Epic Rush

     Wednesday turned out to be my last day of riding on our trip. I went over to Corner Canyon in Draper, UT, a place I first rode on our trip last year. I had terrible legs, but they got better as I climbed the canyon. I ended up climbing the full mountain three times. I was just going to do it twice, but after making a run down the Rush Flow trail I just had to go back and do it again. There are some rough spots on the descent where I definitely would have liked more suspension, but the Epic was pretty good for this trail. I just love the confidence I get after these trips to places with big jumps and gnarly trails. I come back home ready to take it to a new level in the skills department.

Climbing at colorful Corner Canyon

     The Fall colors were starting to appear in the valley which made the climb much more tolerable on tired legs. By the time I finished the ride, the legs felt much better. Now it was time for some rest before the Snowbird Ultra Hill Climb coming on Saturday. The weather forecast was not looking great. It was calling for a lot of rain coming on Thursday and into Friday with a chance of snow accumulation in the mountains. I squeezed in my Thursday plans of yard work on Wednesday evening to beat the bad weather. Shannon and I did our annual trimming of the trees, picked grapes, repaired the deck and weeded the landscaping. The beautiful landscaping we did last year was a mess of weeds. The mower of the lawn was shooting the grass into the landscaping beds. The breakdown of the grass blades made for a dirt layer on top of the bark chips. Then weeds grew everywhere and completely covered the bark in some areas. It's always something when it comes to Gma's yard.

Flying down the Rattler trail in Corner Canyon towards Draper

     I was hoping to get some of the delicious apples Gma had on her tree last year. I wanted to take a few seeds home and try to grow a tree like that at our house. But there were only two apples on the tree this year. The first had no seeds. I ate the second apple and set the seeds out in a paper cup, which somebody thought was trash and tossed in the garbage. Maybe next year...

    It didn't rain on Thursday, but it looked nasty all day. Storm after storm came through the valley, all of them curving around West Jordan during daylight hours. The north side of Salt Lake City was not so fortunate. They actually had a tornado touch down in the town of Riverdale, which is pretty rare for this part of Utah. It was sad to see some homes get torn up by the storm, but I was amazed at how the community came together so quickly and got it cleaned up. School was already planned to be out for Friday so a lot of the students came to the aid of their neighbors on their off day. By the end of Friday, a few of the streets looked just like they did before the storm arrived.

    Some of the family came over for their annual cooking contest at the end of the week. That meant some good eating for me. There was a Fall theme, so plenty of apple and pumpkin dishes to fill my belly with before I watched the livestream from CrossVegas to get cross season going.

     I got the disappointing news on Friday that the Hill Climb had been postponed for a week due to the forecast which was looking more and more bleak. The chance of snow now extended all the way down to the valley with large amounts expected in the higher elevations. We went from 80 degrees on Wednesday to holding at 45 degrees for most of the day on Friday and Saturday. I was really bummed that I would not be able to do the race I had set as a target all season, but it was a good call to postpone. The Snowbird Ski Resort received 10 inches of snow at the resort itself, which is where the race transitions from road to trail. Another 3,300 feet further up at Hidden Peak where we were to finish the mountain bike portion of the race got much more. They didn't even bother to measure it. They simply stated there was "feet" of snow up there. Park City got 14 inches by the time Saturday was over. It was a good thing we were planning to leave on Sunday because riding around here was over for a while.

     The weather may have kept us indoors the last few days, but it did not hamper our drive home. We had beautiful weather the entire way. It was the first time I have ever driven across the country without it raining at some point along the way. We pulled an all-nighter again, clocking 24 straight hours to get us back to Tennessee on Monday afternoon.

Snow in the mountains as seen from the end of Gma's driveway as we hit the road for home

Snowy peaks at Park City as we passed by

Lincoln's head was in place on the monument in Laramie, WY this year.

     I was sad that the trip was over, but I was glad to be home. Immediately upon entering the driveway I felt some excitement about working on the house. I haven't had that since June right after we moved in. That first month was so tough that it burned me out for the whole summer. The break was refreshing, but I did wish I could camp a few more days in the Tetons. That was a really cool place.