By Thursday, Corner Canyon was looking dry, so we took our chances with a drive over to Draper. These trails are on the valley side of the mountains at a lower elevation so they get less rain and snow. We were happy to find dry trails and had a good time finally getting to ride on some dirt this week. I took it easy since I had raced the past two nights and had a short track coming in just two days. We did climb the mountain twice though, once to hit the Rush Flow trail and one more time to hit the north side of the trails with a slow descent back down Rattler, which is a really fun trail. I forgot my camera, but Dina was able to get a few pictures with her phone. I always love riding in Draper as you can ride in the shadow of a beautiful temple. Ghost Falls is usually nothing more than a trickle when I come here in September, but with the snow starting to melt it was roaring today. Of course we hit the Draper Cycle Park afterwards for some time on the pump track and dirt jumps. I even saw my first collared lizard while there.
Climbing in Corner Canyon gives you some nice views to the west
At the top of Rush
Ghost Falls
Me on a tiny ledge near the top of the falls
Coming down Rattler with the Draper Temple ahead and snow-capped mountains in the distance
Me on the pump track at the Draper Cycle Park
Friday was finally time to get a taste of the Pro XCT course over in Midway. The plan for the day was to head over in the morning, take a lap around lunch, then get back in time for a baseball game with the Salt Lake Bees minor-league team. It was teacher appreciation week, so Amber got in free and we could get $6 tickets by coming with her. Midway is about 50 minutes from Gma's house in West Jordan. Our plan was to take Big Cottonwood Canyon into the Heber Valley. I thought it would have been open after a few days of nice weather, but we got near the top to find the final gate was closed. That made us have to drive all the way back down and then around SLC and Park City to get to Midway. At least we did get to see some cool sites while in the canyon.
Big Cottonwood Creek
It was well after lunch by the time we got to the race site. Registration was busy and slow. It took me almost 90 minutes to get my plate. Soldier Hollow is the site of the race. The area hosted the Nordic skiing portions of the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics in 2002. They did XC skiing and biathlon here. The area is very cool and very scenic. The course was not so great for us east-coasters. The Pro course was a mere 2.9 miles. It began with a road climb that changed to gravel halfway up and then finally to some dirt. It was labeled as "singletrack," but it was a strip of dirt across an open grassy hillside. When you topped the first climb, it was immediately back down on a fast descent with a few ditch crossings. Other than those ditches, there was nothing technical about it. We then hit the pavement again to go through a tunnel, which was a nice addition to the loop.
Number plate on and ready. 35th won't be the worst starting spot
You went through the Feed/Tech Zone after you came out of the tunnel, then started the second of the two big climbs on the loop. This one was in the grass for 90% of the climb. It was a big longer than the first climb. The "trail" was nothing more than smashed grass where someone drove a truck up and down the slope. There was nothing trail about it. Just before the top, you did enter some singletrack trail which got much steeper and made traction difficult when out of the saddle as the dirt was very dry and getting loose. Once at the top you hit the only naturally technical section of the course. There was a split line where you could go right down a steep rock face and then slalom a ditch back and forth, ending with a rock wall ride, or you could go left and take a less steep line down the rock face, followed by a benched out trail above the ditch that was a bit slower than the right line. Once the lines came back together there were a few more corners on singletrack and then the trail dumped you onto a road for a fast road section. You then turned left off the road onto a short piece of singletrack in the trees before hitting a small rock drop and then a man-made rock garden.
Passing by an old cabin on the second climb
Snow-capped peak in the distance
Looking down on Soldier Hollow from the top of the second climb
A rider takes on the rock slope
Dina hit the rock slope no problem
After the rock garden, you continued down the mountain in the grass with a few switchbacks and fun little drops before winding through some trees where there were a few options to jump a log and a tree growing horizontal at its base. The final challenge was a short, steep, double-track climb on another open hillside that was followed by a short, slalom-like descent where you had two line options at the bottom. The left sent you off a four-foot man-made drop off a box, while the right stayed on the ground, but was a much farther way around. One last stretch of grass sent you back through the Feed/Tech Zone again and then onto the road to start the first climb again.
Over the horizontal tree
The technical sections were fun to play on during my three pre-riding laps, but there was so much just open pedaling in between. There was one spot on the course where you could actually get some flow going and it was maybe 50 feet long. Otherwise it was all power. We might as well be racing cross.
Video: Practicing the little drop near the end of the lap
Of the 2.9 miles, I will call about 0.4 miles actual singletrack. The rest is just open field riding. This race will definitely be won by a super strong climber on a hardtail. I wasn't expecting a great course because National-level events usually are disappointing, but this was worse than I imagined. Dina didn't want to do this race prior to the trip because she didn't want to feel like she had to hold back all week to save it for the race. She wanted to have fun exploring new trails. The weather kept us from doing that for the most part, but after seeing the course she said there was no way she would ever pay money to do this race. She thought it was boring trails with too much climbing for the amount of money they wanted for entry fee, which for Pro was $100. That did include both STXC and XC, but man that is still high in my opinion. Payout is a measly 300 Euros for the winners so where is our entry fee going?
The entire weekend was focused on "growing" mountain biking. I know lowering entry fees and increasing payout are tough things to do, but one way we could grow the sport very easily is to make the course accessible to everyone. Why are only racers allowed on the course in the pre-riding days? Open it up to family members and locals and maybe next year they will race. Maybe they will race this year! I had to say Dina was my coach so they would give me a "Coach" number plate so she would be allowed to ride. We should be much more welcoming if we truly want to grow the sport. And I think we could at least offer some cheaper entry fees to Juniors and Beginner-level riders considering they don't get payout and usually don't even get prizes at these bigger races. It does not cost $50 for a little medal on a piece of red, white and blue ribbon.
We ended up getting back to West Jordan too late to make it to the Bees game. It felt like a waste of a day. To be honest, I was not very excited for the weekend ahead. The course definitely wasn't my kind of place, but I have worked hard to get here and will give what I have in both races.
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