The bad thing about being in Utah with family is that we plan most of our days around eating. Riding is the only reason I don't gain 10 pounds while we are out here. For two days I felt like we did nothing but eat. I went from feeling awesome when we were at Flaming Gorge, to feeling like a fat slug in just a few days time. Ugh.
The rain finally stopped at the end of the week and we were able to squeeze in an afternoon ride on one of my favorite climbs, Butterfield Canyon. I somehow managed to talk Shannon into riding it with me. There are some steep sections on this 6.6-mile climb, but I thought she could make it on her mountain bike. And make it she did! I was impressed that she pushed the whole way up, only stopping to rest three times. One of those stops was my choice so she could get a picture of me riding a dirt berm through a switchback. This road always has a lot of debris on it from water runoff. The clearing of the debris all summer had created a nice, smooth dirt berm on the outside of the turn. It's not every day that you get to hit a berm on a road ride!
Shannon suffering up the steepest section of the climb which is around 16%
Dirt berm!
On our way back down, I flatted my front tire and had to limp down the steeper portion of the climb. I had forgotten my spare tube today. Doh! Shannon went down for the truck then came back to me so I could change the tube. The sun was starting to set when I got it changed and rode back to the bottom. I wanted to do another climb and hit it hard to see where I was in comparison to last year when I rode this climb several times. I gave it all I had, but the legs were flat from the off days and I felt like I was hauling every bit of that food I had eaten the last few days. I made it to the top in the chilly shadows as the sun was setting, missing my PR by 2:10. Oh well. I was planning to come back next week and hit it again. I wanted to go all the way to the very top on the gravel road to take my KOM back on Strava. Somebody took it from me earlier this summer. On the way down, I double flatted at the same spot that I flatted on the first descent. I had to call Shannon for a ride this time. There's no limping on two flat tires. She came to get me in the truck. Of course, I had flatted in the most narrow spot of the road and all of a sudden there was a ton of traffic. We had seen two cars in two hours and now there were cars everywhere. I held up traffic as I loaded up my bike. We had a few close calls on the way down with opposing traffic. That road is really not wide enough for two big trucks to pass.
View from Butterfield
The road behind us
Shannon at the top of Butterfield Canyon
Our first Saturday was a busy one, the last full day that all the family would be in town so lots of things were planned. I managed to again sneak in an afternoon ride, keeping it local again with a ride up Little Cottonwood Canyon to Snowbird and Alta. I saw that they were going to have a road race up the climb the following weekend, so I used this as a scouting ride. I had only been up this climb once before and I did not remember it correctly. It was a fairly easy climb in my head, but that must have been because I rode it easy last time. Today, I drilled it trying to get a feel for the slope at race pace. It does start out fairly easy, but gets steeper after a few miles and does not let up until right before you get to Snowbird. In all, I climbed 10 miles from Wasatch Blvd. to Alta, gaining 3,592 ft. of elevation. It was an annoying ride with a ridiculous amount of traffic heading up to Snowbird for Oktoberfest. Coming down nearly burned up my brakes in traffic. At least I got in some nice views of the early-Fall foliage and some snow from earlier in the week.
View from Alta
Fall colors in Alta
A little snow left on the slopes
Salt Lake City in the distance
Sunday, I got out for an early morning spin on the road on the outskirts of town. I tried to find a flatter route to let my legs rest. They were sore after hammering the past two days. I stopped by Rad Canyon BMX track along the way. It looked like a really nice place. I flatted yet again and had to limp back to the truck after my CO2 inflator jammed. Last year I had a flat on the mountain bike every time I turned around. This year it's road flats.
Rad Canyon BMX
The Utah side of the family is good about trying to help me find places to ride and people to ride with. Shannon's Aunt Stacie found a mountain biker she goes to church with. Her son, Chase, was having a party as he was about to leave for a church mission. The guy came to the party. We talked a little bit of bikes, but I couldn't really seem to get across to him that I was not a beginner rider. Everything he said, no matter what my response, was like I had never ridden a bike before. He invited me to ride with the local high school team on Tuesday, but then said I would have to stay on the back out of the way if I could even keep up. It was an invitation, but not really. Despite the family's efforts to find me someone to ride with I have struck out every time thus far. At least he did confirm some of the more fun trails at Corner Canyon that I have been researching and planning to ride at some point during this trip.
Gma's house needed a lot of attention this year. The family had all planned to pitch in and knock out fixing her fence, fixing the deck, revamping her landscaping, mowing the grass and trimming the trees. After the weekend, everyone had gone home and only the fence had been fixed. So I gave up the bike for a day and busted my hump with Shannon. We started early in the morning, hitting the landscaping first. We pulled up her old mulch and weed barrier, trimmed the bushes, then put down new weed barrier and new wood chips that Gma had picked out. After several trips to Home Depot, we got it all done and moved on to the deck, the yard and finally trimming trees. I didn't mind trimming the trees because the neighbor has a huge apple tree that hangs over the fence into Gma's yard. It had to most delicious apples I have ever eaten. I would trim a few limbs and eat an apple. Trim a few, eat an apple. They were so juicy and so tasty! Amber helped us clear the tree limbs when she got home from work, then Gma took us out to dinner for all of our effort. This time I didn't mind eating a big meal. I worked hard for this one.
Gma's revamped landscaping
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