Flying Doggy

      A day for a double ride, I was debating between on big ride but as I was pedaling I came up with the idea to check out another nearby trail system I have never touched. I started on 24-7 trail in Jeremy Ranch, a trail I have never rode as I normally stick with the normal and start over in Glenwild. The trail kicked my trash in the beginning, it started off on a kick and really got my heart going quick, it mellowed out soon as I climbed happily to the Preserve junction and rode that trail which I never have. This allowed me to ride a trail I normally rid e clockwise to ride it the other direction. A very good idea as the change of scenery and trail were spectacular. I found myself at the top of Flying dog with good timing and a nice long DH I was stoked. As I was shredding I came across my first Elk I have seen in Utah. Shortly after that I heard and elk call as I stopped and listened for more. Cool animals and have seen them once in Wyoming. Onwards with a real nice ride to the car.

Catching up with an old friend

Woke up early on this morning, as usual..... I was headed for Millcreek Canyon to pedal Big Water up to the Wasatch Crest and then some. As I began pedaling I got winded pretty quick, the trail is very buff, a good pitch and most the ride through Alpine Meadows and thick pine hillside. I love this ride, I always have, I am so mad at myself for not riding it earlier, it's a delight in the Spring, I remember it being one of the most lush areas in the state in the Spring. Pedaling with a smile glad on my face I was a happy guy, I had a good loop planned out as I climbed for and hour and reached the turnoff for Desolation Lake. I had time and debated to continue on the Wasatch Crest but with time in mind I played it safe and dropped into a fun downhill to the Dog Lake Connector. It was a nice hike a bike from there for a 1/2 mile, actually a pleasurable hike a bike really. Once at Dog Lake I snapped a pic and headed down Little Water to meet back up with Big water and climb part of the trail I had earlier. Then a turn on the Red Pine DH. A trail I have never rode before, I am not sure how long it has been there but I really enjoyed it, a straight forward narrow line down the canyon to the car. Such a great ride, I will be coming back soon for more of this before the season ends.

Finally an evening ride

   I was surprised to get the ok for an evening ride, but happily I went out on ride to end the day. I was feeling particularly strong and good on this ride as I went around Corner Canyon. Climbing and descending I was riding more fierce than I usually do. I still find my old far far succeeding my Trek in all categories, mostly ion the pedaling category, that Belltown was fast! I want to have another one built one of these days, but plenty of things to come before then. 

One Before The Trip

   Had a backpacking trip planned for last weekend so before I headed out, I snuck in an early morning ride. I went close and that meant Corner Canyon, I started in some darkness and ended in daylight, really nothing special about this ride, just another good day on the bike.

Back Home

It was crazy to feel so cool when we got back to Utah, it made me even think of how fall is just around the corner. Compared to Phoenix, my soon to be new home, Utah was nothing! On Monday I was ready to get back at it, I was headed for Park City to get my early morning ride on. It was a beautiful cool morning as I started my climb from Park City Resort onto the Armstrong trail. It was dark enough that I needed a light for the first 20 minutes of the ride, a reminder that soon many of my rides will start and end in darkness. The sun rose slowly on the horizon as I climbed offering more light and little sunshine. It was until I connected with Mid Mountain that the fireball was glowing and so was myself as I was absolutely loving riding my bike on this particular morning. I rode Mid Mountain Norhtbound to make a loop around Iron Mountain, I would do this via Iron Man, the loop around was much longer than I anticipated but much better than I hoped. Many new lifts are in to connect Park City Resort to Canyons Resort this winter, looking forward to that as winter approaches. After closing out the loop I stayed on Mid Mountain and rode until I found John's Trail. A trail I have not ridden but looked fun as it zig zagged down the mountain. As I climbed a steep stretch it finally went downhill into a very tight very winding trail, no speed to carry here among roots and many turns. The trail eventually split and I bailed on a easier route to loose moose. Incredible morning at Park City, sad to say it will be my last season riding there for a long time, it looks like were moving to Arizona in March!

Road Trip

Found out just two weeks ago that LuAnn got a interview with the Medical School she applied to in Phoenix! So excited for her, we had to go down there for 2 days to participate with a select few to receive interview and campus information. So Knowing that there are tons of rides down there I got excited when she was cool with me getting a ride in while I was not needed. Looking at the maps of ride locations and information online, it turns out Arizona is a massively popular place to ride. I was looking very forward to riding out there, the though of new terrain had me foaming at the mouth.
    It was a long drive down there but we did arrive and on Friday I got out on my ride. I dropped LuAnn off for her interview and I was on the Desert Classic trail at South Mountain. It was so hot, Arizona is insane in the summer, temperature was set for be 115F by the afternoon and I had plenty hydration and electrolytes to get me through the morning I hoped, or the desert would feast on my remains had I been under prepared. Desert Classic was nice and calm, just what I needed on a 95F morning.
      The air was dry, it sucked all the moisture right out of me as I began to pour sweat on a very non strenuous trail. The trail was a speedy mellow spin through cactus and a nice change of scenery. I did 9 miles and headed for water a trailhead. I barely got any out of it since it was struggling to pump out of the ground. A few sips and I was on my way headed for a hike a bike up telegraph pass to reach National Trail. I rode to it and then began a slow steady hike up. The sweat poured form my helmet every effort, my eyes blurry from the sunscreen sweat combo was unpleasant but mandatory. My heart was thru the roof as I was beat up more than I normally would I am guessing due to the heat. Maybe a 15 minute hike and I made the saddle, phew, maybe I could pedal from here.
     I was wrong, the trail was steep, it had huge rock slabs, I could pedal sometimes for 50 feet only to be denied around a corner. This went on for almost an hour as I climbed higher and higher. It was surely frustrating but I was still having fun and having a but of an adventure.
    I did eventually hit the popular section of National and it was as good as I had hoped, a lot like Moab but laced with massive cactus. It was a really fun and I enjoyed the challenges it provided. By the end I had planned for more miles but the heat won and I took an easy cruise to the car and loooooooved the air conditioning!

Good Good Goooooood Morning!

       4:40am the alarm went off, I sat up and shrugged 4 hours of sleep and opened my puffy allergy filled eyes, I'm tired, but let's get cracking! A quick out the door and off I went down my street on the Trek for a adventurous morning. Made my way to Dimple Dell in the darkness of morning, using my headlamp to guide my way along the boring mulch road thru Dimple Dell. Recent rain has made things much more nicer as I pedaled thru and onto the road to meet trail once again to connect me to the parking lot to meet with my shuttle Bryce. He invited me to show me to the Alta trails and I was looking forward to it. He was a little late and he informed me another would be joining. His friend showed up in decked out adventurers dream a big modified sprinter van. We chugged up the Canyon arriving 6:30 to the lot to find my front tire had gone flat. Removed the thorn and patched the tube, not a good thing since I only had a tube and 20 more miles to ride a long sketchy distance.
      We pedaled up dirt road and then onto toasty pretty single track. The flowers have been firing off the last few weeks and I was glad to be riding among them along the Alpine landscape made for one heck of a ride. On and off dirt road and single track we began to climb Catherines pass. I hiked this once, was unsure it was very ridable. With one gear I got rocked pretty hard on the climb along with the others, but overall I walked a bit and made my way up alot. The view from above is absolutely stunning, hard to believe to be up that high on a bike.
      Down Catherines was a blast, more so for my full suspension friends but I did just fine. Though that was all our climbing for the day but I was wrong as we went left into the campground and began to climb again on steep brown sticky wonderful narrow track. Man this ride just kept getting better, I could not believe my luck as I passed through mind boggling eye candy filled views. The mountain biking was incredible none the less, all the right stuff. From there we took a twisty and fun trail and then bombed hard to the car. So So so much fun!
     Bryce Departed and it was just me and another I forgot his name sorry. Plan was to Ride Cottonwood trails down, but to hit Snowbird first for a little. The leader took mid way which I was sure we shouldn't but he seemed sure but I was hesitant, we hopped off somewhere and began walking bikes until we hit sweet sweet trail again. Came across a young moose, she took a pee and then was on her way. Rare for me not to see moose at Snowbird, they're everywhere!
    Made the way to White Pine trail which was a lot of fun, and then pavement to The Gnar trail above the Quarry trail. My first time riding it for me, heard about it and have been wanting to ride it, I brought the wrong tool for the job and didn't clean the entrance but the entire rest of the trail I cleaned. Finally some technical riding, felt like I was back in Connecticut. From the gnar it was the quarry trail from there which was no longer foreign to me and ripped it as fast as my bike would allow. Pretty jealous these guys had full suspension bikes I am not going to lie. Tire wen flat again, this time the rear, I felt the pinch earlier despite 40 psi in my tires. Very very pressed for time now change a massively quick tube and off I went onto the pavement where we split and I pedaled fiercely home.
     I can easily say this was the best ride of the year so far, the high alpine views and trail are so good up there, and the ride down from the top of Alta to my house must have been 6,000 foot descent.

Park City Mash

   Oh how I do enjoy riding up in Park City, I armed myself early morning with the full suspension and was set with a big climb from the bottom of Deer Valley up to some good DH trails. Tidal wave to be exact. I climbed slowly and tiredly but just kept going as I went up Deer Crest, Mid Mountain, Team Big Bear and the the terrain mellowed into a special spot right at the end of Flagstaff. The place is stunning along the Aspens as it opens into a huge meadow. From there I found Tidal Wave, I was out of time to ride the entire thing so I saw the large tables and got pretty excited. I dropped in and holy crap was I in for a treat. Really nicely built jump after jump, incredibly wide deep and long berms. Smooth liked step ups one after the other, this was fun! It ended too soon onto Homeward bound which sucked. Then I made my way down to the car somewhat the way I came unfortunately. Can't wait to get back!

Muehler

   I missed my alarm, in my sleepiness I totally shut it off and went right back to bed. I awoke at 5:30 and popped up and realized I needed to get out and ride, I headed for the car and was trying to figure out where to go. I was planned for Park City but I didn't have to time to do a good ride so I was scratching my head as I headed for the freeway. The clouds were low, moisture was nearby, my radar showed rain just 20 minutes away. I headed north, found myself heading for Mueller. It has been a long time since I rode there and decided it was time to give it a shot since it has been many years. As light broke at 6:15 I was on trail enjoying a cool nice morning riding my bike. There were a few on the trail including hikers and bikers. I passed all with ease as I pedaled I realized how plush this trail was, very smooth, very wide, very comfortable grade. I was welcoming the trail with open arms as I leisurely climbed up to Rudy's flat. The scenery was absolutely awesome, it grew more and more lush and then aspens began to pop up and then awesome views. Why have I not done this sooner! Once I reached Rudy's I stormed down North Canyon, a blast as it was all downhill. Then I looped back and climbed back up Muehler for more miles since I had time to get 20 miles in. What a blast this ride was, a good mellow one

    Got out for my usual Monday ride, we had just got some rain finally so things were nice and tacky. I headed for Corner Canyon with it's proximity and fun factor. The bike was feeling good but still not quite my Belltown which makes me kind of sad but I am so glad to have a full frame and fork warranty. Nothing too crazy happened on this ride, just a ride up Clark's and down Rush and then shoreline over to the bridge and up rattler and down Canyon Hollow. I but this one a little short so I would get home a better time for things I had to do, Hope to get back up to Park City or somewhere new on Friday!