The weather forecast was for afternoon showers and a cold day, with snow likely in the higher elevations. So I hit the road early to beat the precipitation. The radar looked clear for at least the next three hours. It was warm when I started the ride. I had dressed in winter gear, but took most of it off before I started. It was 68 and I was about to hammer a long climb. I threw my vest and knee warmers in my pocket and took off. I just knew I would beat the rain and cold.
Cloudy but dry at the bottom of the mountain
The ride started well. It was hard to pace myself. I was so excited to hammer, but I did not have any warm-up. I had to really hold back the first three miles to keep from blowing up. Once I got to the more gradual, open sections I was met with a strong tailwind. I was on the big ring most of the way, cranking with the wind pushing me.
Things were good until mile 10 when it began to sprinkle. I debated on whether I should continue on, but quickly decided that having a tailwind was a once-in-a-lifetime deal for me as often as I get to ride big mountains. The wind usually races down the canyon, giving you a headwind on the climb. It was getting colder as I made the turn onto Guardsman Pass Rd. I had good legs and I stayed on the gas up the first part. I thought I was seeing things when it looked like it was snowing, but when I rounded the next turn the ground was starting to show some white. I stopped for a few quick pictures and then continued on.
Snow falling on Guardsman Pass Rd.
Snow sticking to my knee warmers
It was sleeting and snowing heavily at the top. I stopped for pics and just to enjoy the scenery. It was a chilly 32 degrees up there. I put my vest on while I enjoyed the moment. Then I heard thunder. I turned around to see a huge cloud coming up the canyon...the canyon I was about to descend through. A storm had snuck up behind me.
Light snow in the trees atop Guardsman Pass
A nasty road ahead for the descent
I started to descend immediately. The road was wet now from the melting snow, so I got soaked before I got back onto Big Cottonwood Canyon Rd. where the road opens up and you can get some good speed going. It began to sleet hard. Sleet hitting your face at 40 mph is not exactly a pleasant feeling. I descended six miles then took cover in the one business I saw in the canyon, a small realty office. There was one guy working. I asked if I could hang out for a while and he said sure. Turns out he is a cyclist, so we chatted about riding while I waited for the sleet to ease up. I was really regretting not bringing full leg warmers and my jacket like I originally planned.
We talked for 20 minutes with no sign of the storm letting up. A break was not looking likely and I was cold now, sitting in the lobby with wet clothes on. So I made the distress call to Shannon. She and her Mom came to pick me up. I absolutely hate getting in the car on a ride. That is a complete failure to me. I love being tough and self-sufficient no matter what the situation. But this time I had to throw in the towel. Riding 12 more miles down the mountain with exposed skin would have been bad. My Strava time clocked me in 63rd overall, way up from the 165th I was on the last ride. Mission sort-of-accomplished.
The next day was also cold. It was again snowing in the mountains to the east, but the Oquirrh Mountains to the West looked clear. I drove over to Butterfield Canyon. Gma said that was a nice road to go up. I got there to find the road closed, but people were parking at the gate and running or riding up the road. So I unloaded my bike and did the same. It was sunny at the bottom and a gradual climb the first few miles. It was so nice to be on the road without cars. I saw a few runners, one rider and a street sweeper blowing gravel out of the road.
A little dirt in the road on the lower slopes of Butterfield Canyon
Fall colors
Most of the other road users were turning around by the mile 3. After that I was all alone as I chugged up the climb. The climb gets steep at mile 4. When I say steep, I mean steep! There's a 1 km section that is awful, then it backs off again. That section is over a 20% grade. That's probably why everyone was turning around at mile 3. The climb runs the edge of the canyon the last 2 miles to the summit. Recent rain had washed gravel out into the road for a lot of the top portion of the climb. It felt more like mountain biking than road riding in some sections.
The street sweeper was trying to get the gravel and dirt out of the road.
The weather changed as I climbed. The clouds got thicker and the road got wet. It even had ice patches on it in places. It was a really nice, peaceful 6.7-mile climb. It was again snowing at the top. And again I was under-dressed, but I was dry. No chance of calling for a ride today! I sat at the top a few minutes and enjoyed the scenery. Then it was all downhill to the car. I dodged gravel, rocks and ice the first few miles. It was a really fun descent. At the bottom, it was sunny and warm again. I was thinking of doing the climb again, but we had plans for dinner followed by visiting the Jordan River Temple. And I flatted as soon as I got to the car. Guess a second climb was definitely not in the cards for today!
A little snow in the trees on top of Butterfield
After the temple, we went out for ice cream at Leatherby's. They had some HUGE banana splits. It was really more of a banana pile. The bananas were not split, they were covered with stacks of ice cream. It took me 10 minutes of eating before I could even see a banana.
Almost as big as my head
The next day was ugly. It rained a lot. It snowed some. It was just downright dreary and cold. We spent most of the day eating. We ate lunch at Brick Oven. I thought I could eat a lot of pizza and drink a lot of root beer, but Gpa put me to shame. That man can drink root beer like he has a hole in his stomach. After lunch, we visited Amber at her school. It was an in-service day so we could visit without disrupting the kids. We've had this joke going all week about road cones. It started with Gma persuading me into putting an orange barrel in the back of Jay's truck. Then we put a cone on Amber's car, and then it got put on my car. I found a cone behind the school as we were leaving so I added it to Amber's car. It was a nice feature to her hood. It was extra fun knowing that half of her coworkers were watching us put it on there.
Later that night we went to the BYU vs. MTSU football game. It was cold. The snow on the mountains behind the stadium made for the perfect backdrop. I was hoping MTSU would make it a good game, but they struggled and BYU ended up with a blow-out win. It was a good time though. Thanks Amber for getting us tickets!
BYU trying to score with a scenic background
The sunset gave the sky over the mountains a fiery look
This was the NCAA Friday night game of the week
MTSU on offense
Video: BYU kicks off to MTSU early in the game
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