Little Baldy Saddle

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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