House to trails

Planned to ride the crest monday, wish I had a homie to ride it with, makes riding it a bit more difficult. Plan was to start mill creek and ride it out an back, a bad nights sleep had me take an extra hour of sleep and start a ride from my house instead. In usual darkness I headed down the road into Dimple Dell to my normal route out to the quarry trail. This is a fun ride except for the few miles of the sandy mulch road. The crank up Quarry trail was slow, painfully slow, I guess my legs or heart wasn't there, needless to say I did reach my turn around and headed for home. Again i felt like my heart was not in the ride, for some reason just not there. But I will roll on as the season comes to a close shortly. I start work up at Snowbird in a few weeks, approximately on the 21st of November if we get needed snow. Excited to go back to work again, even more excite to be working int the mountains!

Shore Line

another bright and early morning on the bike, much more pleasant in the dark as Serfs has finally got be warrantied with a new light and battery, what a mess I went thru with them let me tell you. Plenty of people were out on the trail and I had plenty of bright light to throw at them, 2500 lumens that is. The ride was kind of boring and me un motivated but as to chug on and do a run down Bobsled. It's way less fun in the dark and on a 130mm trail bike. I remember the good old days on my coil air charging down hard what seemed to be twice as fast as I can now. Made it back to the car and that was a good mornings riding.

Thursday Giver

My son now attends school right down the street form my house, so on Tuesdays and Thursdays weather permitting, are now ride days still but I will be hitting Corner Canyon likely instead off Herriman trails. So I was off on a guilt free middle of the day ride at 12:00. Did a fast loop and pushed my legs quite hard and really enjoyed it out there, probably a much better rider in the middle of the day than these early morning shenanigans. They closed off a trail on my return and I had to back track or find another way, I wish I had back tracked cause my route sucked.

Mueller To North Canyon

Headed for Mueller for an easy 20 mile spin, love this trail as it's comfy smooth rolling and fast and mostly an easy riding trail. I have been forcing myself to ride lately, I must say my sleeping pattern has shifted and lately I am not asleep till 12 or sometimes 1am. The mornings are getting colder and ambition just slightly lower. But I will chug on until I meet my intended goal of a 2,000 mile mountain bike season! It was nice as I was gearing up in the lot of darkness a rider rolled by and we followed each other up the trail for awhile, company on a dark fall morning is always welcome! He turned around at Elephant rock and I chugged on to Rudys flat. Dropped into North and cleaned it down to the road and back up to elephant to complete my 20 miles.

Off to Rampage!

   Stormed down the Mesa onto pavement and made my way to the venue. Having no clue what to expect I came upon the entrance to the parking lot that was completely filled with bikes and people. There were three options to get to the venue, take the shuttle, walk down the 3 miles dirt road, or pedal. I chose to pedal for obvious reasons! I bought myself a sweet sweet hat and off I went down the road passing people left and right. There were quite a few beaters out there I must say, all walks of life and many people that couldn't make it up the smallest of hills, it was frustrating weaving and passing thru on my way but I was in a hurry.
   After the short pedal I was still filled with adrenaline and excitement for the days event, I was flying high as I valet my bike and walked into the venue to me my own super heroes! There right in front of me, Graham Aggasiz, Cam Zink, Brandon Semenuk just massive celebrities to me, just chilling signing autographs and taking pics. I was overwhelmed with what to do, do I bother them and blah blah or just sit in the distance and watch what was going on. I chose to leave them be since I didn't want to bother them although they appeared extremely friendly and outgoing. I saw massive players in the bike industry left and right, I was fan grilling so hard! After a few pictures the riders started the long walk up the course, what an inglorious site as they walked up helmet in hand to put they're life in the balance. I was scared for all of them, not just the ones with families.
   On walking up I saw my biggest idol, Andreu Lacondeguy, he was walking up the hill by the spectators with Darren Berrecloth. Since Andreu was being hammered by fans I jumped in for a shot with darren, wished him good luck today and he was on his way. I wish I got a pic with Andreu, I easily could have but again I was reserved and didn't want to bother him. I Found my seat by myself almost level with the Razr Booter. I picked this spot since this was a close tricking jump and I didn't have to rub shoulders with anyone.
    Soon riders came down, my mind was completely blown! Antoine Bizet came storming down throwing an incredible run and he threw that double backflip which was a winning run but unfortunately crashed. It was the first crash and only a few riders in. I always remember rooting for him since he threw down hard two rampages ago and became my favorite. Rider after rider began to drop, I knew 90% of all the riders, I was grinning like a schoolgirl as each superhero of mine came storming by.
   Paul bass took a massive spill, I was so close to it it made my heart stop as I watched him tumble to the ground. I would soon later that he shattered a vertebrae after he was air lifted to the hospital. I was most pumped to see Smenuks  and Cam Zink. Bother riders had underrated scores but I had high hopes for them. Sink threw an absolute crazy 360 off a massive drop and Swemenuk tricked the course too but neither were enough in the judges eyes. What a great time I was having, I couldn't stop thinking I have to go next year, I have to go next year.
    It was nearing the end of the competition and just three riders left, there was something going on since no riders were dropping, they weren't filling the crowd in about the wind issues. After enough waiting I gave up and headed to get my bike since I assumed the show was over and Aggy,Andreu and Darren were not taking their runs. Turns out Darren took his run as I watched for the bottom, and then I beat the crowd to the car and had a nice ride down to the car.

    Such an incredible event, I can't wait to go back, I will easily travel from Phoenix to make the show, I really want to spend three days there next time, getting Practice and Qualifications and next time autographs and pictures, those riders were so dope!

Gooseberry Magical Ride

     I awoke at some time in the darkness and tapped my phone to see the time, it was 10 minutes to 6 and my alarm would shortly be going off, I was groggy and tired but got a few hours of rest and that was all I needed to make my way to the front of the car and begin charging everything and getting ready. Still pitch black I drove to the trailhead and got out and and began a memorable ride. I rode part of this trail years ago ago but was so little of it. I had the goal to do 2+ hours and the head for Rampage. The ride was tough in spots where gears would have helped a lot for quick steep ups but for the most part I manages. I came along the cliff as some little light was coming in. I wish I had daylight cause I bet the views were even better. Some early morning colors were illuminating Zion and it was absolutely breathtaking. As light came in I reached the point and began the much easier loop along the other side of the mesa. This part was much faster and still lots of fun. I went to go snap a picture on a vantage point since I could see the Redbull Rampage starting gate way down the plate and nearly stepped on a great basin rattlesnake. I fear rattler snakes, their wide angle head and tissue damaging venom, so scared of these buggers, for some reason he never rattled at me as I got a nice picture of him. Off on more trail and I was at the windmill trailhead faster than I expected. A ride along the dirt road with perfect time left to drive down to watch Rampage as I smiled ear to ear in bliss and excitement.

Thursday Night Rampage!!!!

   So finals for Redbull Rampage were moved to Friday which meant we were completely screwed for our trip going down there. Me and my wife were going to go ourselves and have the weekend to ourselves. But with last minute decisions, it ended up being just myself driving down Thursday evening at 4:30. I must say was incredibly excited for the next 24 hours, I had my bike lights so I would go on a ride when I arrived near Hurricane after 9pm. The drive was beautiful and my thoughts busy but very much enjoyed the quiet time to myself and the freedom to ride tonight and the morning and then watch rampage. I got to the trailhead and rode a trail i never have, it looked good on the trail guide so off I went into the dark night on the virgin rim trail. It was dark and I was borrowing a friends bike light, I wish I toggled thru the settings since apparently I rode the first hour on it's lowest setting which was a good reason why I was not impressed with the light. All my lights start off on brightest setting when I press them on, Night rider does it opposite apparently and that makes sense. So with little light I made my way along a twisty fun trail, some tough ups and rocky downs in the beginning and the other half was mellow. Ran into a few herds of cow that refused to move off the trail but did eventually let me by. After some miles I met a trail junction, and from there on it was a very very fast pedal thru the JEM trail system to the road. I really enjoyed the pedal up mostly cause the terrain was smooth and flowing. When I hit pavement I was low on time and decided to speed down the road instead of a nice loop with more dirt. I had to still get to my camp spot out on gooseberry mesa and it was 10pm. 

   A quick bite in town and off i went onto the Mesa. It was quiet out there with only a few cars so I tried to park nearby and get comfy sleeping in the car. What a night with the stars and the cozy protection inside the vehicle. I was anxious to ride the next morning but for now I needed good rest as it neared midnight.

Tuesday

   Landon had his last class at the Kauri Sue Hamilton School so this marked likely my last ride over there and I won't be missing it very much to be honest. I set out and headed up to the ridge and then two simple laps, it's been nice having a close proximity place to ride near Landons school, thanks Herriman for building some trails.

Monday Shred

 Early morning I went out and got on  good ride, was looking for twenty miles but 19 did just fine.

Toddler Nap

   Kiddo finally took a nap and off I went for a one hour quit to fill. It was a nice day and I am sure being Saturday it would be a mess. Being the middle of the day it turned out to be ok once I cleared the lower trails and got out on my own it was quite nice. Go Ride had a demo that I wish I got in on, I have been dying to try a Santa Cruz Bronson. Good ride to end the week.

Proper

Finally feeling somewhat speedy this week, Friday called for a morning ride and 20 miles was the Doctors order. Corner Canyon was close and offered me to get home as fast as I could when done. This was a fun loop, somewhere along the trail I think was Clarks it smelled of breakfast, my stomach was hungry and I can't ever remember smelling breakfast so close before, oh man I am hungry now just thinking about it.

Quick

Normal 30 minute pull on Landons shorter school day, nothing fancy, just a lap. Got tickets to Rampage next week!

Herman Black Ridge

Really pretty morning on the bike, Herriman was a ablaze in the city background as I tore through it. I head for Black Ridge on pavement due to the no trespassing on the fire break trail, I totally forgot to utilize the Black ridge trail lately. I climbed up Black Ridge and was very much enjoying the change in scenery. The DH was over shortly and then it was two laps down low to finish out the ride while Landon was in school.

Utah Valley

   Been getting a little bored of the trails around lately, the good ones in decent driving distance anyway, I ventured out to Pleasant Grove and rode an area I have ridden some in and some never have. Starting at a different start point meant dirt roads all over the place to get to the familiar trail that I did know. No big deal, fast pedaling is always welcome, I did find some single track but it was likely a game trail that another MTBr took since I saw the tire so I did too. Climbing this area was pretty tiring, not to mention I was feeling lazy. It took way longer than I expected to reach the crop circle trails. By the time I did get there I did a little loop and then I had to head back. I had less time after the drive and needed to be home. I also forgot to hit the start button into the ride so lost some tracked miles, Doohhhh! Not very exciting but a monday ride is a win!