

Conrad at the Fake Julie Andrews Meadow

Julie Andrews Meadow was actually smaller than the first meadow we stopped at but the views were awesome. We met a forest service man and woman who were toting a chainsaw. They asked us if the trail was clear of fallen trees. We told them it was. Ironically the trail we were about to hit was really badly blocked by numerous fat tree trunks; tree trunks up to 3 feet in diameter.

We flew along this trail only to stop and scale big tree trunks with our bikes on our backs. The footing was a little dangerous because the trunks were not bare. Their limbs formed a picket fence-like barrier that required dexterity to fit you and your bike through. Then stepping on limbs that threaten a twisted ankle, bike and biker descend to the trail on the other side. Carefully we crossed many of these obstacles.

An easier way to get through this is to take a dirt road that parallels the trail. We chose the more challenging trail because it looked fun and we are gluttons for punishment.

After much of this punishment and beauty and lovely stress induced endorphins, we rounded the corner to see Utah Valley below. We were above Grove Creek Canyon and starting into Sagebrush flat.

The trail through Sagebrush flat is awesome if not well worn. It is almost indistiguishable in places, yet more than obvious in others. If you can make it to Sagebrush Flat, you are in for a treat because it is a reprieve for tired legs, a few little blip climbs but you hardly have to pedal at all through this section. There are a few endo opportunities though, where the overgrowth covers boulders, so stay alert and look for those boulders lurking for your front tire.

View from Sagebrush Flat looking down to Grove Creek trail which you can see in the distance.

Soon we hit the crossroads where trail 48 to Grove Creek crosses 151. We debated whether to stay the course and climb Big Baldy or bail out at Grove Creek. It was 12:30, we'd been riding for 6 hours and I was feeling it. Any small exersion was feeling painful. I really wanted to continue on, but I had a picnic at home that was supposed to start at 2:30 and that coupled with my fried legs pushed me to opt for the Grove Creek option.

So we decended Grove Creek. There are several places to get lost. The decent to the stream crossing is one of them. Make sure you cross at the footbridge. Conrad was ahead of me and I ended up at the stream but unable to cross because the stream was raging down a steep rock face, not a good place to cross, but that is where a false switchback had led me. I called Conrad on my cell phone. He told me to look for the footbridge. I backtracked and found where I had mistakenly taken the wrong switchback and crossed the footbridge to the north side of the stream.

Now the decent was on a precarious narrow slate covered trail which offered no protection from the 300 to 500 foot drop to the creek bed below. After decending that trail for 30 minutes we were finally down to the pavement for a 10 minute ride home.

Grove Creek trail after crossing the footbridge. One slip and you're in big trouble

Conclusion

Although we did ride around timp, we bailed before the final climb up Big Baldy. That would have been fun, but time and my wasted state didn't really allow it. There is always next time. The only part of the trail that I would love to avoid is the section from Timpanookee to Julie Andrews. Aside from that, this was an epic ride not to be missed.

Sled Dogs Pull Mountain Biker

2009-06-06T08:42:00.001-07:00

This morning I rode with Conrad, John and Jilene up to the Hope to Hobble road. They shared a trail with me that I hadn't ridden yet, the Indian Trail above Edgemont (Provo).

After all the sweet action of climbing up to Hope campground and hitting the dirt road there that leads to Hobble creek we saw this guy and girl hook sled dogs up to their mountain bikes.

The girl had three dogs harnessed to her bike, the guy had three dogs on his bike. I think they were huskies.

We watched the girl take off at a good clip up the hill. Then the guy was hooking up his dogs and I took this video. His dogs are really anxious to catch up to the girl as you can see their agitation in this video.

I gotta get me some of them doggies.

The Traverse

2009-05-17T21:10:00.000-07:00

I finally did The Traverse, a long mountain bike race in the Santa Ana mountains in Orange County. The traverse road follows the ridge of the mountains which demarcates the two counties of Orange and San Bernardino in Southern California. It climbs over 8000 feet, and those climbs are relentless.
This year the fastest time was 3:58; The slowest time was 8:31. My time was 7:30, at least I wasn't the last one! Although my main goal was to finish. My step-brother Darren finished in 6:01. He is a much better rider, especially downhill.

BlackStar road to the first cutoff
The weather started out really cool. Probably 50 degrees, due to cloud cover. Of course at the starting line I had to go to the portapotty for a lengthy stop. Darren is outside telling me to hurry up and I was trying man. What bad timing. I got out just in time to start, didn't even get my sunglasses on; they were in my pack. I wanted to keep up with Darren for the first mile or so and I did manage to do that. But there was climbing and climbing and climbing. Soon Darren pulled away with the faster riders and I wouldn't see him until 8 or so hours later.
As we climbed the hill, we rose above the cloud cover.

I started out pretty strong. I knew that I had to keep my heart rate down and thus stay below my Lactate Threshold in order to prevent bonking. I did keep up with Darren for a while, but my heart rate was climbing too rapidly. It was hovering around 160.
My max heart rate for my age by the common calculation is 220 - 47 = 173. So 160 represents 92% of max for me which is really high. I was tracking my heart rate on a Garmin Edge 305. I noticed that the Garmin Edge 305 was the most common electronic gizmo in the race. A few people had the 705 which is much more expensive, but the most common was the 305.

Look at the graph, the red line is my heart rate, it wasn't synced up correctly for the first hour, but you can see that it was really high during the first half of the race. The second half I was fatigued and couldn't get anything out of my engine to even raise my heart rate enough. Although I didn't bonk, I really had a hard time keeping up with the pack. I met a lot of riders and they were all pretty friendly. One guy, Dennis, told me that we should be ok to pass the first checkpoint. The first checkpoint had to be reached by 11:00AM. I made it at 10:45.

One excuse I have is the fact that my chain broke and it took me at least 20 minutes to fix it. Not only did it break, but it threw an 8 link segment onto the trail. The chain had really only broke in one spot, but the action of the break caused the masterlink to unhook as well. Then I weaved the chain wrong through the derailleur so I had to take it off and re-do it again. So that blew about 20 minutes off my time.

The rest of the race...
After that first checkpoint I really started to fade. Amazingly I didn't cramp and I didn't bonk, I just didn't have the energy to go fast. So a putted along like a turtle. At some point an older guy named Doug was passing me on all the climbs, but I was passing him on the downhills. He was riding a Niner Air, the scandium version of my Niner EMD. It is about a half pound lighter. I asked him how old he was, "65" he said. We traded positions for the rest of the race. I was ahead of him coming down Trabuco, but I made a wrong turn on an unmarked fork in the trail. I went left, which led me to a cliff edge. By the time I made it back to the fork, 4 riders had passed by, one of them was Doug. At the bottom of trabuco, I saw Doug getting his flats repaired. If it wasn't for that, he would have finished before me. Hats off to that guy.

Here's some video I shot during the race...

At the finish I hung out with Doug for about an hour trying to figure out where Darren was, I had no idea what time he finished, but I knew it was about 2 hours before I finished, later I found out it was actually an hour and a half. I finally decided that he might have taken the shuttle back to Blackstar, which was the original plan. "Oh no", I thought, " he is probably waiting for me there." So I hopped in the shuttle and went to Blackstar. He wasn't there. So I took a nap in the dirt on the side of the road. Later, a van showed up looking for me. Darren had sent the shuttle back for me, because he had driven back to O'Neil park for the awards.

Some interesting things I noticed about this race.
The Fastest guy, finished 3:58 and the next guy didn't come in until 22 minutes later. That's quite a gap. That first place finish was by a 27 year-old, the next guy to come in was 40 years old. Old guys do well in this race; the biggest age group was 31-45.
There were over 20 riders that did not finish.

What I learned...
Unlike the RAWROD ride two weeks earlier, I didn't dehydrate or cramp. But my time was slow and my body seemed to slow down starting at the 2nd hour. So I think the longer rides really fatigue me. It must be the training. My training rarely goes over two hours, so really how can my body be expected to perform better than it has. But who has time for those long training sessions? I wonder what the least amount of training I would have to do in order to put in a more respectable time of say 6 hours? And would that be worth the time away from my family. There has to be a balance and I sure would like to find out where that balance is.

Rawrod 09

2009-04-26T21:32:00.000-07:00

Finally the weekend for Ride Around White Rim trail in One Day arrived! It was very scenic and fun to meet new riders.

This video has a few scenes along the trail.

If you watched the video, you can hear the wind. The wind was relentless for the first 85 miles or so. The last 20 miles the wind let up and we either had no wind or wind at our backs.

I went down with Phil and Glen, who I had just met a few minutes before we left and they were gracious enough to let me ride down with them. Brad drove his truck with his son and Conrad, and Jilene.

We found the campsite late, like 9:30, it was at the top of horse thief. We planned to leave at 7AM and go away from horse thief in the clockwise direction.

The bratwurst at the campsite was delicious. We got there after dark, fortunately there were a few brats left. Most of us slept in tents, except for Phil, he slept under the stars on a cot.

At 5:45, I got up and packed my stuff, opened a can of peaches and ate those for breakfast. That was Erin's idea and it was a great idea, lots of carbs for the ride and they tasted good.

At 7AM we were off, moving away from the white rim trail, out to the road and the clockwise entrance. The road was actually hard to ride because of the wind factor. I hooked on to the tail of a peloton and that helped a lot. I was surprised at the number of singlespeed riders. Hats off to them for having that skill.

I felt pretty good for the first two hours. We arrived at Muscleman arch in pretty good shape, the group was pretty tight, not too spread out. After I left Muscleman, I started noticing that I was fatiguing quite a bit. Later I would realize that I had dehydrated.

A rider taking a picture between Muscleman Arch and Shafer trail

By the time I hit the Shafer trail I was dehydrated. How did I know?

I really didn't until a couple of hours later. The Shafer trail is downhill and the trail is pretty flat for a while after that.

The Shafer Trail Decends

So I didn't really notice that I had too much of a problem, except that my heart rate was about 90% of max on a relatively flat trail.

after the Shafer, the trail is fairly flat for a while

Later when more intense climbing and wind fighting became challenging I started to cramp, bad cramps. So bad that when I tried to walk or just stand it was very painful while my legs tried to implode from the muscle contractions.

This is one climb where my legs cramped up really bad, Kanyon Kris was able to clean this one.

I wasn't thirsty. I didn't feel dehydrated. But I realized I was dehydrated. Mostly because I hadn't peed in over four hours and I didn't feel like I needed to at all. So I pushed on painfully and when I reached the top of Murphys Hogsback I set a new goal: To Pee!

Yes my new goal was to drink so much water that I would have to go to the bathroom. So I started downing as much as I could. Man, it made me nausious and that is part of my problem. I don't really like to drink water when I work out. I will drink about 16 ounces an hour in most 1 -2 hour rides, that works in the short term, but long term I need at least twice that amount.

Hanging out at an overlook

The fact that it was so windy didn't help. I didn't feel thirsty, but the wind sucks the moisture out of your body leaving it like a withered plant in the desert.

After I drank water nonstop for two hours I felt the hydration coming on. I really had to force the water down, making a concious effort to drink as much as I could. I soon was hydrated and had to make a stop. Then I was able to finish the last 6 hours without cramping. That was awesome.

The climb up horsethief was painful, but at least I didn't cramp up, having drank a total of 150 ounces on the last part of the ride. I finally arrived at the campsite at 7:30, Twelve and a half hours after I had started.

Was it worth it. Yes. I loved the scenery, the camaraderie and the challenge. I also hope to do it again next year and hope to not dehydrate this time.

I thought I would never cramp because I was using an old trick that John Robinson taught me. He once gave me 3 magnesium pills and 3 potassium pills before a half marathon. The magnesium pills were 250mg. and the potassium were 125mg. I think the potassium is less important because you get potassium from a lot of foods. But the magnesium is harder to get from a normal diet and can really help in cramp prevention.

Finally, here is a video from fat cyclist

Tooth Brake or Braking with your Tooth

2009-04-23T12:37:00.000-07:00

Author after using his “tooth brake”

Tuesday I finally had some time to ride, so I thought I would try area 51. I rode up Dry Canyon Drive (paved) to access the BST southbound.
For a great map look here
From the BST I went to the WaterTankRoad And then up Roller Coaster, up Betty to the GWT and Area 51.

I like the first ascent up Roller Coaster from the water tank Road.

Riding up RollerCoaster

The Roller Coaster trail was looking really Sweeeet! All the way from the start on up to the Rock Pile. Last fall after the deer hunt, horse traffic had really chewed up the trail and there were tons of loose rock and big piles of manure. So it was chewed up and stinky. So it was great to see what condition it was in this day.

I arrived at the Rock Pile and hadn't encountered any snow. The trail looked like it was in pretty good shape. That mean't I should go on up to Area 51, my favorite way to get over to Dry Canyon.
Me at the Rockpile (photo by Rockpile, i.e. self timer with camera perched on the Rockpile

Area 51 was completely snowbound, but I didn't know for how far so I trudged and I trudged and I trudged. Each time I went over a ridge, hoping that the snow ended, my hopes were met with disappointment.
Area 51 Snowbound

The whole trail was snowbound until it comes out at Lament. That added about a half hour to my ride, making me late for my son's Doctor's appointment. So the quickest way down is of course Dry Canyon, which I love. So down I went. The trail was in great shape, a little moist which means great traction and great speed along with no dust.

The Pipeline

A successful pipeline ride (Dec.2008, filmed by Paul Hillyard)

When I got down to the pipeline I of course rode it.

You shave off at least two minutes riding that tightrope. I made it down the pipe fine, but I had too much speed because as soon as I got off the ledge my back tire began fish tailing. I did brake, but only enough to prepare me for the oncoming trail which is straight but then gets rocky and I needed to be sub-rocket speed.
Well, the fishtailing began to aim me off the left side, a steep embankment. So I corrected, well, I overcorrected and slammed my rear wheel into the side of the mountain and I went down on my face and tried skidding on that part of my body.

My face is no good at that. It really sucks. Maybe if I had a big beard that could get some grip on the dirt and rocks but my smooth face just wasn't providing enough friction.

My front tooth decided to dig in and brake my speed. Thank you tooth, but that was really dumb. You are not that strong my white friend and that is why you broke. I now had only half a front tooth, but I did stop so all was not lost.

First Ride to The Altar (Rock Pile?)

2009-03-22T09:55:00.000-07:00

Some call it the Rockpile, others call it the Altar. I like to call it the Altar because it is the biggest rock pile I've seen around the Timpanogos trails and I always feel like giving a prayer of thanks once I've made it there.

The Altar Rockpile on March 21,2009, 12:15PM

Spin Classes Helped
I start the ride to the Altar from my house, about two miles of asphalt and I am on singletrack. Usually the climb to the dirt takes me 16-18 minutes, but today I was elated to make it in 13 minutes. I have to give credit to Audra and Kristin's early morning spin classes that I went to during the winter at the Orem Fitness Center. That has really helped me to keep in shape during this winter.

Up to the Altar
I took Oly's shortcut up to the Bonneville Shoreline Trail and then over to the watertank road and then Rollercoaster to Betty's to the Altar. The trail network was clear of snow and mostly in good shape. There are more loose rocks than I remember on the first ascent up rollercoaster but that is not unusual for early spring. Horses sure can take a toll on the trails but I didn't see too much damage on this section.

That first ascent up rollercoaster is a real challenge. I hardly thought it was possible to clean until Steve Anderson rode with me one weekend and to borrow from climbing vernacular, he on-sighted it. That means he climbed it first time without dabbing. Ever since then I've been able to climb it most of the time without dabbing.

Me, just after the first rollercoaster summit

I saw Chris Cockrell at the Altar he was on a single speed 29er this time. Last time I rode with him he was on a Gary Fisher geared 29er. He is responsible for getting me interested in 29ers. I'm really happy with my Niner EMD, I don't think I'll ever be able to handle a single speed bike, but I respect those that graduate to that level.

Chris climbing up past the altar

Since Lament was still snowed over, I backtracked down the way I came. On the BST I ran into Jilene and Bry with a group of bikers. Those two are great mountain bikers, some day they may actually invite me on one of their epic rides.

Riding To Work

2009-03-03T12:13:00.000-08:00

Riding Traverse to Wasatch
I work downtown, Salt Lake City. I live in Orem, so that makes for a pretty big commute on the bike. But I thought it would be great training for the RAWROD and maybe next year's Leadville 100.
There are two principle ways to get downtown. One is going around the point of the mountain on the frontage road. To do that, you need to go north on State Street to Pleasant Grove, then head up to the Alpine Highway. From there you can find the frontage road. It is the turn to the north right before the Freeway. Then you eventually go to State Street in SLC and follow that to the Downtown area. That has the least amount of climbing.

I thought I wanted to do some climbing so I went for the other route. The other route takes you over Traverse Ridge and then along Wasatch Blvd. That is really cool because you can follow Wasatch all the way to some new pedestrian/cycle bridges over I80. Two bridges are involved to get you to Foothill Blvd.

The image above is a map that came from my Garmin 305, complete with heart rates.

Not That Easy
In practice, this route was not that easy. I thought I could do the 50 miles in 2 or 3 hours max. Boy was I wrong. Just about a week ago I rode West Mountain in 2 hours. That was 45 miles or so.

But this had a lot of climbing, a total of 3550 ft. of climbing. That is because not only is Traverse a pretty long climb, but Wasatch Boulevard undulates quite a bit adding even more to the climbing aspect. So yeah it took me 4 hours. Although the Garmin total is 3:33, because it pauses when I stop and I missed quite a few turns and stopped a lot to look at the map and figure out where I was.

Climbing Traverse Mountain
Traverse Mountain was a great climb, long, persistent and steady. I wish I had another gear or two that would let me spin a little more, but it is what it is. I saw a herd of deer, and the weather was just great, about 50 degrees. There was just a little traffic, and the bike lane was sufficient.

Finding Turns
I missed too many turns. I missed quite a few turns trying to find Highland Drive in Highland, which is the road on the south side of Traverse Mountain. Then I missed a critical turn on Wasatch Boulevard which took me down to 6200 S. where I-215 crosses. Wasatch actually makes a full turn at a Stoplight. You can't follow the gradual turn to stay on it, you have to make the right turn. That was a bit of a climb to get back up to Wasatch.

Watch for Falling Water Bottles
So I was screaming down the north side of Traverse Mountain and my Water Bottle flew off. I heard it and so I started to brake, and the stupid water bottle passed me. I stopped and gathered the pieces. It was still Ok, it had just disassembled on its way down.

Still A Great Ride
It was a great training ride. No wrecks or flats, and lots of time in the saddle. According to Chris Carmichael (Lance's coach) you should measure your rides by the time you spend in the saddle, not the distance. So this ride is almost twice the training ride as the one I did around West Mountain. That makes me feel better.

RAWROD

2009-02-22T14:44:00.000-08:00

Bryant sent me some info on the RAWROD. I hope to do it. I've never ridden that far so I'll have to do some rides to decrease my chances of bonking

West Mountain Winter Ride

2009-02-22T08:19:00.000-08:00

In spin class I heard that there would be a group ride around West Mountain on Saturday. I showed up to join in.

My first mistake was the helmet, or lack thereof. Yeah, I forgot to bring it. For all the other equipment that a brought; toe warmers, arm warmers, windproof hat, ear warming headband, ski socks, garmin gps, premixed cytomax, etc, I still managed to forget the very essential helmet.
So I stopped off to buy a helmet at Walmart. Otherwise I would have commited the egregious violation of riding without a helmet.
Did you ever notice how slow people are when you are in a hurry? The first line at Walmart that I committed to was a bad choice. I like old people, heaven knows that I am evolving into one. But they need to get rid of their checkbooks. It is easier to use a debit or credit card, why do they still slowly pull out the checkbook and create the equivalent of a freeway wreck at the checkstand. Consumer traffic stops and watches the wreck as the dear oldster scrawls the amount and then balances their finances right on the spot.
Ok so I speed out of Walmart and I actually make it only 10 minutes late and people are still there with their bikes. I met some cool people. One of them gave me a knife to remove the huge zipties from my helmet. Then I noticed that some had toe warmers and I made my mistake.
"Do you think you'll need the toe warmers?"
"Yeah, it's a little cold."
"Ok, I'm going to go put mine on..."
So I go off to put the toe warmers on, after I do this I look up... everybody is gone!

Ok, where are they? I know the area, I used to live in Palmyra, which is the first area on the road to West Mountain. I started west down highway 77 having faith that I could maybe catch up. I looked down the road and off in the distance I can barely make out what looked like teeny colorful dots. Look at the graph and you'll see my heart rate was above 160 and sometimes over 170 yet my speed was only 20-22 mph. I slowly was catching up to the peloton that was our group, but I was really working hard, too hard for the start of a long ride. I did finally catch up and you can tell where I caught up too, just from the graph. It's where my speed only dropped slightly but my heart rate dropped dramatically. That was at minute 20.
So I really learned a bit about drafting. Whenever I drafted I gained a lot of efficiency. Although I didn't draft too much, when I did, it was great.
Towards the end of the ride, Bryant and Russ started us on a Rotating Paceline which is described nicely here:
Rotating Paceline
Here is a cool slideshow that describes drafting. Cool Slideshow
My Garmin Edge 305 somehow stopped working when we got to Benjamin, so I didn't get the end of the ride, I'll have to watch that closer. I was too busy doing the paceline to really watch it. The Garmin missed the last 8.2 miles, the total miles should have been 44.8.
My sweet trek 1000
The fastest riders were on Tandems. That was surprizing to me, but it does make sense, the riders were really strong plus they had two engines (two pairs of legs) pushing two tires and one wind resistance. They seemed to be able to hold 24 mph consistently, while the other riders seemed to hold at 20-22 mph.
In conclusion, I really liked the road biking, it was a lot of fun. Although I did have the heaviest, ugliest bike.

Smack Down in the Mailbox

2009-02-15T21:46:00.000-08:00

Ok. I got the reject letter. Reminds me of my high school days, asking a girl out and getting rejected. I guess I'll just try again next year, like a fool, I can't ever quit.
I'm going to volunteer for Leadville, so rejected or not, I'll be there.
This year I think there were probably a big influx of people wanting to get into Leadville because Lance was there last year and that race was popularized even more than before. I've wanted to do the race for several years, but couldn't hope to go because of other commitments. Now I can finally fit it into my life, but ironically so can many others.
There used to be a closer race, the E100 in Park City. That race seems to have died after 2007. Sad though. There seems to be a need for it. With so many racers in Utah and so many 'also rodes' like me - riders who are racing with themselves, there seems to be a race vacuum on the Wasatch Front.
Sure we have the 24 hours of Moab. That's nice, but we could use a mountain ride, with all the sweet trails we have.
On the other hand, why organize? Like the RAWROD, which I have not done ever, why not just organize epic rides.
Less commercial interest in something like an epic ride. A ride shared between the rider and the dirt. Maybe it's purer that way. When it's pure it's sweet.

Leadville

2009-01-30T20:51:00.000-08:00

I signed up for the Leadville 100 Mountain bike race. I've always wanted to do it. Why? For the challenge. I hate admitting that I'm getting older, but I am. So tackling something like this proves to myself that while I am older, I'm not done. I still have a few more fibers twitching.
Leadville applications outnumber the available race slots. I won't know if I was accepted until February. In the meantime I am going to spin class three times a week and doing hill repeats once a week. There is plenty of snow here in Utah county and I tried to bike last week but could only hit the roads. I went off road on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail, but the snow was too loose to ride on. I just sank.
I found out about a cool ride called RAWROD that KanyonKris wrote about last year. I am planning on doing that this year as part of my training for Leadville.
I also plan to ride into work several times a week. I work in downtown Salt Lake City. From Orem that is about 45 miles. So I think if I get a base of 150 miles a week, that might be good enough. Any comments on that?
Honestly, I ride a lot when the trails aren't snowbound. Usually about an hour each morning. My typical ride is in the trails west of Mount Timpanogos. Look at this one. Yeah I know, it's only 6 miles, but the elevation gain is 1812 feet. So I am climbing most of the time. The last 15 minutes are the descent.
I think for Leadville, I need climbs like this, but also distance in the saddle so I will work on this.