bjchild

Little hike up Dry Creek trail no. 43

2011-12-10T14:26:00.000-08:00

This morning I hesitated when deciding between whether to pull on the bike tights and ride the bike or go hiking in the Lone Peak Wilderness area. I opted for the hike, specifically up the Dry Creek trail that begins in Alpine, just above Lambert Park.
I only made it to about 7,700 ft., not too far above horsetail falls, but it sure was nice to get out for a couple of hours, get some exercise and enjoy the fresh mountain air.

Horsetail Falls (white spot in middle of picture)

Meadow at the Junction to N. Mountain Trail No. 42

Looking back into Alpine

Next time, I'll get up a little earlier and see if I can make it to Lake Hardy or go to the saddle that overlooks Tibble Fork and Deer Creek.

Lake Mountain, Butterfield Canyon and Pole Line Pass

2011-06-29T07:16:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite things to do on a bike is to find good, long, sustained climbs where you can get into a rythym and just climb, climb and climb some more. I've honestly been a little jealous of everyone who is training for the Crusher race that's coming up soon as that course is appealing to me. I will probably have to put that one on my calendar for next year. For those of you who are training for this race here are a few good climbs that I've done recently that I'd recommend.

Lake Mountain

This one starts on the SW side of Utah Lake. It's about 20 or so miles round trip and around 3,300 vertical feet of climbing, all on gravel/dirt road. The lower 5 or so miles are at a fairly gradual grade and then the last 5 miles to the summit are more challenging with a steeper grade and more rocks and generally rougher road. The summit has several radio or TV station towers on it and it gives you a great view of Utah Lake to the east. The other nice thing about this climb is it dries out fairly early in the season.

Butterfield Canyon

Previously I had only done this climb on a road bike and it was fairly brutal due to some of the very steep grades. Recently I climbed this one on the mountain bike and it was nice to have the extra gears. The road that starts up Butterfield Canyon just west of Herriman is closed to vehicles. The bottom half of the road portion of the climb is mellow for a few miles and then it gets nasty steep. You do get some relief after the ~ 20% grade section, but for the most part, plan on it being steep all the way to the saddle where it turns to dirt. At this point you can either keep going straight (west) and drop down the dirt road (it eventually turns to pavement) which will lead you to Tooele or you can go North on the dirt road that climbs to just above 9,000 ft. and overlooks the Bingham Canyon Copper Mine. The view at the top is well worth the effort.

Near the top there were still some drifts on the road as of about 10 days ago. By now I'm sure they've melted enough to where it would be completely rideable.

Switchbacks on the dirt road portion.

Pole Line Pass

I've been itching to get up American Fork Canyon and ride some of the trails up there but last I checked they are all currently closed due to wet trail conditions. The next best option is to climb the dirt roads that are open. I parked at Tibble Fork Reservoir and went up the North Fork road, then turned off at the Baker Fork. Right now there is still snow about a 1/2 mile from the top of Pole Line. If you start at the bottom of American Fork Canyon and ride up to Tibble, you'll get in some extra vertical.

Looking south at Timp after the Baker Fork turnoff.

This is near the top of Pole Line Pass. Still some snow and debris on the road but it shouldn't be long and the road will be clear to the top

Rick's Hell-O-Ween Ride 2010

2010-10-31T19:53:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite things about riding bikes is the fun we have on group rides. Rick put on his annual "Hell-o-Ween" ride on Thursday night that included a race to the top of the jeep road (above the shooting range in the Timp foothills). We had a good turn-out as you can see by the group photo. Lots of good costumes and laughs. The post ride breakfast at Denny's capped off the night.

Miles (cockroach), Sam, Brandon, Kris and Nate K.:

Justin T:

An intense pose by Mr. Rico:

Aaron:

Dave B. and Dan Z.:

Brandon:

Phast Dan (winner of the race and the cash):

Brandon, Sam and others ready to drop down into Dry Canyon:

2010 LOTOJA Classic Race Report

2010-09-15T23:47:00.000-07:00

Pre Race

With this being my first Lotoja, I struggled mentally in the days leading up to the event with devising a meaningful plan or strategy for the race, mostly due to the fact that I hadn't even driven, let alone ridden any of the roads on the course that went 206 miles from Logan to Jackson*. Fortunately, several weeks earlier before the mountain bike and Park City Point 2 Point consumed my entire focus, I consulted with previous Lotoja veterans like Nick and Miles and they both gave me some good advice. For example, Rico coached me on how to be fast in feed zones, to try and stay with the leaders and to avoid being stuck alone on the long, windy flat sections. Miles I remember told me to avoid getting stuck at the back of pacelines because of the yo-yo effect and to just pedal dammit (just kidding, I believe that comes from Grizzly).

*It's just now starting to dawn on me that this race covers some serious ground, including going through three states (Utah, Idaho and Wyoming)

These nuggets of advice I'd later find valuable, but I still felt uncertain and only had a rough idea as to how I'd approach the race as I lined up at the start early Saturday morning. That being said, pretty much my goals for Lotoja were to

conserve energy by using the pack to my advantage,
be alert and stay with the leaders in my group as much as possible without blowing up, particularly on the climbs and
be very effecient at the feed zones (not hang out for a 1/2 hour buffet lunch like I did last week at PCP2P).

Logan to Preston

The start was cold. I don't know the exact temperature, but it was low 40s maybe upper 30s. We had 55 riders in our 35+ Citizen Cat 5 category (numbers 20XX), We rolled out at a leisurely pace at 7:07 AM, about 30 minutes after dawn. After a short distance through the city limits of Logan, one of the racers stood up and started pedaling away. Two other riders went after him, but they were quickly absorbed back into the pack a few miles later. I'm thinking he was just messing around and trying to warm up, but who knows.

I positioned myself about 10 riders back. This was a perfect spot as the guys in front of me were anxious to set the pace (about 22-23 mph) and took take turns on the front. I graciously let each of them rotate in front of me as they pulled us along. After a while though, they took notice that they were doing all the heavy lifting while the rest of us glided along and so they began dropping back further into the pack. I ended up on the front a few times, but no longer than a minute each time.

At the Preston feedzone, I didn't stop as I was packing extra water so that I wouldn't have to refill until Montpelier. Only a handful of others had the same plan and so our small group of savy* racers pedaled out of town together past the first feed zone. Shortly thereafter, I was fiddling with my beanie cap, trying to remove it from my head and off came flying my sunglasses. I instinctively stopped quickly (almost got hit by a rider following me) and flipped around and found them shattered in pieces on the road. Have you ever ridden in the sun all day without sunglasses? Yeah, it's not very comfortable on the eyes.

*I would have never thought of this on my own, this came from Rico.

Rollers and Climbing Strawberry Canyon

There were a few key decisions I made during this race that I believe made a difference in my finish time. The first happened after I stopped for my sunglasses and decided I would go all out in order to bridge the gap that had opened up. I buried myself to catch the pack ahead that consisted of the lead riders in my race and about 40 women who'd started before us. I ended up latching on just prior to the short descent after passing by Foster Reservoir. If I had not caught the group, I probably would have been left to ride alone on the rollers leading up to the climb up Strawberry Canyon, and I think losing the leaders early like that would have been tough mentally the rest of the race. Instead, I was with the leaders of my pack as we started climbing up Strawberry.

I felt pretty comfortable at this point and noticed those around me were starting to fade a bit, so I upped my pace a little and pulled away from the pack up the climb. There was one guy ahead of me that had snuck away earlier, but I kept him within sight and made sure he didn't widen the gap. As we neared the false summit, I must have faded a bit as a group of guys from my class, mostly Autoliv riders, caught me just prior to the feed zone.

One thing I'm learning is you have to be alert in these races. My issue was I got caught up in a conversation on the climb with an acquaintance that I was passing and I wasn't paying attention to the group behind, plus I wasn't focused on going hard near the top of the climb, partly due to the fact I didn't know where the top was other than I had a rough idea of my elevation position from my Garmin.

As it turned out, I was fairly quick* at the feed zone, taking just a quick pee break and then I was back on the bike within 3 minutes and descending to Montpelier. My split into Ovid (just before Montpelier) shows I was in second place at that point in the race, two minutes behind the leader.

*Question: Is being quick at the feed zones okay and not considered "attacking"? I would consider attacking at a feed zone to be riding hard through a feed zone and not stopping while everyone else stops.
Montpelier to Afton

Bob, my father-in-law, was my support crew for this race. I was glad to see him waiting for me and he quickly swapped out my bottles and gave me a new flask of vanilla PowerBar gel, a Coke and a small orange juice. In three minutes I was back on the bike and pedaling away.

This section of the race was tough for me. For a while after Monteplier I was alone and struggling to keep an urgent pace. I've found that when I don't have someone pushing me, particularly on the flats, that I tend to get lazy and sometimes without realizing it, I slow down.  As we approached the Geneva climb, a rider that I know caught up to me and that was what I needed to get me going again. I made it up and over the summit and on the descent I was with about 15 riders in a loose pack going almost 50 mph.  I rode with this group for another 5 miles until I got dropped. I just couldn't hold the pace they were pushing and I was spit out the back. At this point, I looked down at my Garmin and I still had 100 miles to go. It was the lowest point of the race, especially because there were several riders in my category in the group of 15 that had just dropped me. I stopped at the next feedzone for about 5 minutes prior to the KOM and that seemed to rejuvenate me, although near the top of Salt River Pass, I noticed my legs were not generating much power. It seemed like maybe I was not fully recovered from PCP2P. I was sure glad when I topped Salt River Pass and hit the downhill.

The rest of the way into Afton was fast.  I didn't realize it, but apparently a guy was drafting behind me for several miles on this stretch.  As we neared the outskirts of Afton, he came around and thanked me for pulling him. I was a little surprised, not knowing he was there, but it made me feel good that I could be of service to a stranger.

Pulling into the feedzone at Afton, I couldn't find Bob, so I made my way to the neutral support table. They didn't have much......and I'm not sure what the thought was on the green bananas, oh and those orange GU chomps are disgusting. I ate one piece and chucked the rest of the pack in the garbage. Luckily as I was going back to my bike, Bob arrived.  He apparently got stuck in traffic. I loaded up and was off again.

On to Alpine and the finish in Jackson

Despite the annoying rumble strips on the road to Alpine, I enjoyed this part of the race, probably because I was with a fast group of riders. The group was fairly large at first and then as the pace quickened, it thinned out to 10 or so of us.

It was during this portion that I was impressed at how some people like/prefer to ride at the front of the pack and do more than their fair share of pulls. Me on the other hand, I'm perfectly happy sitting in and letting others battle the wind. I suppose a strong rider naturally ends up at the front setting the pace as otherwise the average speed would drop to a slower than acceptable pace for the said strong rider.

Anyhow, I rolled into Alpine and once again Bob was no where in sight. Crap! I made my way to the neutral support table and filled up my bottles, had a couple of orange slices and then off I went. I still had an engergy bar in my jersey pocket from the previous feed zone and I was able to take a GU from someone on the side of the road, but I was bummed that I didn't get my Coke and my last flask of apple PowerBar gel as that was supposed to give me a boost on the last miles into Jackson.

As I pedaled out, I wondered where I was in relation to the other riders in my category. I hadn't seen anyone for a while, not since Salt River it seemed. I figured I was at least 10 riders back, so really my focus became to finish strong, give it my best effort and hopefully I'd come in around 10:30.

The rollers in Snake River Canyon started to wear on me. I was with a group of 10 or so riders and we were going at a good pace.  I noticed my left foot started to swell and go numb and it became painful to pedal. I was glad when we came to the last feedzone so that I could walk off the pain in my foot. The rest of the group pedaled on, but I stopped, got off the bike for a minute and fueled up.

Back on the bike. For the next 20 minutes, I put my head down and pedaled as hard as I could. I could see a group a 1/2 of a mile ahead and figured I needed to catch them. As I closed the gap, I was feeling pretty good about myself and this effort. Then as I latched on, I was disappointed when it wasn't the group I thought it was. They were running a slow pace and so I continued pushing forward.

The last 10 miles were torturous. I just wanted to be done. My foot hurt. I was out of energy. My stomach was starting to act up and I was numb from 10 hours in the saddle.

Luckily I hooked up with a guy from my category. I don't remember if he caught me or if I caught him, I think it was the former, but we rode together for the last 10 miles to the finish. He dragged me along most of the way. Near the finish, I thought about speeding up and trying to overtake him, but since he did all the work on those last miles, I figured that would be lame since we were not contending for the podium. In the end, I finished at 10:33 or 6th place in my category, a result I'm happy with.

I can't explain the feeling of crossing that finish line after racing all day on the bike. I thought of not just finishing the ride that day, but also all of the training rides, painful interval sessions, etc. that lead up to that moment. It sure was a great feeling. I'm sure looking forward to placing my sticker on my truck's rear window. I will wear it proudly.  Yes I will.

Park City Point to Point 2010

2010-09-08T00:09:00.000-07:00

The Start and Round Valley Loop

I was warming up 10 minutes before the start of the race when I suddenly realized I didn't have my timing chip on my ankle. Doh! I couldn't believe it.   After all of my meticulous planning, I'd left one of the most important items in my truck that was at the parking lot two miles from the start. I worked my way back through the mass of racers who were nervously awaiting the start and pleaded with the first two people I saw, a young guy and girl who happened to be standing right next to their truck, to take me back to the lot to grab my chip. They graciously agreed to help and before long I had my chip on my ankle and was back at the starting line.  By this time though, all of the waves of racers had already started and the start officials were about to disconnect the electronic timer equipment. Someone yelled, "don't pull the plug yet, we have one more coming through."

Within a minute or two I started catching the tail end of the last wave and proceeded to pass as many as possible, knowing that once we hit the single track, I'd have very few opportunities to move up until after Round Valley. I hit the single track and for the most part, the Round Valley loop was pretty frustrating due to the bottlenecks on the climbs as a result of people not self sorting. I complain, but it was probably a good thing because it forced me to start the race at a reasonable pace (especially since I really didn't warm up), yet on the other hand, it was almost slower than granny gear slow and I think I wasted energy later in the race trying to make up lost time.

Either way, I was enjoying myself just riding in the early hours of the morning on my bike. The weather was perfect.....not a cloud in the sky, the sun was coming up and it was a crisp 55 degrees out. After all of the pre-race jitters and an entire week of nervously worrying about this event, it sure felt good to ride.

To Silver Lake and Bald Mountain Climb

Once I hit the wider gravel trail at the end of Round Valley and then the paved section of bike trail, I stood up and pedaled hard to pass another dozen or so riders before the single track climb. This portion of the race was fun for me. I was still fresh, the trail was fast and I was just having a good time. I felt good climbing up Pipeline and Deer Crest and was holding back again due to a bunch up of riders in front of me. I was able to keep up on my hydration and fuel and by the time I arrived at Silver Lake I had drank 3 20 oz. bottles and one flask of EFS gel.

As I started up the steep jeep road from Silver Lake I had two goals in mind. First, I wanted to keep pedaling and second I wanted to maintain a pace that would keep my heart rate from spiking, which for me is right around 160-163 bpm. I'd done this climb a few times and knew it was painful and could easily due damage to my race if I wasn't careful. In looking back at my Garmin file, I can see that I did well for about 5 minutes in keeping my hear rate under control on the jeep road. Then, as I hit the steep single track and switchbacks, I lost focus on my level of effort and I can see with hindsight that I was anaerobic for a good 7 minutes, certainly enough to push me over the edge and I cramped up and had to stop. I think what distracted me was that I was so determined to clean that entire portion of the climb, at least I planned in my head to do so up to where we entered the trees (and then take a short break), that I didn't realize I was red lining it.

I should note that just prior to cramping up, I ran into Fatty (famous local cyclist/blogger who's good friends with several of the guys I ride with) and passed him as I could tell he was hating life with his single speed on such a steep grade. For a second, I felt pretty special passing him, but that lasted all of about 30 seconds. I recovered and passed him again as he was walking the bike up the trail but then I cramped up again at the top of the climb and he pedaled on and that was the last I saw of him.

For the rest of the route until dropping back down to the Silver Lake aid station, I wasn't feeling too good. The maxing myself out and cramping just destroyed me and I was struggling to recover. I also was starting to feel pain in my side and my hands were hurting badly.

At the DV aid station, I hurried and swapped out my bottles and then pounded about 8 orange wedges.  I don't know why, but I crave orange slices whenever I do a long race or ride.

The Pain and Suffering Part

I knew it was going to be a long day when not 5 minutes into riding the mid mountain trail, I started to cramp again and not even while climbing. I had to really back off and keep my cadence high to avoid locking up. Luckily, though I made it up to the top of the Moosebones climb without further cramping.

By the time I made it to the bottom of the rooty, twisty John's trail I was starting to feel pretty hammered and knew I'd be running out of water before the top of the climb to Shadow Lake. I carried two 24 oz. Polar bottles, but that wasn't going to be enough. Like what I've heard from others, this was the toughest part of the race for me. By now it was getting hot, I was rationing water, there was no shade and the climb was long and steep. I had to stop a few times to cool down in the shade near the top of Shadow Lake. I came so close to dumping my bike off the side of the trail and finding the source of that little spring that dribbled onto the trail. Thinking of my wife and boys that would be waiting for me at PCMR was what kept me pushing forward.

After reaching the high point at 9,300 ft. about Shadow Lake, I was excited and felt a sense of relief for a few seconds. You'd think descending to PCMR would be enjoyable, but not this time. I was dehydrated, my hands felt like blisters were forming and I kept wondering why it seemed like I was getting the crap beaten out of me by my bike. Suddenly it dawned on me that I had turned off my front shock while climbing a section of road near the beginning of the race. Can you believe it? I unknowingly rode rigid for a good portion of the race and it was terrible and miserable. Enough to make me never want to get a rigid fork. Once I turned on my shock, the ride quality was like the difference between butter and rocks. It made me seriously think that maybe a full suspension bike wouldn't be too bad of a bike to have around (yes, Brandon you've got me thinking).

PCMR Aid Station

I was so elated to make it to this aid station. My bottles and mouth were bone dry and I was beat. I think I was sort of in a daze for a while. I remember first seeing my 3 older boys yell "Dad" off to my right and then Rick S. quickly came up and handed me a wonderful cold Coke and started filling up my water bottles and asking how I was doing.  It was sure good to see my wife and 2 month old son as well. I downed probably 10 cups of water and CarboRocket and probably 10 orange wedges. I chatted with my wife and kids and some of the other racers and then realized that I had been there for a long time. There was never any doubt that I would get back on the bike and finish, it just felt so good to be resting and drinking cold fluids that I sort of lost track of how long I'd been there.

Spiro and Mid Mountain Climb

Back on the bike, I actually felt pretty good and got into a good rhythm, although I still had to be careful as my legs would start to seize up occasionally. The climb up the re-route started to wear on me and I had to stop a couple of times to gather up more energy. I passed Dug back and forth a few times up until the aid station. He actually was good motivation for me as I kept telling myself that if a guy could do this ride on a rigid single speed, than I certainly could do it on a geared Superfly.

The Finish

I don't remember much about the last part of the race except that it was marginally fun as most of it was fast and I started to feel a proud sense of accomplishment that seemed to give me some extra motivation and energy to finish off the race strong. I ended up finishing in 11:25.

Although I certainly didn't make my goal time, I think I've convinced myself that I should be pretty happy with getting the finish. It was no small feat and something to build on, especially with this being my first MTB endurance event.

Also, I echo the compliments that others have made to the race organizers and volunteers for putting on such an awesome event. Well done.

New Job = New Trails/Roads to Explore

2010-08-24T22:31:00.000-07:00

This week I started a new chapter with my new job at Fusion-io. I was at Omniture (now Adobe) for almost 5 years and will miss many things about that job, mostly the great people I worked with and rode bikes with. I'll especially miss the daily lunchtime timp foothill mountain bike rides.

However, change is good and though often disruptive and stressful, it brings fresh experiences and new challenges. I'm looking forward to discovering new places to ride up in Salt Lake County near my workplace including what will be a longer commute on the road bike. From my place to Omniture was only 15 miles or so and I got to where I could do that between 40-45 minutes. My new commute will be longer at almost 24 miles one way and will include a bit more climbing as I'll pedal over Suncrest and then climb up Wasatch Blvd. I like that I have the option of extending the commute ride up Big or Little Cottonwood. As far as dirt riding, I don't know much about my options up that way. I guess I can easily hit Corner Canyon on my way to/from work.

If anyone knows of good options given my new location, I'd be interested in some ideas.

Long ride turned short

2010-08-23T23:04:00.000-07:00

Ever had those days where the bike gods were not smiling down on you? Well, Saturday morning was one of those days for me. I was hoping to get one more big training ride in on the PCP2P trails. I'd ridden from PCMR to the end of the course the day before since conveniently my family and I were staying in Park City for a few days on vacation. I knew the pace would be painful since I'd be riding with single speedsters Mr. Rico and Mr. Zvirzdin, but some extra pain is what I needed. We started at Silver Lake Lodge and immediately Dan and Nick set a brisk pace. I was struggling to hang on once we hit the switchbacks on the Team Big Bear climb, but still managed to keep them within sight (barely).

Near the top of Moosebones, we stopped as Dan announced he had a flat. I started thinking in my head, "man that really sucks to get a flat so early in a ride."  Yup, you guessed it. Not 2 seconds after thinking that, I heard the dreaded hiss of escaping air coming from my back tire. No worries, right?  The hole didn't seem too big and was on the bottom of the tread. The Stan's should seal it right up. Wrong.  Some of my Stan's came out but it wouldn't seal up.  No worries, no need to panic yet, right? I'd put my extra tube in and we'd be on our way. Wrong again. My spare tube that I inflated with both of my CO2 cartridges had a hole in it.

Note: I should mention that both Dan and Nick dug up an embedded sharp rock that we figure did the damage to both of our tires. You should thank them next time you see them as quite possibly you could have gotten a flat on that same sharp rock that was positioned right in the middle of the trail at the bottom of a dip.

Meanwhile, Dan was not having much more luck as his tire didn't seal either and then his spare tube also had a hole in it. Nick was kind enough to give him his spare tube. 300 pumps later (seriously) on the mini pump and Dan was good to go.

Back to me. I decided I would try and patch the hole in the tube using Dan's kit. So, I pulled the tube out and started searching for the hole. The only problem is I couldn't find the hole and a patch kit is no good if you don't know where the hole is. By this time, I was starting to get frustrated as the morning was ticking away. I threw the tube back in and used the pump this time to inflate it, hoping that it would hold. Well, it didn't hold. In fact I spent like 10 minutes on the mini pump trying to get the pressure up past 20 psi, thinking all along that the pump was just slow. In hindsight, I'm not sure why I didn't use the pump to inflate the tube while out of the tire as that would have helped me find the hole. Oh well.

As it turned out, I told Nick and Dan to go ahead and keep riding without me.  I then hopped on the nearby road and started walking back towards Dear Valley with the thought of fixing the bike and then maybe rejoining them at PCMR.  I quickly abandoned walking down the road as that was going to take all day and instead slowly coasted down on the flat tire.  Near the lodge, I connected back onto the dirt. I pushed the bike for a bit and then grew impatient again and started riding once I was on the last stretch of service road. This ended up being a bad idea as a rock popped up into my rear wheel, got caught in the spokes and snapped one of the little buggers.

At this point I was done.  I suppose I could have tried to get the wheel fixed at a bike shop, but as my luck was going that day, I would have probably snapped my chain, gotten another flat or maybe busted up my derailleur if I would've ridden.

Instead I went back to my family, took the boys swimming, rode the train in Heber and had a nice dinner on main. Not a bad day after all.

Prolytes: this stuff works

2010-07-27T22:34:00.000-07:00

I've had issues with cramping up in the past. Like last year on the 1,000 Warriors Race when both quads locked up so hard I nearly fell of the bike and then as recently as a several weeks ago while pre-riding the PCP2P course, both hamstrings locked up. Anyone that has experienced severe cramping during a race can attest that they can essentially end your day once they set in.

I was in the LBS and they recommended I try Prolytes, which is a concentrated liquid solution of the electrolytes potassium, sodium, magnesium, chloride and sulfate. The directions say to mix Prolytes with your water or sports drink and I'm sure that works fine (I need to try it out), but I was told you could also simply squirt a few drops under your tongue, which appealed to me as I would rather not be mixing, measuring, etc. more than I have to.

The real test came for me a few weekends ago when I was fatigued and struggling up the south side of the Nebo Loop with the sun beating down on me and I was sweating profusely. I started to feel the cramping coming on. I immediately popped out the Prolytes bottle and squirted a few drops under my tongue. Seriously, I'm not kidding you, within a matter seconds the cramping subsided and I continued on without any further problems. Since that ride, I've been using it routinely on my long rides and I haven't had even a hint of cramping.

So there you go. Try it out and see for yourself. Hopefully it works for you too.

MTB around Timp

2010-07-19T21:22:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to ride around Timpanogos on the dirt for a while now and Saturday I finally had my chance. Here are the route details going clockwise starting from Provo Canyon:

6:15 AM start at Nunn's Park in Provo Canyon
Union Aqueduct Road
Dragon's Back
Water Tank Road
Betty to the Altar
Lament to Dry Canyon
Curly Springs to Battle Creek Canyon
Mostly hike-a-bike up Battle Creek to the intersection with the Great Western Trail (GWT)
GWT single-track around the north side of Timp
Bailed onto the Timpooneke Road to avoid the rocky trail below Julie Andrews Meadow
Salamander Flat
Snow Gage / Horse Flat to summit
Aspen Grove
Pavement back to Nunn's Park

I finished at 11:30 AM and total ride time was about 4 hours and 15 minutes. Total vertical ft. was 5.8K.

My overall impression is that this was an awesome ride with the exception of the hike-a-bike that followed this crossing of Battle Creek (just after dropping down Curly Springs*).

*Curly Springs was a good climb, not too many steep sections and only a couple of spots where I had to put a foot down due to loose rocks.

This hike-a-bike section of the trail (about 1 mile) mostly goes straight up the mountain and is littered with loose rocks. Even in spots where the grade levels out, the trail is narrow and deep making it easy to catch a pedal. Not too fun.

The alternate route instead of Curly Springs and Battle would have been to continue climbing from the Altar, up and over the saddle of Little Baldy, traverse the head of Dry (mostly rough going) and then climb up and over the saddle of Big Baldy. I've ridden from the Altar, around Little Baldy and about 2/3 of the way across Dry and there are definitely some rough spots that require frequent dismounts, plus the elevation gain on this route would be about 1,000 ft. more. So either route has its pluses and minuses depending on what you prefer.

Here's a picture of a nice meadow I encountered just before the NW corner of Timp. I was pretty tense crossing this as there were bees buzzing everywhere. I thought for sure I'd get stung, but luckily they let me pass through.

My favorite part of the ride was topping out at about 8,600 ft. on the NW corner of Timp and the trail that followed, which quickly turned from sagebrush and meadows to lush forest single-track underneath a shaded canopy of aspen and old growth pine and fir. I stopped for a break in one of these groves (while eating a giant flour tortilla) and just soaked it in. I would have stayed longer, maybe even taken a nap but the deer flies were attacking me.**

**I've discovered spandex doesn't provide much cover from insect bites given the location of the many bites I received. So, don't forget your repellent like I did if you do this ride.

I mentioned I bypassed the trail before and after Julie Andrews Meadow. I've ridden this section once before and wasn't in the mood to get kicked around by the rocks on the descent from the said meadow, so I opted to take the Timpooneke Road instead .

I finished up the dirt portion of the ride by hopping on the Snow Gage trail then Horse Flats to the summit and then dropping down Aspen Grove. I like Snow Gage. It had some good climbing, good scenery and not too many rocks. It was a bit soft from the 3 or 4 horses that I encountered, but still in reasonable shape. Aspen Grove is fun too. It still has need of a trail crew to clear some of the loose rocks on the lower portions, but it has improved from 2 or 3 weeks ago when I rode it last.

So there you have it. A sweet ride around Timp on a 29er, all before lunchtime. Speaking of lunchtime, I think we should incorporate this into one of our lunch rides in the fall, maybe on a Friday. I'm sure at the lunch pace, we could be done in 3 1/2 hours. That would simply require a shooting range start time of 10:30 ("early lunch") and then we'd be back at our desk by say 2:30 (no need to shower of course). Something to think about. I'm getting antsy already for the fall lunch rides.

American Fork Canyon - Pole Line Pass Loop

2010-06-21T21:38:00.000-07:00

I got an early start this morning and rode up the North Fork Road* from Tibble Fork Reservoir to Pole Line Pass. I don't particularly enjoy climbing on double track, but often it's the best option for a long, sustained climb on the mountain bike.

*One of these times I'd like to come up the North Fork (not on a weekend**), camp and explore some of the abandoned mining sites that are in this area. From looking on a topo map, there are lots of them.

**Early Monday morning has got to be the perfect time to ride this road. I didn't see one ATV the entire ride. I imagine on the weekend, it's a mess.

At the top of Pole Line (at the spot of the above photo), I hopped on the GWT (Ridge Trail 157) and headed south. The trail was in great condition until just north of Forest Lake where I ran into some snowy patches on a north facing forested slope and had to dismount to avoid the muck.

Here's Forest Lake as seen from 157 with Mary Ellen Gulch to the left and Mineral Basin to the Right

A bit further south on the trail I ran into more snow and it was back to hike-a-biking. I was amazed at the determination of some trail biker, who was obviously hell bent on passing through this portion of the trail despite the snow, ice and mud. I had a hard enough time crossing carrying my 20 lb. bike and couldn't imagine trying to make it on a heavy trail bike, especially given one slip on the ice would certainly result in a 100 ft. tumble, bike and all.

Once back on the sun facing slopes, the trail was dusty dry. On the descent below Mill Canyon Peak, the trail bikes and runoff had chewed up/left a bunch of loose melon sized rocks on the trail that made the descent tricky. Is the trail always in that condition or just early before trail work is done? I would think a crew spending a 1/2 day could really improve this portion of the trail by moving some of the loose rocks. Note: I did my part and move a bunch of loose rocks from the middle of the trail.

I finished up the dirt ride by continuing on 157 to the Alpine Loop summit parking lot and then returning back down the road to Tibble.

Great Western Trail - Altar to Dry Canyon

2010-06-18T16:39:00.000-07:00

A while back I read Dug's account of riding around Timp and ever since I've been dreaming of doing that same ride. Before I do the whole loop in a day, I'd like to pre-ride portions of the loop that I haven't ridden so that I have a better idea of what to expect.

After work the other day I rode up to the Altar and then continued on the Great Western Trail (GWT), making my way up to the saddle of Little Baldy. I've decided this is one of my favorite mountain bike rides. If you haven't ridden it, you should. You'll love it too. Here's why it's awesome. It's a long, sustained climb on single track that alternates between rocky technical terrain, including quite a few sizable tree roots, to smooth, tacky dirt that winds up the mountain under a canopy of old growth pines. There are some steep switchbacks thrown in the mix that I enjoy trying to clean. And near the top, before the Little Baldy saddle, your hard efforts are rewarded with this incredible view (looking south to Provo Canyon and Utah Lake):

After the Little Baldy saddle, the trail continues to gain elevation as it traverses across the head of Dry Canyon. The level of difficulty is high on this stretch due to many tree roots and the loose, narrow trail that has some exposure. Expect to do some hike-a-biking.

I was hoping to have enough time that evening to complete a loop by dropping down Dry, but I was running out of daylight and wasn't sure how much further I had until the turnoff. I ended up playing it safely and turned around just prior to where the GWT crosses over this wash* that empties into Dry.

*I later realized from reviewing my GPS track that after crossing this wash I would have had one more gully to cross and a bit more climbing before reaching the meadow where the Dry Canyon trail intersects with the GWT. Next time I'll keep going and try dropping down Dry. I've heard the upper Dry descent is sketchy in places, but I don't mind dismounting and walking the bike down in places if I need to. If anyone has come down this recently, I'd be interested in hearing about it.

Going back down the mountain on the same trail I ascended was still really fun. I was glad that most all of the hike-a-bike sections were rideable with the help of gravity.

Now, I'm even more excited about riding around Timp after experiencing this taste of the trail.

Oh, and here's a nice meadow that sits just below the GWT at the top of Dry.

Take a left instead...

2010-06-07T12:12:00.000-07:00

This morning I wanted to try a new route, so I started at the Indian Hills trail head and rode on the dirt until I could hop onto Squaw Peak Road and then rather than staying right to go to the lookout, I went left and continued on the dirt until I had to turn around, a couple of miles past the Rock Canyon Campground where the road started to get messy from the melting snow.

Here are some pictures. I can't think of many better ways to spend an early June morning. Our mountains here along the Wasatch are simply incredible.

Guns, Bikes and Pain

2010-06-03T23:13:00.000-07:00

Last night was the Soldier Hollow Biathlon. It was fun to get out and try something new.

The course started on the pavement for a short climb, followed by another short climb on some grassy double track before turning into mostly downhill single track for the rest of the lap. At the end of each lap (we did 5 laps), you'd shoot five targets with the pellet gun in a prone position. If you didn't miss any targets, you would then ride straight to the next lap, but for every target missed, you'd have to ride a penalty lap. Typically I would miss one of the 5 targets but I think on one lap I missed two.

I have no idea how I finished as the race was fairly chaotic, but I certainly wasn't near the front. I was still feeling sluggish and sore from the Monday ICUP race and multiple crashes (check out this video of my second one) and didn't feel like sprinting too hard off the line. Plus, read on and you'll see my other excuse for not wanting to kill myself.

Here's the trophy* that each of the category winners received:

*isn't that a road bike?

I got skunked on the raffle this time, although they had some great prizes they gave away including an ipod, a set of Crank Brothers pedals and a nice wooden/stainless steel floor pump to name a few.

Group Ride up AF Canyon

I won't go into much detail, but I will say it was a great morning for me on the Alpine Loop. I rode with the fast guys and was able to hang with them until just after the Tibble Fork turnoff when Rick attacked and I was quickly dropped as we started climbing the steep grades up to Pine Hollow. As the group pulled away, I just kept a good steady tempo right at my threshold. I wasn't really paying attention to my time until at the last hairpin turn, I noticed I was in good shape for a PR. I ended up at 58:04, six minutes faster than my previous best.

You'll have to check out the entertaining write-ups that Rick, Mark and Adam wrote on their respective blogs.

Here's the group at the top:

Video of my crash at Draper ICUP

2010-06-02T13:04:00.000-07:00

With more and more bikers using cameras while they ride, there was a good chance my crash on Saturday would be captured on film. Sure enough, it's up on youtube.

Couple of observations on the video. I mentioned the first rider came around on my left, but the video clearly shows he came on the right. Don't know if it would have made a difference, but I remember him calling "on your left" so I was maybe moving right. It doesn't look like either of us ran into the other, it just looks like we got too close and something (I believe it was our bars) got tangled up. Also, luckily I don't believe the other guy was hurt and I'm glad the riders behind me were quick to react and dodge me or it could have been a big pile-up.

Draper ICUP Race Report 2010

2010-06-01T21:56:00.000-07:00

In case you didn't witness it, there was a huge turnout Saturday at the ICUP Draper race at Corner Canyon. We had 25 people that finished in my category, Sport 35-39. Also, 28 were in the Sport 30-34 class that started 30 seconds ahead of my group and another 37 in the Sport 40+ that started 30 seconds behind my group. Let me save you doing the math. That's 90 guys bunched up on the first section of single track anxious to start racing. The holeshot was of course fast, but then after the start lap we came to a grinding halt underneath the bridge and I noticed some ahead of me had to balance against the tunnel wall to avoid clipping out of their pedals. To make matters worse, a bit further up the trail, there was a guy with headphones leisurely enjoying his Saturday mtb ride and as near as I could tell, he was completely oblivious to the fact that a race was on and that he was holding up everyone.

So, needless to say, I was rearing to go once we hit the first short lower fire road climb. I geared down and went as hard as I could, knowing I'd get enough of a recovery once the single track started again. Despite my attack, Miles was right there following me and we passed each other back and forth several times on the first lap.

On the second lap, things were going really well. I got into a good rhythm on the upper dirt road climb and felt like I was gaining some ground, but of course was only guessing*. Shortly after dropping down from the outhouse, I took spill #1 (yes, there's more) over the bars as my front tire hit a rock. Luckily I wasn't going too fast, so after concluding the damage was only skin deep, I quickly hopped back on the bike.

*Don't you hate it when you don't know where you're at in a race? I need to pay better attention and be sure I stay with the leaders next time from the start. Then at least if I get dropped, so be it and I'll know it.

Miles and I met up again and traded passing each other back and forth. It was honestly a ton of fun having that friendly rivalry going on**.

**I haven't mentioned this before, but Miles and I have a common experience in that we both have gone from being out of shape, fat, etc. before we started biking to dropping 50-60+ pounds and now we're racing mountain bikes this season for the first time.

Anyhow, as it turned out, I couldn't hang with Miles at the bottom of the lap and he went by me after the Silica Pits.

Once I realized I wasn't going to catch Miles and there wasn't much racing left, I decided I just wanted to hold my place, not go down again and finish with my best effort. The only problem was there were a handful of guys behind me that wanted to pass as I came out of the single track just below the holding pond. I heard "on your left," but definitely no "on your right" as this other guy tried to pass me on the right at the same time, just I was turning right onto the gravel. Pretty sure that will cause a wreck every time. Sure enough......our handlebars got tangled up and we both went down.

I ended up finishing 7th. Even though I crashed twice, they weren't too much of a factor in my finish as the guys ahead of me simply rode stronger.

My wife took some good pictures. She's been really supportive and has come out each week with our 3 boys to watch me ride despite being 9 months pregnant. A big thanks to her.

Note on this first picture how Darren Harris (I think), who won my category, really wasn't very far ahead after the first start lap. This is interesting, as I thought the leaders did their damage at the start, but maybe that wasn't necessarily true.

Some more random pictures at the start:

Expert men 19-29

Single-speed (Rick, Nick and Dave)

Expert men 40+

Sport Men 30-34

Night Ride Race

2010-05-28T22:14:00.000-07:00

Last night a bunch of us guys who are basically addicted to riding bikes showed up in Draper for the Thursday Night Race Championship, organized by Rick. It was simply a good time all around. The weather was perfect with a full moon. Only 5 bucks to participate. Race pace climbing. Lots of quality competition. Post race raffle and then some breakfast and good stories at Village Inn.

Brandon took home the champions belt and pink purse full of our 5 dollar bills.

(photo by Miles)

Post race raffle:

Can't wait for the next one!

Father and Son Time

2010-05-23T08:03:00.000-07:00

Friday and Saturday was our ward's annual father and son camp out, something my boys and I look forward to all year. We camped outside of Oak City (southwest of Nephi) at Oak Creek. We had a great time. By far the funnest thing for the boys was playing with sticks in the fire and watching things burn (like cups, bananas, plates, pine needles, a toy lizard, you name it). Friday night they had a movie playing on the side of an R.V. but my boys didn't want anything to do with that....they just wanted to play in the fire. Sound familiar*?

*Speaking of sticks and fires....when I was a boy, I practically burned down my Dad's farm shop because I thought it would be cool to stick my wooden sword into the wood stove and then into a 5 gallon bucket of used motor oil. Yup, the oil caught on fire, melted the bucket and the burning oil spread. The fire department arrived and put out the fire, but not before causing significant damage. Sorry once again Dad.

Bike Ride

On Saturday morning, we hopped on our bikes and rode up the dirt access road. I was especially entertained by my five year old pedaling away on his little Trek single speed. The grade on the road was about 5% in spots, so he'd have to stand up to keep his momentum going. He was actually a pretty good climber, very determined.

We had to stop here of course to throw rocks into the creek.

We climbed for about a mile and then they were tired and ready to go back down. Here they are on the descent.

Fun times. It won't be long and I'll have some new training partners to ride with on the dirt.

Alpine Loop Update

2010-05-18T22:52:00.000-07:00

Snow is clear on the AF Canyon side until just above Salamander Flats:

Check out this large tree that fell on the road:

A week ago NOAA's weather data site near the parking lot at the top of the Alpine Loop recorded 22 inches of snow. Today it's showing 11 inches. Any guesses on when the trails will be ready to ride up there? 2 weeks? 3 weeks? Can't wait.

ICUP Sundance Spin Race Report

2010-05-16T17:58:00.000-07:00

Leading Up to the Race

Thursday night I raced the same Sundance course in the Weekly Race Series, leaving my legs fairly beat up from riding at race pace for near 90 minutes. The next day, I packed the road bike to work with the plan of just going for an easy spin at lunch time to help recover in time for Saturday's ICUP. As it turned out, I couldn't decline an invite from Rick S. to ride Squaw Peak during lunch. I debated for a second on whether to go, as riding with Rick is usually the equivalent of a race for me, but I love riding Squaw and much prefer climbing to spinning* any day.

*Although I've read that doing a recovery ride where you spin easy is good for recovery, I really don't enjoy those types of rides.....feels more like a waste of time to me.

On the climb up Squaw, Rick was kind enough to keep the pace manageable, so we rode together, although he was able to carry on an easy conversation, while I was limited to sentences of 10 or fewer words. Before the 4 mile mark, I started to fade and he steadily pulled away. Btw, Rick recently posted a time of 27:08 on this climb (i.e. he's fast).

While we recovered at the lookout point, he gave me some encouraging advice. He said, "you know, sometimes doing a hard, short effort before a race is the best thing you can do", or something close to that.

That night as I iced my sore calf, I kept telling myself over and over that Rick had to be right.

Race Day

It was an absolutely beautiful day for a race. It sure was nice to feel the warmth of the sun on my face as I took my time getting ready to ride. Here's a picture of the sky over Sundance (photo credit - my 4 yr. old son):

I made an extra effort to warm up my stiff legs by doing a dozen or so short climbs on the paved road. I was one of the last ones to line up, but I felt pretty good after the warm up. Rick's words kept playing over and over in my head. I was just hoping he was right.

I was racing in the Sport 35-39 category with a total of 10 riders. Our race course was 2 laps, each approximately 7 miles and 1,000 ft. vertical.

Lap 1

At the start, Mark followed by Miles jumped out in front on the first climb up the paved road. Here's Mark (center) and Miles (left):

I followed Miles in 3rd position as we started on the single track. We chatted back and forth like it was the start of a lunch ride, while we pedaled the exposed trail at the south end of the course. We had to pass several riders along this section from the group of racers who started ahead of us, which was a bit sketchy with the exposure on the passing side (I'm still working out the kinks on my passing skills).

At the steep double track after the chair lift (see below pic), I knew this would have to be my chance to put some time between me and Miles as I was pretty certain he'd gain some time on the windy descent.

I was able to pull ahead on this climb and maintain a gap until the summit, although I wasn't more than 20-30 seconds ahead of Miles. As I started the descent, I wasn't riding too smoothly around some of the sharp switchbacks, especially once I starting seeing Miles through the trees above and that he was closing on me quickly. It wasn't long and Miles was riding my wheel and I had to let him fly by, along with Justin Thomas and one other rider.

Lap 2 and Finish

Just prior to starting lap two, I caught Miles and Justin on the paved climb, giving me a buffer going into the single track. I felt my power starting to fade on the little short-effort climbs. The steep double track was especially painful, even though I was in one of my smallest gears. However, the other riders behind me must have been hurting too, as I was able to maintain my position to the summit. I was grateful for a couple of fast riders from other categories that passed me as they kept my pace up as I tried to hang with them.

On the descent, I figured it was only a matter of time before Miles and Justin would catch me like they did on lap 1. I starting planning in my head how I could battle it out on the last climb up the road to the finish. I kept looking over my shoulder for Miles** but he never came. Instead, Jason from Sport 30-34 blew by me at the bottom just after the dirt turned to pavement, partly I think because I'm such a pansy and was riding my brakes rolling onto the road and partly due to him leaving it all out there with a hard effort. After he passed me, I was determined to catch him (for bragging rights I guess) before the finish line and turned myself inside out trying. I passed him shortly before the finish.

**As it turned out, Miles unfortunately took a spill on the descent and luckily wasn't hurt other than some scrapes and bruises. Despite the fall, he still hopped back on the bike and finished a strong 3rd. Nice job.

Congrats to Mark on the strong ride and win. He's going to be tough to beat the rest of the season. And Miles all I have to say is this is going to be a fun season!

First podium for me!

Also, check out this guy's frame that broke in two spots. Crazy! Luckily it was while he was going slow on a climb (I bet it was on the steep double track).

Weekly Race Series - Sundance Report

2010-05-13T22:32:00.000-07:00

At lunch today, I planned to just drive up to Sundance to check out the conditions in general, but I couldn't resist and ended up hopping on the bike and riding a lap. I convinced myself this would be helpful for the race, given that I hadn't ridden the course before. In hindsight, I probably should have conserved my energy for the race, but then again, I got the extra workout in and it was helpful knowing the length of the climbs and where the tricky downhill portions were.

I took a few pictures during the pre-ride that show the conditions of the course.

This is one of the few muddy sections. Not too bad and by Saturday's ICUP race, it'll probably be dry.

This little climb after the lift about halfway through the lap was short but steep. On my first lap of the race, I kept it in the middle ring and grunted it out. On the second lap, I wimped out and spun up it in the small ring.

I raced in the expert B category*. I probably didn't belong, but at least I was able to ride two laps instead of 1-1/4 for Sport. I found the guys in expert are fast. I was mid pack after the first climb on the pavement, but then was passed by several guys once we hit the single track and spent the rest of the race trying to minimize the gap. I didn't finish last, but was definitely near the back.

*Tonight they started the expert B and expert A groups at the same time, a total of like 25 riders. I don't understand this, but then again what do I know. Why not stagger the groups by 30 seconds like they did last week? Then you can at least have some separation (not so much passing on the singletrack) and it's easier to identify where you are in relation to those you're racing against. Just a thought.

Once again, the post race raffle had some good prizes, easily exceeding in value the $12 entry fee. I won this Park Tool Digital Scale that retails for over $50. People ask me all the time how much my bikes weigh....I guess I'll know how to answer that question with certainty from now on.

Sovereign

2010-05-10T20:31:00.000-07:00

I spent Saturday riding down in Moab with a buddy from work. In the morning we rode Sovereign from North to South (from Dalton Wells road) and after lunch we did a portion of the Slickrock trail. Moab is such an amazing place to ride a bike (I know...such an obvious understatement). No wonder why the group of 10 or so riders that we ran into from New York were on their 7th day of riding trails in Moab. It's a mecca and I only live 200 miles from it. I think I need to make that drive more often.

One of the upper Sovereign loops:

The climb going North to South on Sovereign:

Lovin' the scenery:

Some switchbacks on Sovereign:

Soldier Hollow Wed. Night Race

2010-05-06T23:10:00.000-07:00

I had a great time last night racing up at Soldier Hollow. The atmosphere was great. A pretty good crowd of mountain bikers just out having a good time and enjoying a little competition.

It was my first time riding the course and I thought it was a good mix of short climbs, where you could easily pass, and fast downhill single track. I rode in the sport category, flight A and did 3 laps (expert did 4 and beginner 2 laps).

My group was maybe 12 or so riders. At the start, this kid who couldn't have been more than 16 years old absolutely sprinted from the get go up the short climb on the paved road. By the time he reached the single track, he was cooked and started holding up the whole lot of us. Fortunately for the rest of us and unfortunately for him, 30 seconds later he laid his bike over going down a little dip and we were able to resume a reasonable pace.

I was about in 4th position going into the double track climb (the straight away on the far right of the course). I was feeling pretty good, but decided to see what pace the other 3 riders would maintain on the climb. Towards the top, I sensed that they were slowing, so I jumped on it and put some distance between us prior to the downhill portion.

I was a little worried about leading out so early, especially since I didn't know the course and wasn't certain how long each lap was. I figured if I could just keep enough in the tank to go strong on the climbs and keep up the pace on the flats and descent that I'd be in good shape. It worked out and I finished in first.

Here's me and Rich at the finish. Rich took 1st in the sport B flight.

Phast Dan was there:

Free stuff for everyone at the raffle. I ended up getting one of the insulated water bottles that was filled with Sport Beans packets and Honey Stinger gels, probably worth more than the $12 entry fee.

My 2nd most favorite road ride

2010-05-03T22:53:00.000-07:00

After work, I headed up Provo Canyon to climb Squaw Peak, my first time to ride it on the road bike since last fall. The Alpine Loop is my favorite local road ride, hands down. I'd have to say Squaw Peak is number two.

The legs were still feeling it from Saturday, so the plan was to take it easy and not cause too much suffering. This plan held for the 1st mile as I spun at about 70%. Then I started feeling pretty good, so I turned it up a notch. At mile marker 3.5, I realized I was on pace for a personal best time to the four-mile mark....so much for keeping this ride mellow. Even though I was hurting on the last mile, the pain didn't rise to the level that I usually experience on our lunch rides. Sounds like today was no exception.

New Gear

Btw, I finally purchased a "real" cycling specific computer, a Garmin Edge 500. I had been using a Garmin Forerunner 305 that I purchased back when I was running, but I never have time to go running anymore and I don't particularly enjoy running. I've only used the 500 once so far, but I like it already as it's compact, easy to mount and has all the features I want, including the ability to use a power meter, which may be an option later if the prices ever come down.

ICUP 5-Mile Pass Report

2010-05-02T20:39:00.000-07:00

I wasn't nervous prior to the start, primarily because my expectations were pretty low in that I just wanted to ride hard, finish (this was my first mb race) and have a good time It certainly helped too that I got there early, leaving plenty of time to register, warm up and get to the starting line.

About 3 minutes before Tiffany took the above picture, I realized I left my co2 valve in my car. I had the canister in my Awesome Strap but of course it's worthless if you don't have the valve. I didn't think I'd have time to run and grab it before my group started, so I rolled the dice that I wouldn't flat (wrong choice, read on...).

I took the start fairly easily and ended up towards the back of the pack. After a few minutes I was feeling good, so I picked up the pace and started working my way through the field. After the first section of climbs, I looked up and realized I was on Miles' wheel and in fourth position. I was confused for a second as I'm used to Miles on his single speed Superfly from the lunch rides, but today he was on his geared bike. At this point, we were starting to descend, so it worked out perfectly for me to try and stay with Miles* and follow his line through the rocky trail.

*Lately on our UC lunch rides, we typically have Miles lead on the descents as he is fast and often has time to pull out his camera and take pictures before we reach him.

A few minutes later, just before the steep hike a bike, I crested one of the rollers and then heard the unmistakable sound of my rear tire getting slashed by a rock. Sure enough, it was cut and certainly too big for Stan's to seal it. I was sort of in shock and debated for a second as to what I should do next. I had a spare tube I could throw in, but I wasn't sure if anyone would even stop to loan me a pump or valve so that I could inflate the tube. I considered hiking back, but concluded I might as well put the tube in and hope someone would offer to help. As it turned out, a teenager in the beginner category stopped and gave me his pump (what an awesome gesture) and I was back on my way.

As you can see from the picture, the rock wreaked havoc on my tire. I've been running Conti Race Kings and they may work well for some but since this is the 2nd one I've slashed in one week, I'm going to try a different tire, probably something more durable considering that I'm a "bigger" guy (definitely not 150 lbs.) and probably put too much stress on this kind of tire.

The Rest of the Race

After the flat, it was difficult mentally to get myself back in the race. I knew there was no way of making back the lost time, but figured that if I gave it my best shot, I could at least NOT finish last in my category. So, I went as hard as I could. Seeing Tiffany and my 3 boys cheering me on at the end of lap one was a big boost.

Lap 2 was uneventful until it started hailing for about 10 minutes while I descended Bob Sled. I could barely see out of my glasses and had to stop and wipe them off, but that didn't help much and I ended up throwing them in my jersey pocket.

On the last section before the finish, it was fun to ride hard against another guy that I think was in my category. I don't know if he just let me on by, but it was satisfying to at least make it feel like a race at the end.

At the finish, I was glad to hear Miles took 3rd and Justin 4th. The final posted results showed me at 13th out of 18. Not the best place and certainly worse than what I was hoping for, but after looking at my Garmin and how long it took me to fix my flat, I'm feeling optimistic and looking forward to racing in the rest of the ICUP series.

Here are a couple of pictures:

Finishing up lap 1

Chatting with Miles at the finish. Notice he's already in his street clothes........

5-Mile Pass Course

2010-04-29T22:29:00.000-07:00

After work today, I was able to ride a lap on the 5-Mile Pass ICUP race course. In summary, in case you haven't been on this trail, it's full of lots and lots and lots of loose rocks and enough rollers to make you feel like you're on a bumpy roller coaster that never ends. It seemed pretty challenging because I had to really focus energy on the terrain due to the countless loose and jutting rocks, gyrating hills and frequent turns. The course was dry too and it looks like we may catch a break in the storm on Saturday morning.

I'm pretty excited as this will be my first mountain bike race. It should be fun.

Alpine Loop - Anyone have a good snow blower?

2010-04-27T20:47:00.000-07:00

Saturday I only had a couple of hours to ride, so I headed up to Pine Hollow with the mountain bike with the plan to do some intervals from the gate to where the snow starts. I was hoping the point where the snow covers the road would be higher, but it turned out that there was still a foot or two about 1 mile up from the gate.

It'll probably only be 2-3 more weeks before the road is clear, but in the meantime, it sure would be nice to enjoy the climb for those extra weeks while the road is closed to cars. Someone with a blade on their ATV or a beefy snow blower should just go up there and clear a path. I'd definitely chip in some money to support that effort.

Garage Ceiling Bike Rack

2010-04-24T22:23:00.000-07:00

If you're like me and like bikes, you need a place to store them where they won't get banged up, they're easily accessible and not in the way. My solution is to simply hang your favorite* bikes by the saddle on a galvanized pipe fastened to the garage ceiling, or your bedroom ceiling if you're single and so inclined.

*I've concluded that only the "nice" bikes qualify for hanging from the pipe. Kid bikes and heavy steel cruiser bikes that weigh 50 lbs. won't be on this pipe.

I wish I could take credit for the idea, but I'm not that creative. I first saw this concept in my brother-in-law's garage, who claims he got the idea from a bike shop in San Francisco. My brother-in-law has many more bikes than I do and a smaller garage and he hangs most all of them from a pipe.

Here are the parts you'll need to build this rack, all purchased at the local hardware store:

1. qty. 2 - 3/4" X 18" galvanized pipe**
2. qty. 2 - 1/2" X 72" galvanized pipe
3. qty. 2 - 3/4" to 1/2" galvanized elbow
4. qty. 2 - 3/4" threaded pipe flange
5. qty. 1 - 2 X 4
6. qty. 8 - 4" Hex lag bolt with washer
7. qty. 8 - 3-1/2" wood screw

**Depending on your ceiling height, you'll want to adjust the length of these pipes accordingly. My ceiling is 11-1/2 ft. high, which results in the bike's front tire being about 65" off the ground....low enough where I can stand on my toes and put the bike on the rack and high enough that the bikes are not in the way.

As you can see, I'm currently hanging 3 bikes, but there's easily room for two more:

Make sure you're careful about finding the ceiling joist and then predrill holes for the lag bolts.

Simply hangin' by the saddle:

I know where the militia trains

2010-04-18T22:00:00.000-07:00

Saturday I decided to do some exploring and ended up riding to the top of Lake Mountain, which is part of the range to the west of Utah Lake. The route begins on a dirt road that heads west from hwy. 68 (Redwood Road). The turnoff is about 17 miles south of Lehi Main, just look for the stop sign and that's the road you want to take.

Starting Point (note stop sign*):

*I point this out as there are many, many dirt roads running off into the foothills along HWY 68, but none of them have a stop sign like this one.

The first 5 miles is a good warm up on a well-maintained gravel/dirt road. It's mostly all uphill with one downhill, but the grade is never more than 5 or 6%. Then for the next 5 miles, the grade turns to a steady 7-8% with really no flats. The road also turns more rocky and uneven. Near the top, I ran into some patches of snow and some runoff, but it was manageable.

Here's the last bit before reaching the summit where there are various radio station towers.

It ended up being an 11 mile climb and 3,100 vertical ft. It's a good, long early-season climbing workout, perfect for spring when it's not scorching hot and for when you don't feel like doing laps on low elevation single track.

The view at the top was pretty rewarding. I had prepped a really cool panoramic photo that I created using Adobe Photoshop that I was hoping to share, but for some reason it was giving me an error when I tried to upload to blogger, so here's the best I could do:

The descent was fast and fun.

A few miles from my car, I looked ahead and saw about 20 "soldiers" alongside the road dressed in full camo, boots and carrying assualt rifles*. They even had a big flag flying in the wind and it wasn't the stars and stripes. As I approached, one of the yahoos was aiming his rifle directly accross the road in the direction of the area I was about to enter. I slowed down and waited until his buddy told him to put down his gun. I passed by and said, "hey.....what's up?" and then hurriedly picked up the pace.

*pretty sure these were airsoft guns as they had the orange tip on the barrel, but they sure looked real, like this one:

Different strokes for different folks. I'll ride my bike up a mountain in the middle of the desert and you can practice shooting plastic bb's at your buddies.

Progress

2010-04-15T09:52:00.000-07:00

My last post was about the need to basically lighten my load on the bike if I'm going to reach my cycling goals for this season. It's common knowledge if you're a cyclist that your power to weight ratio is one of the most important factors in being fast on the bike. So, I've been focusing on that.

Yesterday the bathroom scale indicated 179*, so I've dropped five pounds thus far. Eleven more to go.

*yes, I even took off my wedding ring and socks....come on fess up, I know I'm not the only one that does this

Here's a summary of what I've been doing for nutrition:

Eat a good breakfast. I like to drink a glass of skim milk when I first wake up (assuming I'm not riding that morning) to get things started. Then when I get to the office, it's usually a bowl of whole-grain oatmeal, some fruit (I usually keep frozen blueberries in the break room freezer) or maybe a banana. I also typically eat some fat free plain yogurt (I get the huge bucket of Mountain-land) sprinkled either with a bit of brown sugar or fruit. Often I'll change up the oatmeal for other types of whole-grain cereal such as cracked wheat or more recently Bob's Red Mill Buckwheat Cereal*. For variety, I'll eat hard boiled eggs without the yolk with some Frank's hot sauce.

*I probably would never have thought to try this stuff, but believe it or not I grew a field of buckwheat each summer to raise money for college while I was working on my Dad's farm in Quincy, Washington, so I guess there's some sentimental value to it. My Dad still grows it as a second crop behind peas.

Eat some fish for lunch or dinner. Most people at work think I'm a bit strange when I crack open the can of Kipper snacks or sardines in the break room. I know the stuff smells pretty bad, but it's good for you, especially if you purchase the kind that's in water instead of oil. Lots of protein, Omega 3s, calcium (yup, you eat the little bones and all), iron, etc. Sriracha sauce goes great with sardines. Leftover salmon and canned albacore tuna are also good options for lunch.

Load up on veggies. I'm amazed at how you can eat a whole plate full of broccoli and it's only 50 calories and you feel full. Here are some of my favorites that I typically eat at lunch simply by cooking it up in the microwave for a few minutes:

Broccoli**
Asparagus**
Sweet potato (#1 ranked vegetable for nutrition)
Brussel Sprouts**
Spinach**

**I like to buy the bags of these guys at Costco and take them to work. Each of these only takes a few minutes to cook in the microwave and then I'll pour on some vinegar and sprinkle with kosher salt flakes.

Drink only water, skim milk and CarboRocket. Okay, occasionally I'll deviate here, but not very often. CarboRocket I typically only use on the weekends on my long rides.

Whole Grain Bread. This one is tough for me as I love to eat white bread as much as the next guy, but funny thing is I'm now getting to where I honestly prefer the whole grain bread. The honey whole wheat at Costco is awesome.

Eat sweets sparingly. I've tried in the past to cut sweets out entirely, but that never works. Instead, I usually allow myself a small allotment each day, typically dark chocolate as Adobe provides it for free.

Count the calories. I like doing this. It's fairly liberating actually because you know within a reasonable margin where you stand throughout the day. For example, on days where I'm recovering from a hard workout (i.e. no exercise that day), I know I need to choose wisely as I won't have the buffer of 800 or so calories burned from a workout. I've also learned through this process that some foods are absolutely loaded with calories* and if eaten, it's highly likely you'll be consuming more than burning that particular day. Another benefit here is that you want to consume enough calories such that you're able to still recover from a workout and have adequate fuel for rides, yet have enough of a deficit that your body is forced to burn fat as fuel. I've been aiming for an average deficit of 500-700 calories per day and that seems to work well. If I go much higher, I start to feel sluggish.

*Milk shakes are a great example. I skipped eating a burger at In-n-out last week and instead just had fries and a shake. Later I found out I would have been better off just eating the burger instead as the shake had like 700 calories.

One more point here. You need to know your base metabolic rate, i.e. how many calories you burn without doing any exercise. I like to go to the "Bod Pod" at BYU's Y-be-fit office and get your body composition tested. It's only $15 and takes a quick 20 minutes. The report they give you includes your base metabolic rate.

Eat some good fats. I like to throw in peanut butter here and there, but be careful as two tablespoons is equal to 190 calories. Avocados, almonds, olives and olive oil are all good.

Chicken tenders. I love these guys. They are so easy to cook up quickly, they taste great, are low in fat and calories and have lots of protein.

Brown Rice.Brown rice is an excellent complex carb. I cook it up in bulk in a rice cooker as it takes forever to cook.

Don't over eat at dinner. This is tough as my wife is an awesome cook and makes a fabulous dinner every night. The good thing is she's pretty health conscious. As long as I don't keep going back for seconds or thirds, I'm in good shape.

Fruit. I try to eat a good variety, but my favorites are strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, apples, pears, bananas and mangos.

The final key for me is to ride the bike lots. There's no way I would have lost much of any weight over the past two weeks if I wasn't hitting the bike almost every day. Oh, and I should mention that the weekends are very tough, especially when we love to go out to dinner. What I'm learning is that it's best to plan ahead and decide what you'll eat at a restaurant by doing a little research. A few minutes of planning/research could be the difference between gaining or losing a pound.

So there it is. It seems to be working well for me, so I'm going to keep with it. I'm obviously no nutritionist or sports trainer, just a normal joe trying to be faster on the bike. So take my advice with a grain of salt as it may not work for you like it has for me. Good luck.

Oh, and here are a couple of pictures atomicmiles took on our lunch ride today. It was an absolutely perfect day for the mountain bike. Looking forward to tomorrow's ride.

Gotta go negative

2010-03-31T20:06:00.000-07:00

Labor day weekend, Saturday September 4th, 7 AM. Only 157 days until this:

Which means that if I want to finish this in the time I have in mind:

Then I need to lose some pounds between now and then. My goal is to get down to 168 and as of today, I'm 184, so you can do the math: 16 pounds needs to go. I'm not sure why I picked 168. Why not 165 or 167? I don't know. 168 just sounds like an obtainable yet challenging goal, that if met, will make a significant difference climbing the 14K vertical feet come September 4th.

With that goal in mind, I'm planning to ride the bike lots and watch my nutrition closely. Nutrition is where there's a fair amount of room for improvement. I've found that tracking my diet on a spreadsheet each day works as well as anything for me. Maybe it's because I'm a bean counter by profession and dealing with numbers make sense to me. I'll admit it's tedious and takes some extra discipline, but it forces me to focus on not only the quantity of calories but also the quality. And I can easily see the days that went well and those that didn't.

Today I got off to a good start. Breakfast was whole grain oatmeal*, plain yogurt and a banana**. Lunch was sardines, a pear** and a glass of skim milk**. Then I had an apple** and some dark chocolate** for a snack. Dinner was broiled asparagus and chicken from Costco's rotisserie chicken plus a boiled egg for a snack. Subtract off the calories I burned from riding the bike and I'm definitely in the negative today.

*Oatmeal is great. I eat it most every morning. I buy the big box at Costco for like $6 and it lasts me easily 6 months.

**All of these items are provided for free by my employer. I like free food.

Anyhow, we'll see how it turns out. Stay tuned. If I don't post anything about my progress, you'll know it's not going as planned.

Lunch Ride Report - Timp Foothills

Yesterday many of the usual lunch crowd showed up for an hour of pain and suffering. It really ends up being a race as we all ride at our limit up the climbs and try to keep pace with whomever is at the front, trying frantically not to get dropped. On this day, Rick S. led out, so I knew right away that the pace would be brutal. Fun times.

Dragon's Back, Betty, Belt, Etc.

2010-03-28T20:56:00.001-07:00

Saturday I rode up Dragon's Back and it's in great condition. I cleaned the steep, rocky bottom portion for the first time. There are a couple of wet spots at the top, just before the junction with the Alta Aqueduct Road. It's cool how this once doubletrack trail is slowly filling in as singletrack. I love how this climb has 5 or 6 steep pitches, each followed by a flat that allows you to barely recover before the next climb.

I then made my way over to Betty:

The horses have chewed up Betty pretty good on the steeper spots and it was still wet (but not mucky) on the north facing downhill slopes.

Here's the junction of Betty and the Belt Route:

I didn't expect to get very far and so I was surprised I made it to the top without a problem. Near the high spot on the Belt Route, icy snow patches start to block one side of the trail, but the other half was rideable thanks to the sponge effect provided by the leaves, grass and deer droppings (I think the deer really like this trail).

Once on the downhill side, it dried out again until the section where you wind through the dense scrub oak prior to linking up with Frank. Then the trail was swallowed up by 1-2 ft. of snow and lots of drooping-onto-the-trail scrub oak. I ran into another guy later in the day who took Betty all the way to the Altar without problems, so I think that's the way to go to the Altar until the Belt Route dries out.

Commute on Dirt

2010-03-24T21:57:00.001-07:00

Ride to Work

Today I tried something I hadn't done before and that was riding the mountain bike to work instead of the road bike. I live in N Lehi, so I drove to the start of the BST in Cedar Hills. The first several miles of the trail along the bench from Cedar Hills to Grove Creek and then to Battle Creek are all double track. There are quite a few branches off of the main road (mostly due to offroad vehicles tearing up the mountain) but as long as you're heading north/south it's easy to navigate. I saw probably over 100 deer along the way during this stretch. It's a nice, peaceful trail with minimal traffic (no motor vehicles of course). I think I'm going to bring my boys out to ride this portion of the trail as it's mostly rolling terrain with no exposure. It'll be a good way to expose them to riding the dirt.

After Battle Creek*, you climb some fairly steep, loose double track and then it turns to single track, then more climbing on single/double track and finally it's all single track the rest of the way to the shooting range.

*I wasn't going to mention this, but I crossed Battle Creek at the wrong spot, so I ended up having to cross the water while carrying my bike and unfortunately I slipped on a wet, icy rock and fell into the water up to my knees. It made for a cold rest of the ride.

Some trail between Battle and Dry near the high point.

In case you're wondering, this took me about an hour of ride time from Cedar Hills to 1600 N in Orem. Once I get the route dialed in, it'll be probably closer to 50 minutes.

Here's the GPS track:

Ride Home with a Detour

After work, I met Kanyon Kris at the shooting range. In the parking lot I saw this trailer that looks like it can carry 20 bikes. I like the design, just what were they thinking on the color?

We rode from the shooting range north past Dry on the BST and hit some side trails. We ran into Chris Holley and stopped and chatted about the awesomeness of the timp foothill trails. We all agreed we have something special in our own backyard.

As we continued on, Kris asked me how long I've been mountain biking and I confessed it's only been several months. He on the other hand has been doing this for 20 years now! I'm sure I could learn a thing or two from him.

As we finished up, I went my separate way north back to my car in Cedar Hills. What a great day of biking. The only thing I'm missing is a lunch ride!

More BST: Orem to Pleasant Grove

2010-03-22T19:23:00.000-07:00

I rode the BST trail again tonight after work and it's drying out quickly. There were only a few very small patches of mud the entire ride. This time I had enough time to drop down to Battle Creek. I was sort of disgusted at how torn up and littered the hillside is as you get closer to Battle Creek. I should of taken some pictures of all the trash, beer cans, shotgun shells, ruts, etc. There was this one steep grade where it looked like some yahoos had taken their dirt bikes and had a contest to see who could climb the farthest, leaving an ugly scar on the slope and damaging the single track.

It would be great if a group of us locals could get a work crew together one of these days and help improve the BST. Even just some simple trash pickup would go a long way to making this part of the trail more enjoyable.

Speaking of locals, I ran into Kanyon Kris on my way back. I've never met Kris, but I read his blog regularly. I gather he probably knows the trails around the timp foothills better than anyone around. As we passed each other going opposite directions, he asked if I knew Rick in reference to the Adobe Kit I was wearing. I confirmed and then acknowledged I recognized him to be Kris. So, I'm thinking in 20 years when I'm old and grey (no reference to you Kris as being old and grey) that I'll run into random people on the trail and they'll recognize me. That'd be cool. I think.

BST North from Shooting Range

2010-03-18T22:29:00.000-07:00

It was great to get out in the sun yesterday on the mountain bike, get a little mud on the bike and start working on my cyclist tan*.

*Dad, if you're reading this, in a few months we should compare tan lines. Your awesome farmer's tan versus my cycling tan. I've always been impressed with my Dad's almost perfect farmer's tan. Growing up, and I'm sure this is still true, he would wear the same style of short sleeve work shirt every day. He tans easily and spent lots of time outside being a farmer and all, but would rarely wear shorts or take off his shirt in the sun. So, when he'd take off his shirt that one time at the lake water skiing, it was an awesome sight indeed. White as white everywhere but his arms and neck!

I started at the shooting range in Orem and headed north on the BST, past Dry Canyon and almost to Battle Creek Canyon before I ran out of time and had to head back. The trail was rideable for sure, but still fairly muddy in 2 or 3 stretches where the snow next to the trail on north facing slopes hadn't yet melted. In some spots that are now dry, the horses had chewed up the trail quite badly, leaving deep pock marks. It made me wonder if horse trail riders (is that what they are called?) have a network of local blogs like the cyclists do here locally. I think I'll look into that, do some google searches you know to see what I can find and maybe post some "constructive" comments about not riding your horse on the trail in February when the dirt is just beginning to thaw into a mud bog mess.

Also, way off topic, but it was a wonderful day today after BYU beat Florida in double OT. I'm excited for the game on Saturday against Kansas St. I think they can take 'em, especially now that they have that losing steak monkey off their back and first game jitters should be gone.

Spring Fever

2010-03-17T09:02:00.001-07:00

It's not quite officially spring but it sure feels like it. A group of us (Miles, Rick, Nick, Brandon, Dave and Ryan) left from the Adobe parking lot at lunch and rode (raced?) out to HWY 92 and back. Unfortunately, about 3 seconds after taking the above picture my front tire popped after I hit a rock. I tried to repair it and my crappy thin spare "race tube"* got a hole in it too. Thanks Tiffany for coming to rescue me.

*I will never buy another such tube in my life to save on weight. It's not worth it. They puncture too easily.

I also got to ride to and from work yesterday, so 3 rides in one day. Today I brought the mtb for my lunch ride. It's going to be pushing 60 degrees and sunny. Hopefully the BST won't be muddy.

New Details on Tour of Utah "Ultimate Challenge"

2010-03-14T18:03:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, I questioned whether the 1,000 Warriors road race would continue in 2010. As it turns out, it looks like the equivalent of last year's 1,000 Warriors will continue as an organized ride called the "Ultimate Challenge." Check out the Tour of Utah's website for updated details. It won't be an official race but the route will be the same, beginning in Park City and finishing at Snowbird after climbing the Alpine Loop and Suncrest (96 miles and 10K of climbing).

Here's my GPS track from the 2009 race:

So, mark your calendars for Saturday, August 14th. I think it will be a great training ride for PCP2P and Lotoja.

Oxygen Deprivation

2010-03-11T21:04:00.000-08:00

Today after work I did some intervals on the water tank road in Orem above the cemetery*. 2 min. 15 seconds each going pretty much as hard as I could handle. It was painful. The type of pain where your lungs burn, your front teeth tingle and even after you stop, there's about a 15 second period where you basically collapse on the handlebars and gasp for air. Then there's the nausea.

*For the locals, the road is in good shape (not muddy) until just before the last steep grade before the top. After that it starts to get soft and rutted from trucks going through the mud. I wonder how much longer till we'll be riding the single track? Next week's weather will hopefully hurry that along.

I was surprised at how hard it is to sustain an intense effort for just over 2 minutes. You see, in my mind, prior to doing these intervals, I was thinking and maybe trying to convince myself that two minutes is so short when compared to the long rides on the bike. The reality is that when you're anaerobic (without air), 2 minutes seems like an eternity.

I read an article the other day in which a cycling coach said he believes that the best cyclists are those that can tolerate pain the most, specifically referring to the pain that's inflicted when completing these intervals. Makes sense. If you don't ever put in the hard work, you'll limit your level of fitness and ability on the bike. On the flip side, you have to make sure you don't over train. I like that.

We'll see how it goes for me. I'm planning to do some sort of structured interval training at least once per week and hopefully twice per week as I get stronger and as the season progresses.

2010 Tour of Utah - 1,000 Warriors Dead?

2010-03-09T21:36:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, the Tour of Utah issued a press release on the dates for its 2010 stage race. It'll begin on August 17th with the prologue and end with the Park City to Snowbird stage on Sunday, August 22nd*.

*I may just have to sneak out the back door of church to see the pro peloton zip by on the climb up Suncrest. Actually, the best place to watch would be on the descent of the Alpine Loop at that first hairpin turn below the summit. I'd like to see how fast they can handle that corner.

And regarding the related infamous "1,000 Warriors Race" that I rode in last year, it looks like per the release that there are more details to come as to what type of race (or ride?) this will shape up to be:

"The Tour of Utah will also include a non-competitive ride for enthusiast** cyclists the Saturday before called "The Ultimate Challenge." Detailed information for The Ultimate Challenge will be released soon."

**What's up with the use of the word "enthusiast" cyclists. Come on! Give us more credit than that. How about amateur racers? That sounds much better. When I think of enthusiast cyclists, I think of the ladies that sign up for the 20 mile annual AF donut ride or whatever it's called.

Anyhow, based on the name, "The Ultimate Challenge" I'm assuming/hoping it will be something similar to last year, except that if the route includes the Alpine Loop, I'm confident that this year the organizers and UDOT will be smart enough to close the road for a couple of hours. I did notice that cyclingutah.com has a "Tour of Utah Amateur Criterium" on its calendar for August 21st, but I can't imagine a crit being described as "The Ultimate Challenge." Stay tuned.

New Bike

2010-03-07T16:19:00.000-08:00

I finally took the plunge and bought a high-end road bike. I've been riding an enthusiast level Trek with a triple crank for the past 2 years. It served me well but it was definitely time to upgrade. My new ride is a 56" 2009 Specialized Tarmac S-Works SL2 with SRAM Red. The wheels are Roval Fusée SL E5's (1,450 grams in case you're interested), the crank is the S-Works FACT carbon 53 x 39t and the pedals are Look Keo 2 Max Carbon. I'm a little concerned about the 11 X 26t cassette paired with the 53 X 39t crank, especially when I like to climb and I weigh 185.....okay, I lied I'm really 187 but soon I'll be 185 if I could just stop eating so much on the weekends. Fortunately, I already have a Dura Ace 7900 12 X 28t cassette that I picked up on eBay that I'll probably swap out. I'm pretty sure I'll need the extra 2 teeth about the time I'm climbing past Mutual Dell on the Alpine Loop.

This all ads up to bike weighing a mere 15.4 pounds! I know, I know, it's an expensive way to drop four pounds when I could instead pay a really good trainer to help me shed 20 pounds from my gut. I guess now with a nice bike, I have no more excuses for being slow.

I took the bike out yesterday for a long Saturday ride. This was my fourth time on the bike and by the end of the ride, I was finally becoming comfortable with the aggressive geometry of a race bike. My first ride was earlier in the week up the south side of Suncrest and on the descent I was very tentative as I wasn't used to being so low in the drops. Overall the bike has a very fast, stiff, crisp and responsive ride feel and I'm looking forward to many good rides on it this season.

Bike maintenance

2010-02-25T23:21:00.001-08:00

Tonight after work I stopped by the LBS and bought a new chain for my road bike. I've known my bike was due for a new chain for a while but never got around to purchasing one. I hate to admit it, since it reflects my lack of attention to maintenance, but my chain probably has 3,000+ miles on it. Way past due. I also picked up a chain tool. I was surprised how easy it is to remove the chain. You simply lay the chain in the tool, tighten the threads on the driver pin and out pops the chain's connecting pin. Installing the new chain is easy too, except that I wasn't thinking about chain length (doh) until after I had the chain connected and noticed it was sagging against the rear derailleur cage like this:

I took out a few links, connected it back again and thought I was done. Not so fast. See the problem with procrastinating the maintenance on your chain is that it causes other parts to wear quickly, like the cassette. This became apparent when the new chain started hopping down to the next smaller rear chain ring whenever I back pedaled the crank as a result of the cogs worn to the point that the new chain wouldn't match up properly. So, now I'm going to have to purchase a new cassette.

This little lesson on bike maintenance reminds me of something a guy told me the other night while I was doing a church financial audit at one of the local wards. We were discussing how the church finances are simple to keep straight as long as you do the little things each month to stay on top of things. He commented how he tells his daughter that "it's much easier to keep things clean than to clean them up."

Isn't that so true with many things in life. The little things we do or don't do on a consistent basis whether it be mechanical maintenance like timely changing the oil in your car or replacing your chain on your bike or maybe physical maintenance like eating healthy or exercising daily if neglected end up resulting in big problems down the road. No, not earth shattering stuff....just common sense, but sometimes it's good to be reminded of these things. So, please, do yourself a favor and make sure you change your chain more frequently than I did.

St. George

2010-02-16T21:24:00.000-08:00

I packed up the SUV Thursday after work and headed south to St. George for the long weekend. We had a great time as a family playing in the sun* and I was able to squeeze in some bike rides in the morning.

*We stayed at a Pelican Hills condo which I highly recommend. The condo itself was fabulous and the clubhouse/HOA facilities included a theater room with plush leather recliner chairs (very nice), an outdoor pool that was heated, a nice big deep hot tub and tennis courts.

Saturday morning I got up early and rode Barrel Roll, which is located just minutes from Santa Clara. I was planning to ride for several hours but ended up getting a hole in the side wall of my rear tire just before finishing one lap. Even though my plans were cut short, I had a blast and the weather was fabulous. If I were to ride Barrel Roll again, I'd probably park my car in Santa Clara and climb up the dirt road for a better cardio workout as there was a decent climb from the paved road to the trail head.

View from the top of the Barrel Roll loop:

There were a few tricky spots that I found challenging and fun to try until I was able to clear. I rode the loop counterclockwise. Next time I'll probably go clockwise.

On Saturday I headed out early again and did a loop on the road bike that went through Gunlock, up to Veyo (that last climb before Veyo felt good) and then descended into St. George. Along the way, I rode for a few miles with a guy named Jason who is training for the St. George Ironman Triathlon in May. I have a huge amount of respect for these people, including some of my good friends, who are training for the Ironman. I have a hard time comprehending the sacrifice and effort it takes to prepare for and finish an Ironman triathlon. Jason for example was doing a 1/2 ironman that day or 1 mile swim, 66 mile bike and 13 mile run. Hats off to them....I don't really have any desire to put myself through that much pain.

Here's the volcano near Veyo. This part of the loop is deceiving because you're thinking it's all downhill from here, but the climbing seems to continue on and on. It'll make for a challenging Ironman bike leg.

Snow Canyon:

Snowshoe Video

2010-02-08T20:56:00.000-08:00

On Saturday I opted for the snowshoes instead of the bike. I wasn't disappointed except that next time I'll pack the Superfly 29er too and go for a post snowshoe climb up the Alpine Loop from Pine Hollow. There were lots of snowmobiles, so the road was packed pretty good.

AF Canyon - Pine Hollow Snowshoe from bjchild on Vimeo.

Sweet Potatoes and Snow Biking

2010-01-21T21:31:00.000-08:00

Sweet Potato

In an effort to improve my cycling performance, I've been watching my diet pretty closely, at least during the day at work when I can closely control what I eat. When I get home, it goes downhill as the cupboard is stocked with the likes of Oreos, Dark Chocolate Pomegranate* Toblerone, etc. So, I've been frequently eating at lunch one of the best foods you can eat: sweet potatoes. I used to hate sweet potatoes but now I love them. Here's the deal. This is the number one vegetable you can eat. Why? Here's why:

It's packed with vitamins and minerals. Vitamin A or beta carotene (tons of it...4X the daily recommended allowance). Vitamin A is great for proper eye health. Vitamin C equal to 42% of the daily recommended allowance. Vitamin E and B6 too. The sweet potato also is a good source of manganese, copper, potassium and iron.

Low on the glycemic index making it a "good carb".

Lots of fiber. Be sure to eat the skin and it has more than oatmeal.

No fat

26 grams of carbs, including only 5 grams of sugars. As a cyclist, carbs are the fuel you need. In fact I may test these on a long ride.

Even some protein (2 grams)

The sweet potato is easy to prepare too. You just poke some holes in it with a fork and toss it in the microwave for 6-8 minutes. I like mine with brown sugar and a little butter. If you don't want butter, it's still tasty with just salt and pepper. Be creative and try it with different toppings. You'll be surprised at how good they taste and how they will satisfy your hunger for longer than normal.

*You've gotta try these. If you love dark chocolate, you'll get addicted. Costco has it.

Snow Biking

Now.....changing topics. If you were to look at the forecast this week, you'd plan on riding the trainer every day. As it turns out, the weather has been quite nice. At least down in Orem, the snow has been falling at night or in the morning and then during the day, or at least at lunch time, the weather has cleared up and it's beautiful. Not too cold either. I've been taking advantage of the light 2-3 inches of daily new snow in the Timp Foothills. Yesterday I was doing laps up the water tank road until my chain broke. I was disappointed as I had one more climb in me. Today, Jonathan from work joined me and we road up the water tank road to the top of Dragon's Back and then dropped down the Alta Aqueduct Road to Timpanogos Park and back to our cars at the shooting range via the Parkway trail and through the streets of Orem.

I'm discovering it's a ton of fun riding in the snow. A whole new experience. I thought I'd get bored, but I actually really enjoyed riding the flats of the water tank road from above the race course to the top of Dragon's Back. The snow gets deeper the further you go, which provides some resistance and makes it a more challenging ride than if there were no snow. The descents are fun too, although you have pay attention and watch out for ice underneath (make sure your tires have low pressure for traction....I think I'm running around 20 psi tubeless).

I should mention I attempted the singletrack last week (Betty) but it wasn't that fun. The snow is too deep and hikers' tracks make the ground too uneven, although maybe with some practice and more tires smoothing out the trails, it may work. So, get up there and ride! It's a good time.

Here's Jonathan descending the Alta Aqueduct Road:

Also, I saw another Bald Eagle today soaring above us while we were on the water tank road. Here's a picture (I know, crappy picture from my Blackberry):

Alta Aqueduct Road

2010-01-19T21:24:00.000-08:00

Yesterday at lunchtime, I went exploring. I started at the bottom of Provo Canyon on the Provo River Parkway then turned off onto the gravel road at Mt. Timpanogos Park and started climbing. The Parkway trail was a slushy, miserable, wet mess, but once I was on the double track it was nice as there was about 2-4 inches of new snow covering the packed snow and ice underneath. I didn't know where the road I was on would lead me and just kept climbing. As it turned out, it ended up at the gate at the top of Dragon's Back. I later discovered this road I was on is called the Alta Aqueduct Road. Not a bad choice if you don't have enough time to climb Squaw Peak.

Looking down across Provo Canyon towards Squaw Peak:

Here's a map with the GPS:

Watch out when in Provo

2010-01-17T17:10:00.001-08:00

Saturday I rode for about 3 1/2 hours along the route in red:

As I made my way south on 9th East in Provo, I stepped up the level of alertness about 5 notches. You see, I lived in Provo for about 4 years and I know what type of drivers roam there. It's a good thing I was on heightened alert because seconds later a little Honda Civic buzzed by me with only a foot or two to spare. It wasn't 20 seconds later as I was approaching 820N that another student waiting to turn left on 820 N while on 9th E cut right in front of me. Again, lucky me that I was anticipating such a move and I braked hard to slow down enough to avoid a potential collision. I'm not sayin' all drivers in Provo are like these two, but there are certainly enough to warrant paying extra attention if you have to cross through this area on your bike.

I really enjoy riding the roads on the southeast side of Provo Lake (very few cars and long stretches of country roads where you can maintain long consistent efforts), but to get there from northern Utah County you don't have many options that don't involve navigating through lots of busy roads and stop lights. In the past, I've hopped onto Geneva Rd. from Vineyard to 600 S Provo, but Geneva Rd. has too many trucks, the shoulders are narrow and speeds are high. This time I took 400 S from Vineyard all the way east to Canyon Road and then south connecting to 9th East. It's actually a good route with the exception of the 9th East section that runs by the BYU campus (where I almost got ran over....). I think next time, I'll detour the 9th East section by going up behind the Provo temple along the bench on 1450 E.

Also, Miles has again made some awesome video of the lunch rides, this time on snow. Here's the link. And yes.......that's me who turfs it at the top of Squaw Peak. Thanks Miles!

Riding with the Local Legends up Squaw

2010-01-13T21:49:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I was with a group of 9 guys that biked to the top of Squaw Peak at lunch time in the snow. The conditions were amazing. I was afraid it was going to be icy but it wasn't at all. It was packed powder all the way, fairly grippy and similar to riding on dirt. I'd never really ridden in the snow, so this was a fun, new experience.

We had Rick, Kenny and Brad battled it out on their single speed 29ers to the top. I of course didn't see the finish as I was far behind, but I heard Kenny made it to the top first followed by Brad and Rick.

Here's a short video taken at the lookout point (you'll appreciate my awesome video skills):

Squaw Peak from bjchild on Vimeo.

Saturday road ride

2010-01-10T20:53:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I've done a long road ride, so it felt great to get out for 3 hours on Saturday. It was 21° F when I started, yet I stayed warm the entire ride with the exception of my left foot, which for some reason went numb (right foot was fine). I tried loosening my buckle to allow better circulation, but that didn't help. I think I'm going to have to purchase some new neoprene toe covers as mine are worn through on the bottom. I ended up duct taping the vent holes and that certainly helped. I figure with some new toe covers plus some Craft 3mm neoprene booties over top will do the trick. With this setup, I'll hopefully need only one pair of Smartwool socks, leaving more room inside my shoe.

Here's the map of my ride:

I wasn't planning on climbing the south side of Suncrest at the end of the ride, but I ended up meeting and riding with a cool guy named Davie (like Davie Crocket) while riding through Alpine and he convinced me to ride to the top with him. It's amazing how much more fun it is to ride with someone versus solo. Davie told me how he's a trail runner but had to give up running and took up cycling due to issues with his IT band. He said he likes cycling but would rather run any day. I don't get how one could prefer running over cycling, but I felt bad that he had to give up his favorite activity.

Snowshoeing in the Cascades

2010-01-02T15:15:00.000-08:00

I spent some time in Leavenworth, WA with my family over the Christmas break. About 8 miles from Leavenworth is the Chiwaukum Creek trail head that leads into the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, some of the most beautiful and pristine forested country I've ever seen. When I was in Scouts growing up, I went on 2 or 3 backpacking trips in this area and those experiences left a deep impression on me. So, it was a real treat to go snowshoeing there one early morning. I only wished I would have had more time to explore. Here are a few pictures I took on the hike:

Chiwaukum Creek:

Bald Eagle Sighting and Snowshoes on Christmas

2009-12-25T20:20:00.001-08:00

Awesome day today! Besides it being Christmas, I was able to go snowshoeing for a quick hour up in the foothills of Lone Peak. As I was getting out of my car, I noticed this Bald Eagle in a tree not more than 50 yards away.

I could hardly believe my eyes and got within about 50 ft. of the tree that it was perched in before it flew away.

I did some brief research and confirmed that Bald Eagles in Utah are extremely rare with 11 nesting pairs in Utah in 2007. It sounds like the population is making a comeback, so keep your eyes open for them when you're out and about.

Climbing in my new 25" MSR Lightning Ascent snowshoes was a blast. They are super light at 3 lbs. 12 oz., have great traction for climbing and I think the Omniture green paint job on them is an added bonus. I'm looking forward to using them frequently this winter to stay in shape and mix it up when not riding the bike. If anyone wants to go snowshoeing, let me know. I think we could have some good lunch meetings while hoofing it in the Timp Foothills.

Lunch Ride - Road Bikes Now

2009-12-19T22:12:00.000-08:00

On Friday at lunch, a group of us met at Omniture's parking lot and rode to HWY 92 and back. It was fun to get back on the road bike after riding the mountain bike solid since October. I really needed that ride to help offset all of the extra calories I've been consuming lately.

I don't know if it's like this at your home, but on our kitchen counter top there's a variety and seemingly continuous supply of "neighbor gifts" such as frosted sugar cookies, Sees chocolates, candy cane bark, etc. Since I seem to have very poor will power, I end up consuming my fair share of these items. Also, I had a business trip to San Francisco earlier in the week during which we ate some great food, including dinner one night at the Slanted Door. It's a phenomenal Vietnamese restaurant overlooking the San Francisco Bay. We ordered a wide variety of dishes family style. I highly recommend the japanese yellowtail, crispy imperial rolls and the niman ranch shaking beef (cubed filet mignon with lime sauce).

What else is new? Well, I took my 3 sons on a hike in the snow today up in the foothills of Lone Peak. We started at the base of Hog Hollow and hiked up one of the jeep roads for about a mile and then turned around. The snow off the trail was about 8 inches deep and crusted over. We saw probably 50 deer and my boys had fun exploring. I was most impressed with my 4 year old who climbed pretty well and didn't once complain. I'm looking forward to exploring this area more on snowshoes this winter. I'm thinking it will make a good before work cardio workout, since the trail head is only 5 minutes from my house.

Sad Day Indeed

2009-12-07T15:17:00.001-08:00

We've had some fun times riding the timp foothills at lunch this fall/winter, but I'm afraid biking the dirt this year has come to an end. At lunch today, I drove up to the shooting range to take the above picture. Time to get some snowshoes? cross country skis?

We enjoyed one last ride on Friday (yep, December 4th). We had a good group of guys show up, probably 10+, and ended up riding from the shooting range up the water tank road, down Bramber (fun downhill)* to University, climb up to Indian Springs trail head, Indian Springs to BST, descend BST to highway and ascend dragon's back. Aaron, myself, Brandon and a few others bailed at this point (check out Brandon's video of us climbing dragon's back - yup that's me 2nd to last....). The rest of the group** continued up Frank to Altar and down Dry Canyon.

*PHAST Dan and Mike Y. collided at the bottom of a particularly steep and loose section of this trail. I shouldn't talk though, I came oh so close to flying off the trail myself. In fact someone behind me yelled out, "stay on target."Like I said, there were 10+ riders and we were all amped to going riding, so it was a bit jumpy for the first part of the ride.

**must all be either self-employed, out of work or on vacation cause at this point we'd been riding for an hour and a half. I was jealous I had to get back to work.

Btw, as a side note, the above referenced Mike Y. (Steve Young's brother) is my 2nd cousin. Mike doesn't know that and sometime when I get a chance, I'll let him know, but it's true. You see, my grandma is sisters with his grandma. Small world.

11:45 AM - Best time of the day

2009-12-01T19:46:00.000-08:00

Lately, I find myself feeling extremely antsy to get out and ride at lunch time no matter how busy things are at work. For example, last week was the year end accounting close (yes, Adobe has a November fiscal YE). Typically this means I'm glued to my desk staring at spreadsheets all day and I end up working through lunch and eating something at my desk.

Despite it being hectic with the accounting close, I found a way to fit a few mountain bike lunch rides with the local Utah County crew (Rick, Ricky, Aaron, Dave B, Jon, Nick, Miles, Brandon, Dan and Adam [sorry if I left anyone out]). I actually think these rides have helped me be more productive. You see, knowing that I'm basically cutting out 2 hours (desk to trail and back to desk) means I have to be more focused in the morning in order to get all of my work finished. Then in the afternoon, I'm wide awake due to the cleansing effect (no not that type) that comes from redlining your heart rate for 60 minutes.

It's been simply awesome lately and I'll be sad when this all comes to an end soon with winter approaching.

Here's the route we took today (shooting range, water tank road, betty, lower belt, frank, dragon's back, gravel road, race track, betty, roller coaster, water tank road, shooting range):

You'll have to check out some of the video footage of the lunch ride scene that Miles posts on his blog. He has an awesome helmet camera that's been capturing it all. I may have to ask for one of those for Christmas....

Thanksgiving Day Road Ride

2009-11-28T21:44:00.000-08:00

Since I bought my Superfly in October, I've been riding on the dirt non-stop. I wanted to ride the "Turkey Trot" on Thanksgiving morning, but it ended up not working with the family schedule (am I the only one with this issue?). Instead, I dusted off the skinny tire bike and left the house at 7 AM for a climb up the south side of Suncrest, with the thought of returning before the family rolled out of bed.

I'd forgotten how much I hate the pain of the first 10 minutes of the steep part of that climb. I live close to the base of the climb, so despite my efforts to try and warm up and get my blood flowing before the grade ramps up, it never seems to be adequate and I end up gasping for air. Once I was in a good groove though, I just enjoyed the rest of the climb and didn't push it too hard. I made it to the top in around 25 minutes, which is a long shot from my TT personal best back in August, but like I said, I wasn't pushing it. Actually, to be honest, I've gained a few pounds lately and it felt like I had lead in my wheels.

As I was going back down, I had to stop and take this picture of the sun rising over the mountains.
I'm thankful for many things*, but on this Thanksgiving ride, I couldn't help but to be grateful for the beautiful mountains and valleys here in Utah and of course for the bikes that I get to ride through/up/down/across them.

*At Thanksgiving dinner later that day we each had to say what we were thankful for. I really wanted to say I was grateful for bikes, especially my new Superfly, but I showed restraint and expressed my gratitude for more important things.

Got my fix

2009-11-22T20:10:00.001-08:00

I went to the BYU vs. Airforce football game Saturday night with my father-in-law. It turned out to be a decent game. I was glad when BYU was up big at the end of the 3rd quarter as I was planning to bail early in order to beat the traffic and fit in a mtb ride before my "committed time" to be home.

I should have just left at the end of the 3rd quarter, but as it turned out, Airforce scored 2 touchdowns in the fourth, so I stayed around longer than planned.

I've never left a football game in such a hurry. I pretty much jogged the whole way from the stadium to my car.

Once on my bike, starting at the firing range, I rode up the water tank road and took this picture of Orem and Utah Lake at the top of the climb above the race course.

I headed up Betty, then turned onto Crank. I love climbing Crank as there aren't too many rocks, yet there are some steep enough spots to make it challenging and fun. By this point it was dark, so I turned on my headlight. Most all of Crank didn't have snow except for this stretch of 50 or so yards:

Shortly after taking this picture, I startled some animal that was about 5 ft. from the trail. It was probably just a bird or a small rodent, but it jumped and I jumped too.

I finished the ride descending on Ireland and back down the water tank road. It was a short but fun ride. Probably one of the last of the season.

Pinewood Derby

2009-11-21T21:42:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago, I was trying to get an idea from my oldest son Austin of what type of pinewood derby car he'd like to build. We looked on the Internet for ideas and saw an abundance of different car designs. There was one shaped like a hot dog, another one like a pencil and so forth. I asked him if he liked any of the designs. He said, "No Dad, I don't really care what it looks like...... I just want to win.....I want the trophy."

Wow! Nothing like a little bit of pressure to put on the old man. I mean, I learned a trick or two from my Dad when I was a cub scout and we built some pretty fast cars back in the day, but that was 25+ years ago (yikes!! I'm getting old).

Well, I'm happy to report that we (I mean Austin) did not disappoint. His car won every heat. It really wasn't even close. What can I say, it was a blast to win. Austin was beaming ear to ear the whole night. Okay, I admit, I was beaming ear to ear too.

Here's a pic of the cars we built. The pink one is Austin's and the purple is mine (actually now, my younger son Isaac officially has title to it as I "gave" it to him).

You're wondering why two cars? Since I'm a den leader, I had the opportunity to build a car too. For the most part, I used my car as the "guinea pig" or test car. For each step of the build process, I'd do the work on my car first and let Austin watch. Then, he'd work on his car. Believe me, we worked together hard and pulled out all the stops to build the fastest car. On the wheels and axles alone, we spent probably two hours grinding and sanding and polishing until late at night.

My pet peeve is when it's assumed that I built the car and that's why it won. Sure, I was very influential and involved in the build, but Austin was there at my side participating in every step of the process, including the initial design discussions, driving around 1/2 of last Saturday together to purchase the supplies we needed, measuring, marking, sanding, painting, grinding, straightening and baking (yes, we did bake and it's a secret that I won't reveal....sorry).

Anyhow, we both really enjoyed the time we spent together building the car, learning together and to see the hard work pay off with a win was very rewarding. Sometimes in life hard work doesn't always directly translate into a victory, but when it does, how sweet it is!

(no trophy, but Austin wasn't complaining about the 1st place cert.)

A Belated Tour de St. George Century Report + Encounter with a Scorpion

2009-11-14T22:46:00.000-08:00

I'm not entirely sure why, but I didn't post anything on my blog during October. It wasn't that I didn't have anything to blog about. I think maybe it had to do with Adobe's acquisition of Omniture and sort of being in a funk not knowing what my future would hold. During that time, I was able to escape with the family down to St. George for a long weekend where I rode in the Fall Tour de St. George. So, here's my long overdue report on the ride.

The Start
Getting ready to ride:

I should mention that a few minutes after this picture, I was riding through the parking lot and this guy swerved hard left right in front of me. I pretty much locked up my brakes in order to avoid t-boning him.

I was with a friend and his wife at the start and we decided to let the hoarded mass of people pass through and thin out before we even began pedaling. This may sound like a smart thing to do on a century ride, as one would think you could avoid participating in a potential pile up caused by nervous and inexperienced riders, but in reality it wasn't a good idea and I don't recommend it. The issue is these century rides have several hundred entrants, a good portion of which haven't before ridden on a group bike ride. These types typically are riding one of the shorter 10, 20 or 50 mile options rather than the full 100 miles. Anyhow, it was nuts navigating through all of these people on mountain bikes, beach cruisers, etc., especially when they'd ride 4 people wide and you'd have to cross the center line to pass them. I bet within the first 5 miles there were 4-5 separate incidents of people going down from crossing wheels and the like. Luckily, I avoided all the carnage. Next time I'll be at the front, even if I'm not planning on pushing the pace.

The Route
I'd give the route a 8 on a 10 scale. I particularly enjoyed the first 60 miles of the ride and not just because I was fresh. It had some nice, smooth roads with generous shoulders and a good mix of short climbs and downhill. I particularly enjoyed riding around Sand Hollow Reservoir (including the climb on the east side) with the beautiful red rock scenery and also motoring through the country roads south of Hurricane. After Hurricane there was more climbing here and there and then a long, gradual descent towards and past Quail Creek Reservoir. This section of the road was fairly rough and bumpy. Any discomfort from the road was offset by the thrill of the downhill ride. If UDOT would resurface that road, that downhill stretch (the frontage road parallel to I-15) would be a joyous stretch to ride.

The back half of the century was highlighted by the long climb up to the top of Snow Canyon. It was a challenge, especially with the temperature on that day above 90. The descent through Snow Canyon was rewarding, except I couldn't really enjoy it as I getting dehydrated - see more below.

The Rest Stops
The quality of the stuff (food, water, energy drinks, etc.) at the rest stops seemed to be adequate. I didn't stop, except for water, until the lunch stop at mile 60 and then once again at mile 90. The lunch was a sandwich, cookie and I believe fruit? (can't recall exactly). I mostly relied on my oatmeal for breakfast, CarboRocket and a handful of gels. My biggest complaint for the ride organizers was the fact that they didn't have an aid station at the top of the Snow Canyon climb. About a mile from the top, both of my bottles were completely dry. I thought, no big deal, I'm sure there will be a station at the bottom of the canyon. Not so. The aid station was another 5 miles after the bottom of the canyon and it wasn't flat getting there. In fact, I was so parched, I came a hair away from knocking on some one's door and asking for water.

Post Ride Food
Not much to report here. There was no "real" food at the finish line, just sodas and some fruit, which isn't a big deal for me as I'd rather go get something to eat at a restaurant of my choice after taking a shower and cleaning up.

Summary
All said, this century was my favorite of the 3 centuries I rode this year (Zion to St. George and Tour De Cure were the other two) and I'll most likely be back next year.

-----------------------

Scorpion Encounter

While on the above noted trip to St. George, I found this little bugger in the bathtub of our condo in Hurricane. I of course didn't tell my wife about it and quietly took this picture. Then I forgot to tell her about it. Two weeks later I got a call at work frantically asking about this picture and where it came from as she'd seen it on the camera.

Anyone know what kind of scorpion this is? I know nothing about scorpions. I imagine they are common in Southern Utah.

Bad weather tomorrow

2009-11-11T21:11:00.000-08:00

Do you find yourself checking the weather to see what time the storm is supposed to roll in with the hope of stealing one more ride hours before the bad weather hits? Here's the weather forecast near my home for tonight:

TONIGHT: MOSTLY CLOUDY. LOWS IN THE MID 40S.

Okay, so mid 40s is definitely rideable weather in the morning. Just throw on the bike light, arm warmers (probably leg warmers too) and you're good to go.

Here's the forecast for tomorrow (Thursday):

THURSDAY: BREEZY. A CHANCE OF RAIN IN THE MORNING...THEN RAIN LIKELY IN THE AFTERNOON. CLOUDY...COOLER. HIGHS IN THE MID 50S. NORTHWEST WINDS 15 TO 25 MPH LATE MORNING THROUGH AFTERNOON. CHANCE OF RAIN 70 PERCENT.

A "chance of rain" feels like maybe a 25% chance? That means a 75% chance of no rain in the morning and if it's mid 40s, I'm on the bike for sure.

So here's Plan A. Set the alarm clock for 5 AM. Be on the bike by 6 AM. 7:30 AM finish ride and shower in time for 8 AM meeting.

Plan B (assuming storm comes early) is to head to the gym for a spin class.

Hopefully it's Plan A and I can steal one more ride.

Erratic Steering

2009-11-10T21:33:00.000-08:00

Today I went on another awesome lunch ride in the Timp Foothills with some guys from work and some other friends. We took advantage of the beautiful fall weather while it lasts (no arm or leg warmers needed).

By the way, I wore my new Twin Six jersey for the first time. Now I have exactly 2 jerseys that fit me and exactly 2 that don't. I need (want?) more cycling clothes, but after buying the Superfly last month, I better lay low for another month. Besides, the cycling season is all but over, so maybe I'll save it for a trainer (buying a trainer is so depressing) or maybe some snowshoes.

Back to the lunch ride. We climbed up the normal route past the water towers, up Betty and then East on "Kenny's Belt Route" (I think this is the name), which starts out fairly mellow and then there's some fairly steep climbing. My heart rate over the first 4 minutes on the Belt Route tells the story: 122 (right after taking a breather at the trail fork), 128, 133, 137, 141, 146, 149, 152, 158 (okay, starting to feel it), 159, 161, 161, 162, 166, 169, 170 (can someone put me out of my misery?), 169, 168, 167, 168, 167 (trying to recover by pedaling slower to ease the pain), 168, 169 (grade picks up again), 167, 166, 165 (the worst is over as the trail starts to flatten out).

During the period when my heart was at 165+ (and probably for a while after that), the two guys behind me were probably wondering if I'd ever ridden a mountain bike before as I was weaving all over the trail. I'm hoping that as my riding skills improve, I won't be spending so much wasted energy trying to keep my bike straight on the trail.

Jacob's Ladder

2009-11-08T19:33:00.001-08:00

Saturday was my 2nd time riding / exploring the Corner Canyon trails in Draper. I drove 5 minutes from my house to the top of Suncrest, parked and hopped on the still muddy jeep road that runs into Suncrest Dr. near Eagle Crest Drive. The road was deeply rutted thanks to the off road vehicles that ignored the posted no motorized vehicle signs.

I made my way to the bottom of Jacob's Ladder via Brock's, the upper part of Canyon Hollow and then down the dirt road. I started climbing Jacob's Ladder and hadn't gone 100 yards through the scrub oak when a guy who yielded to me muttered something as I passed by. I thought he said, "one-way dude" but wasn't sure. The next biker I saw descending was a lady and I asked her if it was a one way trail and she said "not that I know." So I kept climbing. It wasn't long and the trail became pretty steep as it headed straight up the spine of the sharp ridge. I struggled to keep my balance on the steep grade as I grinded it out in my granny gear and ending up bailing several times. It was definitely a challenge, but I really enjoyed it. The steep upper part of the trail is a mix of banked bobsled-like chutes and unique rocky limestone outcrops.

I made it to the top and could see that everyone else climbed from the other side of the mountain on this double track.

As I caught my breath at the top, I met a few really nice guys (Brandon, Erik and Mike) and they explained that most people do Jacob's Ladder as a downhill ride (of course). They invited me to join them on the descent.

These guys had high-end full suspension bikes that you could tell they'd ridden hard and often. I let them lead out. I enjoyed the ride down, except that I found I'm pretty timid on the hairpin switchbacks. I'll have to practice. After Jacob's Ladder, we rode down Ghost Falls and some other trails that I'm not sure of the name. I finished the ride by climbing up Clark's and then back to my car.

New Drug and I'm Hooked

2009-11-06T20:40:00.001-08:00

A few weeks ago I purchased this beauty:

It's a 2009 Gary Fisher Superfly 29er. I've been having so much fun with it, that I've been riding both in the early morning before work and at lunch time. It doesn't help that 5 minutes from my work are some awesome trails in the foothills of Mt. Timpanogos.

Here's a map of the trails I've been riding (thanks KanyonKris for making this map, it's very helpful):

Today being Friday, 67 degrees (is it really November??) and the bossman out of the office, I took a little bit of a longer lunch ride*. I climbed up the gravel jeep road past the water tanks, then hopped onto the single track trail Betty straight up to the Altar, a place where the trails intersect near a cairn. I've noticed my climbing skills are getting better (still pretty weak) but at least I wasn't bailing on every steep section of the trail. Just before the Altar, there's a very steep and rocky section that I hiked. It looks like there's short bypass trail that you can take to avoid that section. I'll have to try that next time (I hate hike a biking).

*Technically I think you're only supposed to take 1 hour for lunch. Usually lunch rides end up being more like an 1 1/2 hours. Today it was 2 hours. Bossman: In case you read this, I did stay late to make up for it.

After Altar, I then headed west on Lament, which is a nice trail through some meadows. There are 3 or 4 steep spots on this section. I did better than last time but still had to hike twice. I'm finding that balance, momentum, steering and keeping your center of gravity in the right spot are keys to climbing.

After Lament, I descended on Crank, then connected over to Blackbird and then back to the water tank road.

There are so many things I love about riding the mountain bike. For one, it reminds me of my childhood days riding dirt bikes on the farm. I've also enjoyed the new challenge of learning to climb on the mountain bike. Not only does it require excellent fitness (just like on a road bike), but it also requires some technical skills, of which I have very little at this point. Plus, there are so many awesome trails to ride and explore in the beautiful mountains close to my home. I've only scratched the surface, so I think I'm going to be doing this for a very long time.

American Fork Canyon - Doesn't get much better

2009-09-20T16:40:00.000-07:00

One of the best things about where I live is being 20 minutes from the mouth of American Fork Canyon. It's my favorite place to ride. I'm saddened though that with fall and winter approaching, the days are numbered before I'll have to ride elsewhere.

So until the snow falls, I'm determined to ride it as much as possible. This past week, I climbed the canyon twice, once in the early morning and once in the evening. Hopefully I don't bore with the details. If you've ever ridden this ride, hopefully my write up will inspire you to "hit it" hard a few more times up the canyon over the next few weeks.

Evening Climb

I started up the canyon after work. It was a beautiful night with the sunset lighting up the mountainside with a soft golden glow. The wind was hardly a breeze, which I especially noticed on the approach to the canyon, since this portion usually presents a stiff 20 mph headwind.

My legs felt pretty good, so I pushed the pace in hopes of making it to the top in record time. By the time I reached Pine Hollow, it was starting to get dark quickly. However, because I was gaining altitude, I'd go in and out of the low light. Out when on a switchback heading south and then into the light again as I changed directions to the north. I thought of turning around so that I wouldn't be descending in the dark, but I quickly dismissed that idea and continued.

On the last switchback before mile marker 18, I passed a guy walking on the road alone in his street clothes. He definitely didn't look like the outdoors man type. More like the serial killer type. I said hello as I passed him while thinking how strange that was to encounter him there.

Anyhow, I made it to the top in a personal best time (I won't mention my time as it's nothing to brag about). Nothing like that feeling of accomplishment and progress.

Here's the sunset from the summit:

I quickly put on my jacket, leg warmers and beanie hat and started the descent. By then it was completely dark. I thought it was odd how I didn't see the same "serial killer" guy on the descent. Maybe he was just camping off the side of the road near the summit?

I have pretty decent LED bike lights*, but my batteries were low from the previous day's ride, so it didn't take long for my headlight to drop from high beam to low beam and there's a big difference between high and low on my head light.

*I'll do a separate post on my tail light. It basically makes me look like an ambulance (seriously-that awesome).

I was surprised at the number of cars coming down the canyon at night. The descent took forever, but I made it safely to the mouth of the canyon and then back home.

Lesson learned: Make sure your light batteries are fully charged if you're going to descend AF canyon (or any other canyon) at night. I actually really enjoy riding in the dark when I have a bright light, but it's next to miserable with a dim light.

Morning Climb

On Saturday morning I was at the mouth of the canyon at around 6:15 AM. Still dark as the sunrise wasn't until around 7:15 AM.

The ride was pretty cold. I didn't wear a jacket but had my leg and arm warmers.

Nothing too eventful on the way up, except that I passed Chad Lewis (former BYU and Eagles tight end) on his mountain bike. A little bit about Chad Lewis. Chad Lewis is one of the coolest guys ever. I don't know him personally (he doesn't know my name and wouldn't recognize me), but he and I attended BYU at the same time and I used to run into him frequently in the training room and weight room when I was on the track team (yeah, hard to believe I know but it's true). He was always so friendly to me and I've only heard good things about him ever since. He's one of those guys that consistently exceeded expectations. He began as a walk-on at BYU and ended up as a 3-time pro bowl receiver in the NFL. What a stud. What an inspiration for hacker cyclists like me who are trying to get fast and exceed expectations. So, I felt inspired when I buzzed by him. I think I kicked it up a notch too once I was far enough away for him to not hear my heavy breathing.

The descent was cold. I had my wind jacket, full finger gloves, beanie, leg warmers and toe warmers and I was freezing. Next time I'll wear my warm jacket.

Here's a picture I took on the way down the canyon:

I ended up flatting about a mile before the mouth of the canyon. Thanks to the 1/2 dozen people that either pulled off the side of the road or stopped riding to ask whether I needed help.

So, there you go. American Fork Canyon. Pretty awesome place to ride.

Drafting

2009-09-15T09:54:00.000-07:00

Ever felt the urge to draft behind a semi while driving on the freeway?

Well, several weeks ago after I'd just finished a bike race and had been riding in a pack all day, I was zooming along on the freeway in my commuter car, an awesome Hyundai Accent GL, and I just couldn't resist drafting behind this semi.

My Hyundai has been the best commuter car I've ever owned. It's cheap (I paid like $5K for it 5 years ago), it gets good gas mileage, a tire cost less than a bike tire at like $40 at Walmart, it's never been in the shop for any repairs and I can fit my bike in the back when I lay the seat down. My only complaint on the car is that it's really gutless and starts shaking at 75 mph. So, I typically hang out in the far right lane going 60-65 mph. But every so often when I'm running late and need to go faster, I'll just latch on to a speeding semi and draft.

"Dirty" Potato Chips

2009-09-03T21:54:00.001-07:00

I'm not a big consumer of potato chips (sorry Dad*), but the other night at work I needed something to eat from the vending machine and ended up eating not one, but two bags of these. Since then, I've been back to the machine twice for more**. The cracked pepper and sea salt are a great combination. You've gotta try these, but be sure it's on a day when you ride hard....

*My Dad farms spuds

**Since they installed the debit card option on our vending machines, I've been a frequent customer, since I hardly ever carry cash/change.

Upgrades and Late for work

2009-09-01T14:12:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning I was hoping to leave early while it was still dark for a 2 hour ride up the canyon and back, but just as I was about to hop on my bike, one of my friendly neighbors popped into my garage and started asking about cycling and my bike lights (I had to chuckle when he asked whether my lights were battery operated or "powered by the bike"). He's a good guy and is considering buying a road bike, so I offered up some suggestions. Normally when someone who is starting out asks whether to buy a carbon frame or an aluminum frame, I'll tell them to just buy a quality aluminum bike that's not going to break the bank and explain that if they end up really enjoying cycling, they can always upgrade a year or two later once they get some experience and know what they really want.

I agree with Eddy Merckx who said "Don't buy upgrades; ride up grades." which to me means if you want to be a good cyclist, get out and ride (preferably up mountains) and don't worry so much about your bike. The gains you'll achieve from increasing your level of fitness will far outweigh any gains from an upgraded bike.** Caveat: Of course, if you're a competitive cyclist, then you'd definitely be at a disadvantage if you didn't ride a quality racing bike, but for most people who are buying a bike for the first time, you don't need carbon this and carbon that unless you have money to spend. That being said, I'm the first to admit that I'm very anxious to upgrade my bike.

**To back this up, note the first time I road up the South side of Suncrest when I weighed 30-40 lbs. heavier than my current weight, I did the climb about 15 minutes slower than my current PR using the same bike.

Anyhow, with this particular neighbor, whom I knew to be a successful businessman with extra cash to spend, I didn't hesitate and explained that he should go for the carbon bike. I mean, if you have the money, you might as well, right? It'll be interesting to see how long it will take before I see him cruising around the neighborhood on his new carbon bike.

The rest of the story...

I had a great ride up AF Canyon to the top of the Alpine Loop. It's my favorite ride around here. I saw more cyclists than cars on the climb. The leaves are starting to change colors and the air was noticeably cooler at the higher elevations making the descent a bit chilly. I think next time I'll take my full finger gloves and my beanie cap to supplement my windbreaker and arm warmers on the descent.

By the time I buzzed down the canyon and made it back home, I was already late for work. I rolled into the office at 10 AM. I have no regrets though of being late. It was well worth it. Plus, here at my work people are pretty cool about having a good work life balance as long as you get your work done.

Some Favorite Cycling Quotes

2009-08-31T19:17:00.001-07:00

"Don't buy upgrades; ride up grades." - Eddy Merckx

"Pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever" - Lance Armstrong

"he looks between his legs and sees.....nobody there!"** - Phil Liggett "

**For the non-bike racers, a rider on a breakaway will frequently look between his legs to see if someone is chasing as opposed to turning around.

"So much of it is power to weight, so I've got to increase the power and lower the weight and, you know, you can lower the weight anywhere, but you can't increase the power just anywhere. To increase the power, you have to have great training." - Lance Armstrong

"It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle." - Ernest Hemingway

"Ride lots." - Eddy Merckx

"Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime. Teach a man to cycle and he will realize fishing is stupid and boring." - Desmond Tutu

"There were something like 50 good, arduous climbs around Nice, solid inclines of ten miles or more. The trick was not to climb every once in awhile, but to climb repeatedly. I would do three different climbs in one day, over the course of a six- or seven-hour ride. A 12 mile climb took about an hour, so that tells you what my days were like." - Lance Armstrong

"Ullrich and Kloden are having a bit of conversation back there. I wonder if Lance understands any German?" - Phil Liggett (2004 TdF)

"When the spirits are low, when the day appears dark, when work becomes monotonous, when hope hardly seems worth having, just mount a bicycle and go out for a spin down the road, without thought on anything but the ride you are taking." — Sherlock Holmes

Back in the Saddle

2009-08-27T23:29:00.000-07:00

Today I was anxious to get back on my bike after taking a few days off to recover from the 1,000 warriors ride. To be honest, I was not only recovering physically from this ride but also mentally. My legs have taken longer to recover from a combination of the difficult course/conditions and the fact that I had severe cramping multiple times throughout the race.

Coming on the scene of the big crash just below Timp Cave in AF Canyon (my favorite place to ride) and the big pool of blood all over the road and the mangled bikes has been on my mind the last few days. I also saw another crash during that race right in front of me that easily could have been me. I've questioned myself, "Is it really worth it"? And to make matters worse, I bumped into one of my friends at the store Saturday night and he recounted his recent wreck on his tri-bike and showed me all of his wounds. Another coworker told how he was riding with his friend recently and his buddy tried to bunny hop a cattle rail resulting in his front tire getting caught causing him to fall and compound fracture his arm.

But after thinking this through, I've come to the simple conclusion that you can't live your life in fear of getting injured. If you love to do something like cycling, then get out there and do it. Sure there's the risk you might run into the back of an SUV going 40 mph or wreck and get some nasty road rash or break a bone, but that's just part of life and part of being active.

This isn't the first time I've had these thoughts. When I was 13 years old, I started pole vaulting. I broke my arm once when I fell off the mat. Another time I witnessed one of my best friends land on his head after he missed the mat. I thought he was dead, but he stood right up and was just a bit dazed from the impact of the soft dirt (he left a good imprint of his nose and forehead). After breaking my arm, I went on to pole vault for 5 more years into college and never again was seriously injured. Just think if I would have concluded that it was "too dangerous" and quit. I would have lost out on all of those experiences.

Growing up on a farm, we did all sorts of risky things from jumping our motorcycles across ditches to water skiing/wake boarding in the canals while being pulled by a four wheeler or pickup truck. Sure we would get injured every now and then but I think it was worth all of the good times.

So, with that behind me I took my bike to work today with plans for a lunch ride. I haven't done lunch rides lately due to being busy at work, so I was a little out of that routine. I quickly got all dressed in the parking lot in my lycra only to realize I'd left my cycling shoes and helmet at home. Doh!! I was so disappointed to say the least. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has done that before.

Luckily I was able to leave work at a decent time and rode up the south side of Suncrest. It was great to be on the bike again. I love the feel of the cool evening air and there's nothing like working up a good sweat from a hard effort up a climb.

1,000 Warriors Race Report

2009-08-23T19:16:00.000-07:00

I must not get up early enough. I woke up at 3:55 AM, picked up my father-in-law Bob (my SAG team) at 5:00 AM in Orem and headed up to Park City. I arrived at the starting line at 6:00 AM. My start time for the CAT 5B group of 54 riders was 6:35 AM. After waiting in line for 10 minutes to use the "Honey Bucket," I felt rushed to make it to the starting line, leaving no time for warming up. Guess I should have set my alarm for 3:30.

I should mention we had our CFO, Mike Herring cheering our Omniture team of 9 riders at the starting line. He had a cowbell and Omniture flag. Pretty dang cool.

I'm used to riding in century rides (only done 2 so far) where you roll out of the start and take the first 10 minutes to get the legs warmed up. Not so in this race. Right away my Omniture coworkers Nick, Dave and Ryan put the hammer down. My plan was to ride with the lead pack for as long as I could, but since I wasn't paying close attention, I missed accelerating with the front 10-15 riders and a gap opened between them and me in the main pack. I decided to bridge the gap on my own and burned a bunch of energy catching them. Once latched on, I was able to settle into the pace line at a manageable pace. I'm still amazed at how huge of a difference it makes in terms of saving energy when you ride in a pace line. The climb up the NE side of Jordanelle Resevoir is not too tough, but since I didn't warm up and since the pace was pretty fast and I probably wasn't paying close attention, I dropped off the lead pack again. Three of us that were dropped organized and tried to bridge the gap, but we weren't strong enough to make it happen and the gap widened to a couple of minutes by the time we made it to Kamas.

The 3 of us took turns pulling for the next 10 miles, although one guy who kept fiddling with his jacket instead of pulling when it was his turn made our efforts less effective. By the way, not sure why this guy brought a jacket as the temperature couldn't have been colder than 60 degrees and by 8 AM it was probably 75 degrees.....nothing arm warmers couldn't handle.

On the downhill side of the road that runs along the south end of Jordanelle, I got the first taste of how much faster my Rev-22 wheel set is compared to my old Bontrager Selects wheels. I let go of the brakes and got up to 53 mph (sorry Tiff).

Further down the course on the south side of Deer Creek Reservoir, a rider in front of me about 75 yards crashed. I don't know what happened, but I just looked up in time to see his bike go tumbling on the road. He was on his feet immediately and was shaken up, but didn't appear to be injured.

The real race began as we started the climb up the Alpine Loop towards Sundance. At this point we were 44 miles into the race. On Tuesday I did intervals on the bottom portion of the Alpine Loop from Provo Canyon to Sundance, which is the steepest and most difficult portion of the climb to the 8,000 ft. summit, so I was dialed into what tempo I wanted to ride. From Provo canyon to Suncrest, I didn't get passed by anyone and I passed probably 20-30 riders. I was maintaining a steady heart rate and feeling good.

That all changed pretty suddenly when about 1/2 mile past Sundance my legs locked up like I've never experienced in my whole life. Both quads and both hamstrings almost simultaneously contracted so hard that I had to immediately stop on the side of the road. I was devastated thinking that there was no way I was going to finish this race with these cramps. I've had cramps before but nothing like these. The first time was in February after 80 miles and 5 hours into the St. George to Zion Century and then recently at the end of two separate 5 hour training rides that included 8,000 ft. of climbing, but never only 2 hours into a ride.

I downed almost an entire water bottle and stretched on the side of the road for 15 minutes while probably 50-60 riders passed by. Many were kind and asked if I were okay, which was nice. I hopped back on my bike and started pedaling thinking that within any minute I'd start cramping again, but to my surprise I was fine. I pedaled softly for another 10 minutes and then started to increase the intensity slowly. I made it to the summit with only a hint of more cramping. The only problem was my bottles were now empty and the next feed station wasn't until Highland.

As it turned out, UDOT and the race organizers failed to shut down the Alpine Loop to vehicles, so there were 600+ racers "bombing it" down the narrow canyon road (AF Canyon side) which by 9:30 AM was already busy with the weekend traffic.

I frequently climb AF canyon during the week in the early morning hours when the traffic is light as this is one of the best road bike climbs around and it's a 20 minute ride to the base from my house. On most days, I only see one or two dozen cars during a 1 hour ride to the top. The traffic on the weekend is a different story. You have guys pulling horse trailers and ATV trailers, mountain bikers driving up to the mountain bike trails, hikers, campers, tourists going up to visit timp cave, etc. It's ALWAYS busy on the weekend, even in the earlier hours of the day and the 2 lane road is curvy, steep and no shoulder.

So, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised when a race volunteer with a flag warned me of an accident as I passed through the timp cave parking lot. As I came upon the scene of the accident, I was deeply disturbed by the blood stain covering half of the road, the mangled bike and the bashed in back window of a black SUV. For a second it made me want to just ride home instead of finishing.

At the bottom of the canyon they had shut down the race as the life flight helicopter was in the middle of highway 92. About 100 riders were stopped, waiting to get further instruction. I spotted a couple of Omniture guys in the crowd and learned that the SUV braked to avoid an oncoming vehicle and several riders following rear ended the SUV.

Note: As it turns out, one of the riders who went through the SUV's windshield was in critical condition as he was cut severely from the glass and lost a large amount of blood, which explains the blood all over the road that I witnessed at the scene. As of Sunday night per the news he broke nearly every bone in his face and has had multiple reconstructive surgeries but fortunately they said he's recovering.

All I'm going to say is I feel very badly for those involved in this accident and I hope they recover as quickly as possible. And to the race organizers and UDOT, it's absolutely IRRESPONSIBLE that there wasn't more safety measures involved with this part of the race. Given the conditions, I'm surprised that this was the only accident in the canyon between bikers and cars. At a minimum they should have had flashing caution signs at several points warning people of the racers. Most of the racers would have passed through within a 2 hour window, so they could have easily done a rolling closure with police escorts like they did for the Tour of Utah pro riders that passed through on the same route later that day. It's these types of accidents that ruin it for cyclists when it could have been avoided in my opinion with some added precautions.

Anyhow, back to my race report.

I filled up at the neutral aid station at the base of Suncrest. I'm glad I made it there before most others as there honestly wasn't that much to go around.

Same story on the climb up Suncrest as on the Alpine Loop. I was climbing strong, passing people left and right without a heavy effort. In fact, I kept looking down at my Garmin to see if I was really redlining it and just not perceiving my level of effort. As I was about 2/3 of the way to the top, I stood out of the saddle to accelerate into the flats. Mistake...instantly, my right quad locked up stiff as a board. I was able to work out the cramp without stopping, but had to limp my way to the top.

I downed 2 more water bottles (making it 6 for the day, plus the water I drank at the Suncrest aid station) as I soft pedaled all the way to the last neutral aid station at the base of Little Cottonwood Canyon. The guys at this aid station were really nice and helpful, but honestly their supplies were extremely inadequate. They had two coolers full of water and they ran out shortly after I was done filling up. I felt terrible for the guy behind me who was begging for water and they said they were out. In my mind this is simply poorly executed planning. If you have 600+ riders and you know the weather is going to be scorching, you better have lots and lots of water and lots and lots of ice, especially at the base of the biggest climb of the event at the point when everyone is spent and parched.

The climb up Little Cottonwood was a tough way to end this race. For the first few miles I felt pretty good, although I was pedaling cautiously in order to avoid cramping again. It didn't matter at this point. My legs cramped hard again and I was forced to stop on the side of the road for about 10 minutes while I worked out the cramps.

About a 1/4 mile from the top this nice old guy on the side of the road asked me if I wanted water on my back. "Absolutely", I told him! Man did that feel good! There were lots of nice people like this on the side of the road cheering us on. The words of encouragement made a big difference except for the people who kept saying "you're almost there." That's annoying, not sure why, but it is really annoying. "Great job" and "keep going strong" or "looking good" are much more effective.

I ended up finishing in 6:49, quite a bit slower than my goal of 6 hours. The cramps were frustrating, especially since they came so early in the race and hampered me throughout the rest of the course. But on the bright side, I finished one of the toughest races around,** which is something I never could have done a year ago when I was fat (45 lbs heavier) and out of shape.

**Nick told me at the finish line that this race was as difficult as Lotoja. He ended up taking 3rd place in our CAT 5B group (actually 3rd place out of all of the CAT 5 racers and had a podium finish last year at Lotoja, so I'll take his word on that comment.

1,000 warriors race

2009-08-21T12:00:00.000-07:00

I'm at work thinking about my first "real" bike race that's tomorrow. The "1,000 Warriors" race is the same course that the Tour of Utah pro riders will race later in the day. It's 96 miles starting in Park City, climbing over the Alpine Loop, Suncrest and then finishing at Snowbird in Little Cottonwood Canyon. It should be a fun and difficult ride. The trick I'm thinking is to leave enough in the gas tank for the last brutal climb up to Snowbird.

I upgraded my wheels to Rev-22s by Revolution Wheelworks, which pretty much dropped a whole pound from bike's weight.

I'm anxious to see how they improve my time on climbs. A whole pound may seem insignificant, but back in July I did a demo on a pair of Bontrager Race X Lite wheels and that alone knocked off 2+ minutes on a 40 minute climb. Later I found out the bike shop accidentally mounted 25s instead 23s on those demo wheels, so in reality, the comparable time would have been even faster.

The biggest thing on my mind about this race is proper hydration. It's supposed to be 102 tomorrow and I sweat heavily, so I'll need to really watch that I don't get dehydrated.

If you happen to see the race go by, look for me in my Omniture team kit. There will be 8 or 9 of us from Omniture in my start group of 50.

Man up

2009-08-07T19:56:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday I was halfway through my long ride and halfway up Squaw Peak when I had to pull off the side of the road to catch a 10 AM conference call for work. I'm glad I didn't blow it off (I seriously considered it) because a couple of people who skipped out got a verbal lashing by one of the VPs on the call. The call lasted about a 1/2 hour and I was walking back to hop back on my bike when a guy and a girl, both on rode bikes, passed by climbing up the mountain. I said hello as they passed and then resumed checking my email on my blackberry. I sent an email and called my wife to let her know of my whereabouts as I was already late getting back. As I was prepping to mount up again, I was thinking to myself, "I wonder if I can catch those two before they reach the summit?" By then a few minutes had already elapsed since they passed by and the summitt was only 15 minutes away, so I dismissed that entertaining thought and started pedaling a good tempo.

To my surprise I caught them on the 2nd to last switchback before the top. Even more surpising was the fact that the girl was kicking her boyfriend's (or husband's) trash up the climb. I'm not saying that women are inferior cyclists to men as there are plenty of women around the valley that would leave me in the dust. It's just that this guy looked pretty fit, definitely not overweight and he was wearing my employer's team kit (last year's version), so I was expecting a better showing from him. You might suggest that he was sandbagging. I thought that too, but then I noticed he was doing something I'd never seen done before on a climb. He was actually zigzagging the road!! Granted the last 2 switchbacks on Squaw are about an 11% grade, but come on, zigzagging it! In the meantime, while he was making his own switchbacks back and forth accross the road, his girl was powering to the top, about 50 feet ahead of him. All I can say is that's some dang good motivation to get your sorry self out of bed in the morning and ride...

I'd rather be cycling as you can see by my grass

2009-07-25T13:55:00.000-07:00

Work has been busy lately with quarter end accounting activities making for long working days and the last 3 Saturdays I've done long bike rides, the kind of rides that take up half your day even when you start as the sun is coming up. The last thing I want to do after a long day at work is mow the lawn and the last thing I want to do after a long ride is fire up the mower at the hottest part of the day.

Today I had good intentions. I decided I needed to do some work around the yard (like mow the lawn), so I climbed AF canyon and then pretty much came straight home. The plan was to mow the lawn while it was still cool. Instead I ended up watching the DVR recording of the Mt. Ventoux stage of the Tour de France. Pretty amazing how Lance at 37 was responding to all of the attacks by the Schleck brothers. It's good motivation for me who's making my own comeback of sorts.

On a side note, is it just me or is the team RadioShack announcement by Lance sort of anticlimatic? When I think of RadioShack, I think of going to the mall in Wenatchee, WA when I was 8 years old (in the early 80's) with my older brother Brent who was really amazing with electronics. He'd buy lots of transistors, wires, solder, etc. and it usually took forever for him to pick out all of the little various parts. So when I think of RadioShack, it just isn't that exciting. Is that the best sponsor they could get? I mean, why not try to land a flashy company like Google or Goldman Sachs or maybe Wells Fargo Bank to go along nicely with the Rabo Bank and Saxo Bank sponsors?

Butterfield Canyon

2009-07-18T22:17:00.000-07:00

Back in the spring I was hunting for new climbing rides and came across Butterfield Canyon, which is near Herriman and the Kennecott Copper Mine. I attempted the climb but ran into snow on the road about halfway up. Since then, I've wanted to try again as I was curious whether the top half of the climb is as tough as rumored.

From the turnoff of HWY 111 to the top, it's about 6.9 miles and approximately 2,300 vertical feet with the summit at 7,786 ft. (per my Garmin). The first 3-1/2 miles are uneventful but then it really gets steep for the next mile. It was so steep that I was in my 30t front ring (yes I have a triple and on this day very glad to have it) and 25t rear cog and either standing up to keep my momentum going until my heart rate redlined or sitting in the saddle grinding it out until my heart rate came back down. After this brutal stretch, the road flattened out a bit for a half mile and then ticked up to 8 or 9% for the last 2 miles.

It definitely was a very challenging climb. I was disappointed that the road had quite a bit of rocky debris on the last 2 miles (see my picture below) as it made the descent pretty sketchy. The thing I like about it though is the approach ride from Utah county is pretty nice, the view at the top is great and it's a nice change of scenery to keep things fresh.

Kennecott Copper Mine (Butterfield Canyon is on the left of the mine in this picture):

Lots of rocks on the road in some sections near the summit:

View from the top looking NE down the canyon road:

Smoothie the night before my long ride

2009-07-11T22:00:00.000-07:00

On Friday night I made this smoothie, hoping it would give me some good fuel for my long ride on Saturday. It's made up of fresh peaches, banana, fresh blueberries, skim milk, 2 scoops of protein powder and one scoop of vanilla ice cream (slow churned Dreyers).

Johnny P. and the Nebo Loop

2009-07-11T20:47:00.000-07:00

This morning I was halfway up the climb to Payson Lakes on the Nebo Loop Rd. when all of the sudden a car pulled up beside me and the driver said "Hey how's it going...great to see Omniture out on the road," or something like that. Immediately I recognized the driver of the car to be John Pestana, the co-founder and current Board of Director of Omniture, commonly known as "Johnny P". I was wearing my Omniture cycling kit in case you're wondering how he recognized me.

I've always thought highly of Johnny P. He made himself a small fortune when Omniture went public in 2006 in one of the most successful IPOs of that year. Our stock price went from $6.50 out of the gate in June 2006 to almost $40 by the end of 2007. Despite his wealth, which sometimes ruins people, he's always had a level head and been humble and approachable, at least from my observations. Before he left Omniture as an employee to pursue other interests, I used to run into him ocasionally in the office. I remember one time he was using the copier at the same time I was and he started up a conversation and we chatted for a minute. Just a great guy.

It was no different today when I ran into him on the road. It was pretty sweet as he was driving his yellow Lamborghini Murcielago like this one:

When he pulled up next to me, I could hardly carry on a conversation with him as my heart rate was close to 160 from the climb. He said he and his buddies were driving the Nebo Loop and then he said goodbye and sped off. His buddies were following, one in a Ferrari and another in a Dodge Viper. Pretty awesome!

I hadn't climbed more than another mile and I ran into Jay Beck with a couple of his mountain bike friends that he grew up with in Goshen. I work with Jay at Omniture in the accounting department. He's a good guy.

Continuing on, I made it to the Payson Lakes. Here's a picture:

Overall, I liked the climb. At the bottom of the canyon for the first few miles there are quite a few undulations in the road, which was an added challenge having to switch from short climbs to short sections of flats/downhill. I noticed the road at the bottom was pretty beat up (especially noticeable on the descent when I wondered if this is what riding on cobblestones is like). The grade ticks up after mile 3 with the toughest sections of 7%-8% coming between miles 5 and 6 and then again between miles 7 and 10. To Payson Lakes, it's about 12 miles and 3,100 vertical ft. If I would have had more time, I would have loved to continue on the Nebo Loop Rd. and finish the climb to the summitt and drop down into Nephi, but since I rode from Lehi, that wasn't an option (next time I'll drive to Payson).

To pass or not to pass?

2009-07-09T21:35:00.000-07:00

A couple of days ago I was riding along through Alpine on my early morning ride at a steady pace of around 20 mph when two other guys on bikes came up on my wheel, kindly greeted me and then passed me on the left. This was all fine and dandy until 10 seconds later they dropped the pace down to a leisurely 17 or 18 mph. I thought okay, I don't want to pass them right back as if I'm trying to show them up, so I dropped my speed down too. I figured they'd be turning a different way than my planned route within a matter of minutes and then I could pick up the pace again, no worries.

Well, as luck would have it, I found out after following them for another 5 minutes or so (including 3 turns) that they apparently planned the exact route that I planned! So what do you do I pondered? They probably think by now that I'm stalking them, since I'm following their every move. I probably should have just peeled off on a different route, except my problem is that when I decide on a specific route, I don't like to change mid ride. As I was debating what to do, the road turned to a short hill and then a short descent. I decided this is enough. No more tailgating and soft pedaling. I went into the drops, passing them on the little descent, settled back into my planned pace and didn't look back.

I guess the moral of this story to me is that if you're out cycling and you pass a stranger, it's poor cycling etiquette in my mind to then immediately drop you speed down a notch unless you're truly spent from your hard effort to make the pass.

Instead, consider one of my favorite things to do when you see a "carrot" riding in front of you, especially if it's a male rider on a road bike who is reasonably fit. Note: mountain bikes and girls on bikes don't count....no offense intended, it's just a general rule as I'm sure there are plenty of folks in both classes that could drop me in a heartbeat. So, you see the carrot up ahead and you make a hard effort to catch the carrot, and then lay off the gas as you approach closer, matching the carrot's pace and recovering from the hard effort. If it's a climb, I especially like to then observe their form and wait until they are showing signs of weakening. When the time is right, you turn up the tempo again, only slowing slightly as you pass so that you can cordially say "hello" or "hey." Then it's goodbye for good. Definitely none of this pass and then slow down crap.

More reasons to climb...

2009-07-02T20:17:00.000-07:00

The other day on my blog I posted about my top 5 reasons for my preference of climbs over the flats. Well, this morning I decided I needed to hit the flats for a change and it didn't take long for the flat route to remind me of another big reason for climbing.

6. Stop signs / Stoplights - I hate it when you're on the flats, you get into a good rhythm, pedaling hard, heart rate is up, you're moving at 23 mph and just then you hit a stop sign or a stoplight and you're forced to brake, shift down, etc. At least with a stop sign you can quickly move through, but with the stoplights, sometimes you get stuck waiting for it to turn. And since you're usually riding on a less traveled back road, the light won't turn green for an eternity (arrrghh).

Here's a little trick I learned to speed up the light change on those stubborn lights that take forever to change. Pedal on over to the crosswalk and hit the button! I've done this the last couple of times on the stoplight at the intersection of busy HWY 92 and the road that goes up to Suncrest and within 2 seconds the light changes.

So back to my point. With a mountain climb, you never have to deal with these intersections. It's so much better.

Bald Mountain

2009-06-30T19:59:00.000-07:00

Our family spent last weekend relaxing in Park City. Except for some rain Friday night, the weather was absolutely perfect, making it a great opportunity to check out some new routes.

As I was falling asleep Friday night, I nudged my wife and said, "uh, by the way, I'm going to ride from Kamas to Bald Mountain in the morning." She was half asleep and I'm pretty sure she didn't know where Kamas nor Bald Mountain are located, but replied drowsily, "Okay, what time will you be back?" "Umm, not really sure....." "So, like 10AM? "Well, probably more like 10:30 or.....uhem (under my breath) 11:00. "Okay, good night." "Good night."

The next morning it was a chilly 45 degrees in Kamas at 7 AM as I started pedaling. It didn't take long though for the temp. to warm up as the sun made its way up into the clear blue sky.

The roughly 30 mile climb from Kamas to the top of Bald Mountain pass was long and mostly gradual. The last several miles before the summit ramp up to around 5-6%. I wasn't sure if it was the elevation that was getting to me or just that I was getting fatigued from the long climb, but I did notice those last few miles were difficult. I was glad to see this written on the road as I neared the summit.

The picture sort of got cut off on the left side, but it says "1 KM to KOM." This was still on the road as the previous weekend, they had the High Uintas Race Classic and this sign was to notify the riders that the check point to get the King of the Mountain or KOM time bonus was near.

Still a bit of snow on the side of the road....

At the top of the pass looking up at Bald Mountain

And here is a view of some of the High Uinta mountain peaks as seen from state route 150 at Bald Mountain Pass.

The ride back down to Kamas was pretty fun since it was mostly all downhill........except for the not so fun part when I ran out of water with about 13 miles to go (couldn't find one of my waterbottles while packing for the trip).

On the descent, I noticed the traffic was getting pretty heavy coming the opposite direction up the mountain. I didn't pass one rider the entire climb up, but probably passed 20-30 on the way down. I don't know why people start climbing so late in the morning. It gets hot, you take up the whole day, and then the traffic gets worse as the day progresses. With my early start, I had 30-40 cars pass me the whole climb, but I bet those coming up had 3-4X that many cars passing them.

Here's the route map in case you're interested. I highly recommend this ride.

Bald Mountain - From Kamas
Find more Bike Rides in Kamas, Utah

Why climb a mountain?

2009-06-27T20:49:00.000-07:00

I've been pondering this question lately. Why is it that I pretty much only want to ride up mountain passes and canyons? I mean, why not instead find a flat road and just enjoy a nice and easy spin?

I mean especially since riding up a mountain can be a grueling and painful experience. Many times I've started a climb and thought to myself, "self, why are we doing this today?.....this hurts way too bad.....why don't we just turn around and go home?"

So, despite the hurt a good climb provides, I still much prefer riding uphill than on the flats and these are my top 5 reasons why:

1. There is a defined goal/destination. I find this to be a very powerful motivating factor. I know the distance, I know the elevation gain and I know how long it will take to reach the summit. Sure, you can establish a predefined route on a flat road when you ride a loop or out-n-back, but it's just not very motivating to ride say 20 miles to point "A," turn around and then ride back. Along with this comes the sense of accomplishment from reaching a given summit or multiple summits in a single ride. Nothing like finishing a ride where you climbed 5,000+ vertical feet.

2. Can't beat the scenery and natural beauty. The mountain passes and canyon climbs here in Utah along the Wasatch Front (e.g. Alpine Loop, Nebo Loop, Suncrest, Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons, Butterfield Canyon, Squaw Peak, etc.) are simply breathtaking. Flowers, lush aspen groves, wildlife, rivers, granite cliffs and views of the valleys below definitely add to the experience of climbing and help to distract the mind from the pain of the climb.

3. Generally fewer cars. I'll admit it......I HATE cars when I'm cycling. Even though most people are considerate and give you plenty of room when passing, it seems about 1 out of 10 drivers, often the white trash types in their big diesel-polluting-jacked-up trucks buzz you without slowing down or even making an attempt to move to the left. Even worse is when the same is pulling a giant trailer with their dirt bikes, ATVs or construction equipment. I've found that especially in the early morning the traffic is noticeably lighter up the canyons and mountain passes. Fewer cars means a much more enjoyable, less stressful ride.

4. The descent. When I first started riding, I hated riding faster than 25 mph. I was timid, riding the brakes the whole time, and stiff as a board. As my confidence and skills have improved, I now really enjoy the rush from a fast descent.

5. Training benefits. The nice thing about a challenging climb from a fitness perspective is you typically push your heart rate to the highest level that you can manage without "blowing up." So, the intensity is pretty high and you get a good workout in a short amount of time compared to a flat ride where you have to push a very fast pace in order to keep your heart rate at an equivalent level. The result is you become a stronger and faster climber and sooner or later you're dropping other riders on climbs. I also really enjoy keeping track of my fitness gains through doing time trials to the top of my favorite climbs. Nothing like pushing it hard to the top of the mountain and beating your personal best time.

I'm a missionary of cycling

2009-06-24T22:06:00.000-07:00

About a year ago in June, I purchased my first road bike. Since then, I've lost about 40 lbs of fat and in reality, probably more like 50 lbs. of fat, since I've most certainly gained some muscle weight. 50 lbs. of fat is approximately the equivalent of 8 of these 6lb., Costco-sized Crisco containers. Glad to have that gone!! I truly feel like a different person now.

By the way, a few months ago we kicked off a competition with a few people at work to see who can lose the highest percentage of body fat by getting a "Bod Pod" test down at the "Y-Be-Fit" office at BYU. The "Bod Pod" tests your body fat % using air displacement. After paying the $15 fee, the technician has you hop into spandex, put on a little cap and then sit inside the Bod Pod capsule that's shaped like a giant egg with a window on it. It only takes about 60 seconds for the test, enough time for the air to pump inside the chamber a couple of times. You then get a printout of the test results. For most people, you'll be surprised at how high your body fat percentage is from this test. I don't remember exactly, but I was over 20% and that was one of the lowest in the group of coworkers that were tested that day. We are going to do the test again, probably next week, so I'm anxious to see how I've improved. You should try it! It's a great and accurate way to measure your fitness gains and a great way to have a weight loss contest.

Anyhow, since I've lost some weight over the last year, I'm frequently being asked "what is your secret?" Of course I tell them about how I started cycling and so on and so forth. I always put in a good plug for cycling and actually encourage them to think about purchasing a bike or if they already have a bike, suggest ways for them to ride more often.

For example, one of my coworkers has a quality mountain bike and I suggested he could easily ride to work on the canal bank road that goes all the way from his house in American Fork to right by our office in Orem. He's now riding to work a couple of times a week and is looking to purchase a road bike too.

My older brother also recently purchased a road bike after I had a chance to offer up my sermon to him on the benefits of riding a bike.

And just yesterday, one of our external financial auditors who hangs out at our offices about 6 months out of the year pulled me aside and asked for some advice on buying a road bike (I thought he was going to ask me a lame theoretical question about accounting fraud, so I was glad when he wanted to talk bikes). I took the next 15-20 minutes explaining to him the different options and proclaiming how great cycling is, including emphasizing how much better it is than running. I'm thinking within 2 weeks he'll be sportin' a new bike too.

There are more examples that I could provide of people I've "testified" to about cycling and later I hear of them buying a bike and riding, but you get the point.

I definitely don't take all the credit for these "conversion" stories, but I've enjoyed seeing people get excited about the sport like I have. Cycling, whether you ride a mountain bike or road bike really is a fantastic way get yourself in shape, lose some extra pounds and have fun while doing it. It's also a great way to cut down on driving your car everywhere. So, if you're sitting on the fence and aren't sure whether to start biking, just do it! I promise you won't regret it.

Oh, and here's a pretty sweet Trek Madone to help you get motivated even more.....

My Day Off - Little Cottonwood Canyon

2009-06-19T21:00:00.000-07:00

At my work, we've been encouraged as a cost cutting measure to use 4 days of PTO in June. If you use 4 days, you get one additional day free....sort of like buy 4 get one free. So, I decided to use up one of my PTO days today. Not a bad day to miss work with the sun finally showing itself.....and not a bad day for a long ride up one of our beautiful, Wasatch Front canyons.

I started the ride in Lehi (northeast Lehi that is......), climbed over Suncrest and dropped down into Draper and up Wasatch Blvd. to the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon, which by the way is a really nice route for a bike ride with its wide shoulders, bike lanes and plenty of climbing. On a tangent, I really hate those roads where the white line is two feet from the edge of the road. I wish Barrack Obama and the Democrats would make a new law that would require all roads to have a minimum 4 ft. shoulder, with no rumble strips please!!

For those of you who aren't familiar with this canyon, it's the one with the Snowbird and Alta ski resorts (best snow on Earth). It's been a while since I've been up Little Cottonwood Canyon and the first time on my road bike, so I felt like I was riding blind. What I mean is when you're climbing on a road bike, it's nice to know the route, so that you can pace yourself accordingly and also break the climb into smaller, less intimidating pieces. For example, if you know the road is a 6% grade for 3 miles, then flattens for 1/2 mile, then changes back to a 6% grade for the last 2 miles, you can break such a climb into two shorter climbs. It really makes a difference mentally, at least for me.

The climb up Little Cottonwood is actually pretty challenging at just over 8.57 miles and 3,225 vertical ft., which is about a 7.1% average grade. In comparison, the climb up American Fork Canyon (Alpine Loop) from the Alpine/Highland side is a little longer at 10.85 miles, but not as much elevation gain (2,861 vertical ft.) or an average grade of 5%.

Anyhow, I made it to the top of the canyon and here's a picture from the end of the road just above Alta. Still a decent amount of snow at this elevation (just below 9,000 ft.).

The descent down the canyon was pretty fun, except that the road has some potholes and rough spots that you have to watch for. I also enjoyed cruising on the mostly downhill ride on Wasatch Blvd. and into Draper and then finished finished it off with a painful climb (my legs were shot) up and over Suncrest.

Like I said, not a bad way to spend a Friday morning. So much better than sitting at my desk looking at spreadsheets.....

Tour de Cure Century - 2009

2009-06-16T18:22:00.000-07:00

At 4:30 AM, I stumbled out of bed, downed some oatmeal and wholewheat bread with honey, hopped into my awesome Hyundai Accent GL and set off on my way to Brigham City. Note that unlike the week before I was very careful and remembered to bring my cycling shoes.

The start time for the 100 route was at 7:30 AM. I was wearing my new Omniture kit and looked around through the sea of other riders to find anyone else from Omniture. The Select Health riders (294 riders strong) were wearing a similar green jersey to Omniture's, making it difficult to tell the difference. I found a couple of Omniture Software Engineers and rode with them.

The route basically headed west out of Brigham City through flat country roads. I started out at a casual pace, with the intent of staying with the main pack of riders. After a few miles another larger pack developed ahead of where I was and they were cruising along at around 23mph. The people I was riding with were going slower than I wanted and the pack was fragmenting already, so I decided I should ride with the bigger, faster pack ahead. I went into the drops and started hammering the pedals in order to close the 200 meter gap. I used more energy than I wanted bridging to the other riders, but was able to kick back and rest once I got there. Riding in a large pack was fun and really was the first time I'd experienced it. There must have been 60+ riders, so I just hung out at the back and let them pull me along.

A few minutes later, the guys leading the pack missed a turn (don't know how as the signs were bright orange and big) and then people started putting on the brakes. Not a good idea when the guy behind you is 2 ft. from your wheel and going 20+ mph. A few guys went down. One in particular was on a nice Specialized carbon framed bike and you could see the black skid marks on the road where he locked up. Lot's of road rash..... Luckily I avoided the crashes and continued on.

The main pack started to thin out as people realized they couldn't maintain the pace. This was nice as it weeded out the people that were struggling with the concept of a pace line. We organized into a double pace line (2 parallel pace lines) and took turns pulling. This was a good plan because the wind was a factor and there was some light rain. I made the mistake of inserting all of my gels into a Ziploc bag in my jersey pocket, underneath my wind jacket, making them difficult to get to while we were going hard in the pace line. I'm not yet comfortable enough with my skills to be digging around in my jersey pocket with one hand on the bars in the middle of a pack going 20+ mph. So, this minor mistake (better now than in a real race) resulted in delaying when I would normally refuel. As a result, I started to fade and decided I'd better slow down and refuel with some gel. The only problem with my decision to back off was that the support station was only about 1/2 mile from where I got dropped by the main pack. I guess I should look at the map closer next time.

So, I pulled in to the support station about 30 seconds behind the lead pack to fill my water bottles after about 1 1/2 hours of riding and 35 miles (23.3 mph pace). I was feeling pretty tired at this point, so I was glad for the short rest. I took too long at the stop though and the main group left before I could finish in the porta pottie. I would have liked to continue riding with the lead group to see if I could hang with them, but that's okay. There will be other chances.... I really started feeling like a rookie when I noticed while at the feed zone that my Castelli wind breaker was no longer in my jersey pocket and had fallen out when I was digging for my gel. Arrghh! At least it wasn't raining.

I was about to pull out of the rest stop on my own when two of my Omniture coworkers pulled in. I agreed to wait for them while they fueled up and then we were on our way. We rode at a comfortable pace of around 19 mph. We then started up the one climb of the entire ride. It actually was a decent climb at an approx. 6% grade over 2 miles. I led out, never looked back and made it to the summit 4 minutes ahead of the other guys. On the way up the climb mosquitoes were swarming around the other riders. I probably passed 10-15 riders on the way up, all of them with dozens of mosquitoes on the back of their legs. I didn't see any on me though. I think it was due to the fact I was wearing my cycling tights. One guy I noticed had blood on his leg from road rash. The little buggers were having a feast on him...

At the summit, we regrouped and rode on to the next feed station at 43 miles. I wasn't tired and actually would have preferred to keep going, but since we were next to the Golden Spike National Historic Site (and I packed along my camera), I figured what the heck?

For the next 17 miles to mile 60 (to the next rest stop), the 3 of us rode together and took turns pulling. One of the guys who latched on to our train was this little Mexican guy, probably 5 ft. 6" with huge, bulging calves. He and I took turns at the front and we kicked up the speed to 23-24 mph. As I was following him, I commented on his huge calves. He said his neighbor told him he needs to use his quads more when cycling. Ha ha!

After the rest stop at mile 60, it started to rain a little bit. I settled into the drops with my head down, trying to avoid the rain on my glasses and keep in a somewhat aero position. I must have been going too fast though, cause I dropped my Omniture guys (sorry!).

I'm still learning the art of pulling. One of the things when you're pulling is you try to keep a steady pace. You want to go at a fast enough speed that the guys behind aren't thinking "speed it up bro" while at the same time you don't want to go too fast that you drop the guys behind. I've found that sometimes I'm not paying enough attention and next thing I know, I look back and there's no one behind me. Another newbie mistake......

I rode with a couple of other riders who wanted to go at a fast pace and we took turns leading. One of the guys was really good at all of the hand signals. Whenever we were coming up on a slow rider he'd do the little wave action behind his back to fall behind and pass. At every pothole, rock or wrinkle in the road, he'd quickly point to so that we'd know to avoid the obstacle. I tried doing the same when I led, but I certainly wasn't as smooth with my hand gestures. Maybe after a few more group rides and I'll have it down like him.

The route continued to Tremonton and then made this sort of detour mini loop through the tiny settlement of Garland (maybe one of the ride organizer's Grandma lived there? not sure..) and then headed south back to Brigham City. At mile 78 the two with whom I was riding stopped at one of the rest stops, and so I continued solo for another 10 miles or so. At this point I was starting to feel a little bit tired, so I pulled out my PowerBar Gel, tangerine flavored with the 2X caffeine. It was a good boost when I needed it, although probably won't go with the tangerine flavor again.

Also, about this time a train of riders caught up to me. I had passed these guys 1/2 hour before, but since I was solo, they worked together and caught me. I was pedaling along on this quiet country road when I heard behind my left shoulder an invitation to "hop on and take a break." I agreed and was about to peel right and fall in-line, when this yahoo in their group was right on my wheel and to my right. I almost took him out. This same guy for the next 5 miles was non-stop overlapping wheels with the guy in front of him. This is dangerous for him because if the guy in front of him moves his back wheel into his front wheel, he'll go down. I was glad when we made it to the final rest stop without incident.

I finished the last 12 miles feeling strong. I sprinted at one point for fun to try and catch a rider that was leading out and playfully "attacking". He was clearly faster than me, but I left the other riders behind that also tried to pursue him.

I finished in just under 5 hours of ride time (4:59). I'm happy to report that at the end of the ride, I was able to recover my Castelli jacket. Some nice old gentlemen who were working the radios put out an APB on it and I was sure glad someone was honest and turned it in.

A few essentials for a century ride

2009-06-12T19:59:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I'll be riding in my 2nd century ride since I started cycling last summer. It's the Tour de Cure in Brigham City. I'm still a rookie at cycling, but I've learned a few things from my limited experience with long rides.

1. Nutrition - I've tried almost every type of gel and have settled on PowerBar and Clif. To be honest none of the gels really taste that good but these 2 brands I've found aren't too bad. Gels I've found are awesome because they are very small and light (easy to stuff a handful in my jersey pockets), they're quick to down while still pedaling (don't have to chew like other foods) and they provide immediate semi-sustainable energy

I actually prefer the PowerBar over the Clif and other brands because it has 200 mg of sodium per gel, which is really helpful for me since I'm a "heavy sweater" (I know it sounds nasty) resulting in me losing lots of sodium. In fact, after a really long ride, I'll usually have sodium crusted on my face! The extra sodium ensures I'm keeping the electrolytes in my system that are essential to endurance performance. You'll notice in the picture that I have one gel that has 2X caffeine. I'm not a big fan of caffeine, but I've found that downing the caffeinated gel during the last 20 miles of a long ride gives you a needed boost when the tank is running low on fuel.

I've also included a Clif Bar, chocolate brownie flavor. I honestly don't know if I'll eat this during the ride because I'm sick of these things. I bought 2 boxes at Costco about a month ago ($0.79/bar) and I'm tired of them, just like I'm tired of eating PowerBars since I finished the two boxes I bought at Costco the month before. So, I'm tentatively thinking I'll rely on the food stations along the ride route for the rest of my food stuff calories.

2. Hydration - On long rides like a century where I'm on the bike for 5-6 hours I have to drink plenty of fluids. There are numerous types of sports drinks and endurance drinks on the market but I've found a couple that are really great. The picture below is CarboRocket, which has worked really good for me when I'm riding more than one hour. It has maltodextrin and fructose, plus it contains a healthy dose of sodium at 325 mg per serving. I'll probably alternate this drink with water during my century. I've also found Carbo Pro works really good too. It too is maltodextrin based and is flavorless, so I'll usually mix it with G2 or Vitamin Water for flavor. The only drawback with Carbo Pro is that it doesn't contain any electrolytes like sodium, so mixing it with G2 seems to work well.

2. GPS - One of my favorite post ride things to do is download the Garmin tracks from my ride and analyze my stats. I usually make notes and then compare my progress over time. This a must have during a century ride too as you can monitor your level of effort and pace yourself according to the distance. For the century I'll want to keep my heart rate around 140 -150. If I get above that every now and then, it's no big deal, but if I'm consistently above 150, I'm going to fatigue too quickly.

3. Chamois Creme (pronounced "shammy") - This is something I learned since I started cycling. The Chamois is the pad that's stitched into the bottom of cycling shorts and Chamois Creme is the wonderful stuff that you put on your arse to keep from chaffing. Believe me, you'll want to apply this stuff before you hop on the saddle for 6 hours straight. This brand made by Assos of Switzerland and I've found it to be pretty good "stuff".

There are of course many other essentials that you need to bring along on a century ride, but I've found these right up there at the top of the list.

First Race - Draper Hill Climb

2009-06-07T19:19:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning I was sitting in my car trying to stay warm at 7:45 AM, 15 minutes before the 8:00 AM start of my very first cycling race. I was anxious to start the race and had just finished pinning on my number when I realized that I forgot my shoes. I pannicked as I desparately searched the back of my car, knowing that I certainly had left them in the garage. I couldn't believe it. I'd been training hard for this day and now my shoes were not where I needed them to be. I quickly called Tiff and she agreed to bring them and meet me halfway at the top of Suncrest. I raced in my little gutless car to the top of Suncrest, grabbed my shoes and then raced back down the mountain. It was 8:05 and about a mile from the starting line when I passed the pack of riders. I was hoping they'd have a little delay in the start but that obviously didn't happen. Disappointed that I missed the start, but determined to race anyway, I hurried to the starting line, put on my shoes and started off.

I couldn't help think of "Chariot's of Fire" when the dude fell down at the start and then got up and even though way behind won the race. That wasn't going to happen on this day as I was a full 10 minutes behind. I had to fight off the thoughts of "this is rediculous......I just paid $35 to basically do a painful training ride." There was a decent headwind as I climbed the north side of Suncrest, which kept me thinking how if I were with the pack, I could at least have some sort of wind cover. I tried to block out those thoughts by focusing on my pedal strokes and making sure I kept my heart rate below 160. I passed one rider on the 1st climb that must have had a late start too. That felt good....

I finished the hardest part of the climb in as I reached the Suncrest summitt coming from the North. It was encouraging to see Tiff and my three boys at the top cheering me on. Here's a picture of me reaching the summitt all by my lonesome.

On the descent down the south side of Suncrest, about halfway down I passed the leader. He was quite a way out in front of the 2nd place rider then scattered all the way down to highway 92 were the rest of the riders. I later found out that the guy in front was a 15 year old teenager, which explains why I thought he looked so small and scrawny.

On the ascent up the south side, it didn't feel like I was going very fast but I ended up getting a personal best on the climb by more than 1 1/2 minutes at just over 22 minutes (from the corner of 11800N) and that was after climbing the more difficult north side.

I didn't finished last in the race even though I started 10 minutes late and I felt like my time (per my Garmin) was respectable at 1:10:43. I haven't seen any posted times, but from what I estimate, the winner came in at around 1:05.

Here's a video of me at the finish line. I love how my youngest son says he doesn't want to cheer for me....pretty funny.

And here are my Garmin stats from the race:

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/invitation/email/accept.mb?senderPk.pkValue=266645&unitSystemPkValue=2&episodePk.pkValue=8402550

My new waterbottle

2009-06-05T13:03:00.000-07:00

Can't wait to try out my new Camelbak waterbottle. I'm excited because it's insulated, which is really nice now with the warm weather and best of all, it has a drip proof spout so that you don't drizzle sports drink all over the bike frame.

Graduated from the "Granny Gear"

2009-06-03T22:17:00.000-07:00

I bought my first road bike about a year ago, a Trek 1600 aluminum frame bike with carbon forks, Ultegra rear deraileur and Shimano 105 for the other components. A decent intermediate road bike. It has a triple crankset with a 50/39/30. These numbers in case you didn't know are the number of teeth on each of the 3 respective chainrings. The smallest of the three rings with the 30 teeth is called the "Granny Gear" because it allows you to spin at a high cadence even on the steepest of climbs.

Up until today, I've used the small ring very frequently because I like to climb steep roads and because it's a good crutch to lean on when you're tired, plus I just simply wasn't fit enough to use only the bigger rings on climbs.

Well, today I'm happy to announce that I have successfully graduated from the "Granny Gear." I climbed both sides of Suncrest tonight without once having to shift down to the small ring. I was tempted many times, but stayed strong.

Biking Mecca

2009-05-31T12:30:00.000-07:00

Lately, my favorite ride is up American Fork Canyon, so that's what I did last Saturday morning. One of my old co-workers Mike P. that has since left Omniture for greener pastures agreed to join me. He recently purchased a new Cervelo tri bike, loaded up with the sweet aero bars and behind the seat water bottle holders (I love tri bikes....).

Mike is actually part of the reason I got into biking. About a year and a half ago, he and another co-worker (Sean) were training for the Kentucky Ironman. I thought they were crazy but admired their determination. Seeing them training encouraged me to start running and then a couple of months later I bought my first road bike and I've been hooked ever since.

Anyhow, we started climbing the canyon and I was amazed at how many other cyclist had the same idea. Especially above Pine Hollow, where the lazy folk had driven to and then hopped on their bikes, there were alot of people on the road. My legs felt really strong the whole ride and even after the summit, I felt like I could keep climbing.

Omniture kit

2009-05-27T20:50:00.000-07:00

Yesterday our Omniture cycling kits arrived. Pretty cool......Here's the "racing cut" jersey. I also have matching bib shorts, a cool vest, armwarmers and knee warmers.

6,000 ft. of climbing

2009-05-23T19:55:00.000-07:00

This morning I finally made it to the summit of AF canyon on my road bike. I've ridden up past Pine Hollow several times only to find snow still on the road, but with the recent warm weather all of the snow is now gone.

I left the house at 6 AM, which is usually my routine for Saturday morning long rides since I try to get most of my ride done before the family rolls out of bed. I love the ride up AF canyon in the morning as the sun is rising and its nice and quiet. I noticed the river today was especially high, in fact in one spot it only needed another 6 inches and the water would be on the road. Also, just past the turnoff for the Timpooneke campground, they are working on installing a culvert pipe, so the road is torn up and you have to dismount and cross on foot. The road after Pine Hollow is still closed to cars and so they haven't completed cleaning it of all of the rocks, trees and other debris.

It's always a trick deciding on gear for the ride up the canyon because when you leave at 6 AM, it's still a bit chilly. I've found my arm warmers take care of the chill. Once you start climbing up the canyon though, it doesn't take long to work up a good sweat and then the arm warmers come off. The problem though comes back when you hit the higher elevations and lower temperatures, so back to the arm warmers. Then before you descend you absolutely have to put on a hat, change to full finger gloves and at least slip on a light jacket to keep the wind from chilling you to the bone. I end up having these bulging rear pockets in my jersey to carry the extra gear.

Anyhow, I made it to the top of the canyon and took a few pictures and then started to descend down the other side towards Sundance and Provo Canyon. I was a couple of miles down the mountain when I came around a corner and this dude on a mountain bike was all over the road on my side (he was climbing from the Sundance side)! I think he was day dreaming or something but luckily we both saw each other and avoided a collision. It wasn't two minutes later that I came accross two guys on their road bikes climbing away and one of them was on my side of the road. I thought he saw me but I guess not because he didn't even budge. I had to get about 2 ft. from the shoulder in order to pass by him. People need to pay attention! I know when you're climbing you get in a zone because of the pain, but I'm pretty sure that the issue is that these guys weren't expecting anyone on the road as they have a false sense of security with the road still closed to cars.

I decided to see how my legs would hold up climbing Squaw Peak after the AF Canyon climb. Suprisingly, I felt pretty good and did my TT to the 4 mile mark in record time. Nothing felt better than making it to the overlook. I snapped some good pictures and then headed back to Lehi.

So there it is. 6,000 ft. of climbing in one morning.

Grand Canyon / Kanab to Zion to La Verkin

2009-05-21T21:29:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I hiked the Grand Canyon with John Anderson, Jim Farrer and Mike Farrer. We arrived at the South Rim on Friday evening and camped in our tents that night in one of the park's campgrounds. The weather was perfect the next morning as we started down the South Kaibab Trail. This trail is the most direct route to the bottom of the canyon with some beautiful open views of the canyon. You drop from an elevation of 7,200 ft. at the rim to 2,420 ft. at the Colorado River and cover 6.9 miles. We hiked accross the Colorado (check out how green the water was) and a bit further to Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the canyon where we stopped and ate lunch and rested up for the climb back out.

The hike out of the canyon on the Bright Angel Trail was the tougher part of the hike due to the heat of the afternoon and the longer distance of 9.8 miles. The temp. was above 100 degrees and the switchbacks were endless. I ended up drinking about 7 liters of water just on this leg of the hike. We kept cool by dipping our heads in the stream that ran along the trail. I was grateful for my 3L camelback since I drank it dry prior to the Indian Springs water hole. I saw several people walking up the trail with nothing more than 1 or two small water bottles (insane). I also was thanking Jim for letting me use his sweet river running hat that kept me cool and kept the sun off my face. I highly recommend such a hat or something similar for anyone doing this hike.

I ended up finishing the hike around 4PM, which made for a long day of hiking!!
After finishing the hike, we enjoyed some much needed "real food" (as opposed to gels, shot blocks and power bars) and drove back to Kanab, where I was dropped off before the rest of the guys continued back to Utah County. The original plan was for me to ride that evening from Kanab through Zion and then my wife would pick me up on the other side of Zion. Since the hike ended up taking longer than expected, we didn't arrive in Kanab until 10:30 PM, so I decided to find a bed to sleep in with the plan to ride through Zion early the next morning. I was a bit nervous that I might not find a room after driving to 4 or 5 motels before I found a vacancy. I stayed at the Four Seasons in a cheap little room, but I didn't care as all I needed was a bed to lay my aching body on.

The next morning, I was on my bike by 6 AM heading towards Zion on HWY 89. Initially, I was wishing I were with my family and still sleeeping as I hammered my way up the climb out of Kanab. I had a backback with my clothes and shoes from the previous day along with a handful of other supplies, so the climbing was more difficult with the added 10-15 lbs. After about 10 miles or so, I descended to the Carmel junction on a 6% grade, so that made the ride alot of fun. I had a bit more climbing before I reached Zion, but then it was all down hill again. It was an incredible ride through Zion, I highly recommend it. Unfortunately, they won't let you ride a bike through the long tunnel, so I had to hitch a ride with someone with a truck. This nice couple picked me up and took me through after I waited for about 20 minutes. Once out the other side of the tunnel, I rode down through the park and then continued west all the way to La Verkin. It ended up being about 61 miles. By the time I reached La Verkin, I was feeling fairly beat, not particularly tired from the 61 mile ride, but from the combination of the long hike the previous day and the ride.