Snowbird Ultra Hill Climb

     I had one more recovery day before the Snowbird Hill Climb and our final weekend in Utah. I wanted to ride my Racer-X to make sure everything was working fine. I had not ridden it since we were in Wyoming. Shannon and I did sort of a backyard short track at Gma's for about half an hour. We didn't go hard, just got in some time to loosen up the legs and worked on her skills a little. We played several games like who could make the tightest turn and follow the leader. I think it was good for her skills and let me know that my bike was ready for racing. Then I went out for a spin on the road with a few sprints to open up the legs.

     The Snowbird Hill Climb was in two parts. You started on the road with a mass start and climbed from the town of Sandy up to Little Cottonwood Canyon, then made the right turn and continued up the canyon all the way to the Snowbird Resort. Like the finish to the Tour of Utah stage that ends at Snowbird, our finish line would be at Entry #2 into the resort after about 9.7 miles of climbing that gains 3,240 ft. in elevation, starting at 4,800 ft. and climbing to over 8,000 ft. I had only planned to do that portion of the event initially, but when it came down to registering I went for the Ultra Hill Climb option. For the Ultra you start with the road race, then once you get to Snowbird you change bikes to your mountain bike and continue climbing on gravel roads and trails all the way to the top of Hidden Peak where the resort's highest chairlift goes. The flyer said it would be another four miles of climbing up to an elevation of right at 11,000 ft. That's a lot more elevation gain in just four miles. I couldn't pass on the challenge.

     I went to the packet pick-up on Friday night so I would not have to worry about it on race day. I asked questions about the transition area and was assured it would be easy to find when I got up there, both for me as a racer and for my support group, which was Shannon and Amber.

     Saturday rolled around and we had an early start. It was chilly in the valley and even colder up on the mountain. But still I went with minimal clothing knowing this would be one heck of an effort and it would warm up as the day went on. There were 160 riders on the start line. Results would be classified by overall (male and female) and by normal road categories for the road race portion. Results for the Ultra were overall male and female only.

     All classes were starting together. On the line, someone asked about the markings for the mountain bike course...and nobody knew what it was marked with. One volunteer said arrows, one said orange flags and another said he didn't know if it was even marked. Great. I had never ridden here before and I was possibly going into a race on an unmarked course. One guy went to get us an official answer, but never came back before the start. I had my GoPro on my handlebar, but apparently forgot to charge the battery so I only got about 20 seconds of coverage, all of that before the actual start.

Photo by Snowbird Resort

The one shot I did get before the battery died

     The start was very fast for the first mile. There was one steep roller to go over a mile and that about got me dropped. They sprinted it and I was not ready for that. But then the pace backed down and I was able to recover. After 3.2 miles we reached the right turn onto Little Cottonwood Canyon. There was jockeying for position to get to that turn first because the climb began for real after that. I stayed about 40 riders back and just tried to settle in. I did not expect to do well on this road portion. I'm not the greatest climber in the world, especially not at altitude with a bunch of people that ride mountains every day. There were several Pros present, including Hincapie's Robbie Squire and Scott-3 Rox's Mikaela Kaufman.

     There were some attacks up front that started to splinter the bunch after a half-mile of climbing up the canyon. I found myself dangling off the back of the main group. I would push hard to get to the back only to find that the group ahead had split again and I was still in the second group. By the halfway mark of the climb we were spread out in groups of two or three all over the mountainside. I steadily picked up spots. I struggled on the steeper sections and just tried to hold my ground, but had good legs on the more gradual parts and could bridge to the next group. I got hooked up with two Masters riders in the last mile and we pushed it hard to the finish. Both of them came around me just before the turn onto Snowbird Entry #2. I thought the finish was going to be like it is in Tour of Utah, where you actually descend for 500 meters on the Entry road before the finish line, so I held back waiting for a sprint. But as we crested the rise to the Entry road, there was the finish line. I had no time to sprint so they both beat me. I climbed the 9.7 miles in 53:56. My time up the Little Cottonwood portion was 3:35 faster than my previous best time. I took 25th overall and 5th in Cat. 1/2. I was 6:11 off the best time of 47:45 set by Robbie Squire.

Me leading a group on the road portion of the race

photo by CyclingUtah.com

photo by CyclingUtah.com

photo by CyclingUtah.com

     As I crossed the line I began searching for the transition area. It was nowhere to be seen. Thankfully, Shannon realized the confusion and was just past the finish line to direct me toward the transition, which was down the hill and through two turns. I never would have found it if she had not been there. None of the race people were directing us. They acted like the race was over at that point. I guess it was for most people because only 31 of the 160 riders continued for the Ultra option.

     Even with Shannon's directions I still lost some time before finding the transition area. Amber was there waiting with my bike. I swapped shoes and my GPS. I had no idea how many people were doing the Ultra and was surprised to hear I was in 6th overall starting the mountain bike portion. There was no trail on the mountain bike course, only steep gravel roads. The bottom was steep, then it backed off some in the middle before getting insanely difficult for the last two miles. It was marked, with chalk arrows on the ground. Those were hard to spot on some of the faster sections.

     There was one section dubbed "The Wall" at about 2.5 miles. I had two riders just ahead of me when I started "The Wall" and one right behind me that had been gaining on me since the transition area. A third of the way up "The Wall" and all four of us were together, but I was the only one riding. "The Wall" is not only steep, but it has huge rocks lying all over it. There is no good line. I had to work really hard to keep my balance, but I managed to clear the entire climb. It was about five minutes of complete hell with me feeling my heart beating in my eyeballs. All those years of trying so hard on "The Wall" at Snake Creek Gap finally paid off! One of the riders I passed said he had never known of anyone that could ride the full climb. I had gained two spots and dropped the rider who was catching me. Cleaning the climb really motivated me and I put out for the next mile to get away from those behind me. I could see one rider ahead was a woman, so I knew I was in a podium spot for the overall men.

View from the bottom of the chairlift as Shannon and Amber rode it up to the finish

Riders on a steep portion of the climb seen from the lift

    It was supposed to be four miles on the mountain bike, but it was becoming clear that this would be well over four miles. At 3.9 miles I was dying and the top was still a long way away. I was forced to back off. I couldn't afford to round a switchback and see another wall with the effort I was putting in. One rider I has passed on "The Wall" caught and passed me at 4.2 miles. I kept him close as we started the last set of switchbacks. I was not really sure where the finish was, but I could hear cheering coming from the top of the chairlift which sits right on the top of the peak.

The finish was at the top of Hidden Peak

The course was that winding gravel road

Mitch Peterson on one of the many switchbacks

Mitch took 2nd overall. He always was a great climber. He and I raced a lot back in 2004 when we were both doing the NORBA National Championship Series in Junior X. He rode for Balance Bar DEVO then.

Peterson

Me and Richard DalCanto battling for third

     As we neared the lift station, I kicked up the pace again and started cutting down the gap to the guy ahead. I was giving it all I had as we went behind the lift station. It looked like we were going to finish right at the top of the peak and I was going to be able to time my sprint perfectly and get him. We rounded the next corner to start that final push to the peak and there was the  finish line. There was some construction going on at the lift station, so we ended at the bottom of it instead of on the actual tip of the peak like I had expected. He beat me by just a few seconds. So close! He had raced this the past three years and his course experience paid off. You can't see the finish line until you are right at it, just like in the road portion of the race. So, I took 5th overall and 4th in Open Male for the full Ultra Hill Climb. I missed the podium by a spot, but was not too disappointed. I never expected to be even in the top half of the field, let alone in the running for a podium spot.

Mikaela Kaufman

Tiny me down there with an awesome backdrop for a mountain bike race

I'm on the last section here

DalCanto takes third with me just behind

     The mountain bike portion wound up being 4.75 miles long with about 2,950 ft. of climbing. In total, the race was about 14.5 miles long with 6,126 ft. of climbing, starting at 4,813 ft. and topping out at 10,939 ft. I finished the full race in 2:04:05, good enough for 8th overall on the Strava leaderboards. Squire won the Ultra as well, completing the full distance in 1:40:46, which was 23:19 faster than I did it. I cannot imagine going that fast. It was a brutal course, maybe the hardest race I have ever done. My legs were DESTROYED at the top! Mikaela Kaufman killed it on the female side of things, winning the Open Women with a 1:55:16, which landed her as the third overall finisher. That's why she's on a World Cup team! You can read about the race here from the guys at Cycling Utah. The article is complete with pictures and even video interviews with the winners, Squire and Kaufman. A photo gallery is posted here.

    One cool thing the resort did do was let support crew for the riders go up the lift to the finish line for free. Shannon and Amber took a free ride up and got several pictures along the way and at the finish line. They took the lift back down to the resort, while I chose to ride to more enjoyment out of these trails without having to ride my guts out. I cheered on the other riders that were still climbing, then turned off onto some of the singletrack trails that go back down to the resort. They were fun little trails with quite a few rocks to keep you on your toes.

     Once back at the resort, I swapped bikes again to do the road descent back to Sandy as well. There was a lot of traffic on the road, so I got held up most of the descent. I nearly got hit by a truck in one corner. It was a sweeping right turn where several cars were parked on the edge of the road. I entered the turn at 40 mph, taking it wide to stay away from those parked cars in case someone walked out into the road. It was a good thing I went in wide because a truck pulled out from the shoulder straight in front of me. I was leaned over and couldn't grab the brakes or I would have slid out into traffic and more parked cars on the opposite side of the road. I ran down the yellow line and split the truck and an oncoming car. It was the scariest thing I have ever experienced on a bike. If I had not been perfect I would have died, no doubt about it. Shannon and Amber were directly behind me and would have had to watch me get killed. Of course, the guy in the truck blamed me and then passed me back immediately in a blind turn, nearly running me off into the ditch. I was furious with him, especially since he had a mountain bike in the back of the truck! Of all people a bike rider should know better! Even bike people can be idiots when it comes to driving around bikes. Always look before you pull out, whether in a busy bike place or not!

    I had not been very happy with the amount of riding I got to do in Utah this trip and this ride helped to make the trip a lot better in my mind. Usually, I get in several big days each week when we are in town, but this year I only had two notable rides to speak of since we left Flaming Gorge. It was an awesome way to end our trip. I really did have a lot of fun at this event and think I represented Tennessee well. I hope I get to do it again next year if we happen to be in Utah at that time.

Corner Canyon

     The Corner Canyon Trails have been on my radar for a while now. I didn't really know what to expect, but I heard good things about the trail system. I am one for doing a lot of research before going any place new. For one thing, I don't want to get lost. I study the trails before I go, so even if I somehow get separated from the maps I always print off, I at least have some idea of how to get myself back to the truck. And second, I want to makes sure I ride the best trails in the area. When we went to Moab back in 2012, I felt like we were not prepared and maybe I spent too much time on the mediocre trails instead of finding the gnarly rocky trails I was there to ride.

     I made it over to Corner Canyon on a Wednesday, getting there in the middle of the day. It was a toasty day, very warm with only a few puffy clouds floating in the sky. The main trailhead is at the Draper Equestrian Center, also called Andy Ballard Arena. It is a massive horse park that also hosts other outdoor events like softball and soccer games. The Equestrian Center shares property with the new Draper Cycle Park. The Cycle Park is only partially finished. Currently, it features four pump tracks, several skills lines through rocky terrain, three flow trails, three dirt jump lines and a cyclocross course that includes a staircase and a flyover. There are plans to also build a velodrome to host cycling and inline skating events. The park wants to host international events at the velodrome, maybe even a World Cup one day. There are also plans for a 1.5 km paved criterium course to loop through the park that will likely double as a greenway when races are not being held.

One of four pump tracks in the Draper Cycle Park

The dirt jumps

A set of berms leading into the dirt jumps with the Draper Temple in the background

     I played in the Cycle Park for over an hour before I turned up the canyon for some trail action. I spent most of my time on the dirt jumps. The Advanced line was really fun. I could clear most of the jumps even on my squishy Remedy. The ones I didn't make were built so that you could case it without getting catapulted off your bike. The pump tracks were fun, but the big Remedy soaks up too much to really get up a lot of speed. The flow trails were really eroded. It did not look like there had been much maintenance performed here since the park opened last year. I found a few fun features on the flow trails, but the dirt jumps were the attraction for me today.

Dropping in on the Advanced line

     After some solo filming in the Cycle Park, I crossed the street and headed up into the canyon. It's a gradual climb from the trailhead through several neighborhoods. You cruise next to creeks and drainage ditches most of the way before you finally get on the backside of Draper to the main part of the canyon. I had heard a lot about the Rush Flow trail, so that was my first target. I found the Canyon Hollow trail, which took me to the top of Rush Flow. I met a guy on the way up and we struck up quite the conversation as we climbed. He was new to the sport, only getting a bike a few weeks ago. He too was searching for Rush Flow. We had a good time riding and chatting. He was the first person I have ever ridden with in what has now been four trips to Utah. He had to take a break before we finished the 5.2-mile climb to Rush Flow, so we did not descend together. Actually, I went farther up the mountain before I tried Rush Flow.

Part of the way up the climb out of Corner Canyon. You can see the other side of the Draper Temple here. It's not everyday you get to mountain bike in the shadow of The House of the Lord.

     There was an advanced downhill trail called Jacob's Ladder another half-mile ahead. I figured I was already up this far so why not go hit the black-diamond downhill trail now. It was a BRUTAL half-mile of climbing. I was hurting by the time I got to the top. But I was rewarded with nice views of American Fork Canyon, Utah Lake and the Utah Valley, where the cities of Provo and Orem lie.

Looking into the Utah Valley. You can see Utah Lake on the right.

Going up

At the top of the climb, ready for Jacob's Ladder.

     I felt like I as in the middle of nowhere when I found the entrance to Jacob's Ladder. I was sitting there taking in the view when I heard something behind me. Here comes this lady out of the bushes trail running. I have no idea what trail she had been on, but she turned onto Jacob's Ladder. I guess I wasn't in nowhere after all. I waited a few minutes to let her get down before I took off. The trail was very fast with several rock gardens that were not overly crazy, so you could really hit them hard. I was able to get air going into the rock gardens and clear most of the rocks each time. It gets tighter with trees near the bottom. I looked down once to see a snake pulling out of the trail. I could tell right away from the shape of his head that he was a rattlesnake. He was a little close to my foot, but he was more concerned with not getting run over than he was with biting someone. I looked him up afterwards and he was a small Great Basin Rattlesnake. You can see him in the corner of the still shot from my GoPro video that is posted below.

Jacob's Ladder trail winding down into the canyon toward Draper

Testing the zoom on my new camera. It works quite well. I'm standing at the same spot as the picture above.

Another view of Utah Lake

The trail runner on her way down Jacob's Ladder

Rattlesnake still shot. Zoom the picture and look just above my left hand. You can see him in the trail.

He pulled back quickly. You can still see him above my left hand.

     After Jacob's Ladder, I had to climb another mile back to Rush Flow. There are two options to this trail. You can take the main Rush Flow trail, or add in a less flowy loop called The Trees to make for a longer descent. I took the long way down to see as much of the canyon as I possibly could. Rush Flow is awesome! It is a long descent with more jumps and berms than you can count. It's definitely worth the climb up. The dirt here is different from what I normally ride in my Utah adventures. It was very dry and very hard. It packed great for the jumps and berms. Some of them felt like riding concrete. None of the jumps were super big, but they were the safe kind where you can roll them or launch them without fear of coming up short or landing on some giant rock or in a hole.

     I had a big smile on my face at the bottom. I had only planned to ride up the mountain once, but I had to go back up and do that trail again! I explored all the other trails in the canyon on my way back up. It was late in the afternoon now and there were a lot of riders on the trail. I ran into at least four high school mountain bike teams. Each had 8-12 riders in a group. It was great to see so many young riders out on the trail. I wish it was that popular in Tennessee. I rode a portion of the popular BST (Bonneville Shoreline Trail). Then I got on the more technical Rattler and Ghost Falls trails. Rattler just seemed appropriate with the rattlesnake sighting earlier. Ghost Falls sounds like some creepy place, but when you get there you understand where the name came from. There's hardly any water flowing down the rocks and they are plunged deep into the bushes.  It's about as hard to see a a ghost. And it's about as disappointing as Hidden Falls at Curt Gowdy State Park in Wyoming. They are hidden alright. It made me laugh to see several signs warning people about poison ivy. They talked about like it was the plague. In Tennessee, most of our undergrowth along trails is made up of poison ivy and oak. We couldn't make enough signs to point out all of our poison plants.

Looking across the lower portion of the Salt Lake Valley toward the Oquirrh Mountains

Ghost Falls. Yep, not much to it.

     I finally made it back to the top and hit Rush Flow one more time in the late afternoon sun. It was even more fun the second time as I now knew where I could really let it hang out. It's a downhill-only trail so no worries about getting hit head-on here. I was feeling a bit too confident and continued bombing unfamiliar trails as I headed back to the Cycle Park. I found a little slalom trail near the bottom and got myself in a mess. I had hit a few big jumps, but then tried a drop that looked four feet tall, but when I went over the edge, it was about an eight-foot down to a pile of roots. Luckily, I had speed, so instead of grabbing the brakes, I let it rip and stretched the bike out to make it over the roots. Somehow, I rode out of it. It was an awesome feeling to pull it off, but a chance I don't want to take again. I ended my day with over four hours of riding and 3,700 ft. of climbing.

The shape of these plants fascinated me. There were some crazy geometric shapes depending on how you looked at it.

I researched the plant when I got home and it turns out it's a spurge, a noxious weed that the valley is trying to eradicate. It was brought in for landscaping purposes (probably because it looks so freaking cool), but now it has taken over in the valley.

Video: Highlights of my day of riding the Draper Cycle Park and Corner Canyon Trails

     

     The following day we had planned to go to Canyons Bike Park in Park City for some freeride action. I had a blast there last year and really stepped up my game with riding tall skinnies, drops and big jumps. Shannon enjoyed it, but not as much as I had hoped. So, after my fun day at Corner Canyon, I thought maybe Rush Flow would be a more suitable trail for her. So, I gave up my day at the bike park for a day in Corner Canyon so Shannon would have more fun. I had it all planned out, finding a way we could drive most of the way up the mountain so she would not be exhausted before getting to Rush Flow. I figured I would let her descend all the way down to the Cycle Park. We could play there a while, then I would climb back up for the truck.

     It was a mess of a day. The road up to the parking lot near the top of the mountain was rough. I thought our bike rack would snap off the hitch. We get to the lot to find a big dog lying under one of the vehicles. There was nobody in sight and he looked super hot and thirsty. We found an old Tupperware dish in the ditch. We cleaned it and then poured in some water for him to drink. Dogs are not allowed in some sections of the park because of watershed issues, but I was surprised to see someone had left him out on such a hot day.

     His tag said his name was Radley. Well, Radley liked the water. A lot. He liked it so much that he began to like us and wanted to go with us on the trail. We tried to get him to stay at his truck, but he followed us anyway. We even tried to lose him, but Radley was too fast. Finally, I heard someone yelling his name from up on the ridge. I stopped on a dirt road and eventually Radley's owner came in a truck and picked him up. He was a nice dog, but I didn't want him to be my dog.

    We made it the rest of the way up to the trail with no animals following us. I was so pumped to hit the trail and for Shannon to ride it, but it was one of those situations where I realized that not many other people like the things I like. Shannon was not at all fond of the berms. She has some kind of berm phobia that I have not been able to break her of yet. It was clear after just a few turns that this was not going to work. We walked back up the hill and took another way down. I was really annoyed because I skipped my big day at the bike park for what turned into a slow crawl down the mountain, but that's the way it goes sometimes. She was not interested in the Cycle Park either, so it became a short day. I was climbing back to the truck before I knew it and then we were back at Gma's. At least an easy day gave my legs some recovery before the Snowbird Hill Climb I was planning to do in two days time. A race report is coming in the next post.

Trailside

     After a week of being at Gma's, I finally got to ride my mountain bike. We started the day off with changing the oil in the truck, then headed to Park City to ride. We had borrowed my Dad's truck and it was near needing an oil change so I promised to do it while we were here. We didn't have ramps, but I was able to squeeze under the truck and get the job done. My first crawl under the truck ended with me bleeding. The gravel pull-off in Gma's front yard was full of goathead thorns and they got me in the back and hands. I never noticed them before that moment. That meant another stop at Home Depot after the ride for some weed killer. I tried to take out as many of those thorns as I could before we left. They are horrible little plants. The thorns are huge and sort of shaped like a goat's head with two little horns that stick up. They latch onto everything and are carried to new areas where they take root quickly, reproduce and choke out all other plants. The western states have been trying to get rid of them for years. We had a big problem with them in the parking and staging area at XTERRA USA when I raced it in 2012.

Goatheads stuck in a truck tire at XTERRA USA 2012

     Like I said, the ride destination was Park City. There are tons of trails to choose from in PC. We decided to go to Trailside Park, a park maintained by the city on the outskirts of town. We had never been there before, but heard it had some nice downhill trails and play areas. There's no lift, but the trails were awesome! I got in a good workout on the climb back up after every run. I was so excited after each run that I almost sprinted back to the top to have another go.

     The park has several short, rolling trails and one main climbing trail that connects you from bottom to top. It's basically just one big hill with multiple trails coming down it. By the parking lot, there is a skatepark and a small skills area with some rocks and log skinnies. Halfway up the hill is another skills area with several wood and rock lines. There is a pump track, and two small dirt jump lines as well. Also, from the midway point you can access one of four flow trails the park offers. It was the easier level flow trail, called Yabba Dabba Do, but still very fun with many berms and small tabletop jumps. Shannon really enjoyed that one. I have a helmet cam video of the trail posted below.

Skills area halfway up the hill

Shannon practicing her freeride skills!

Nice view. It's much more brown on this side of town.

Helmet cam still shot in the skills area

S-berms on the pump track

Following Shannon down Yabba Dabba Do

Video: Helmet Cam of the Yabba Dabba Do Trail

     Climbing all the way to the top of the hill gets you access to three more flow trails. Mr. Muchrocks drops you off the backside of the hill and is more of an all-mountain trail, mixing man-made rock gardens with drops and wooden obstacles. The front of the hill has more slopestyle features with the moderate-difficulty Bronto Jam trail and the Pro-level trail called Bamm Bamm. The Pro trail was closed for renovation, but it looked freaking awesome! There were some huge drops and jumps that I could see. I spent most of my day on Bronto Jam. It had several good-sized tabletop jumps, a HUGE wooden berm and two wall rides at the bottom. There is also a downhill trail that starts in the park and descends to the northwest, but I did not get a chance to ride that one. I was having too much fun on Bronto Jam, at the pump track and hitting the dirt jump lines. Helmet cams from the other three flow trails and highlights of our riding at Trailside Park are posted below.

Rock berm on Mr. Muchrocks

Wood berm on Mr. Muchrocks

Airing the hip jump near the bottom of Mr. Muchrocks

One of several man-made rock gardens on Mr. Muchrocks

The HUGE wood berm on Bronto Jam

Video: Helmet cam of a run down Mr. Muchrocks

Video: Helmet cam down Bronto Jam

Video: Highlights of our day at Trailside Park

     We took a break for lunch, then drove over to the Park City Mountain Resort for a few more miles of riding. The plan was to climb up to the Mid Mountain trail on Armstrong, which is a one-way trail that climbs the lower half of the mountain. It does not have much in the way of technical features and is so hardpack that it's like riding a sidewalk. It would be the perfect climb to get Shannon up the mountain. Then we would find a fun downhill to bring us back down.

    We had to do some climbing to get to Armstrong. We knocked that part out, then made it about half a mile up Armstrong before several riders came down the one-way. They stopped to tell us the trail was closed ahead. We were disappointed, but still wanted to ride so we turned around and started looking for some connector trail to take us up. We went up two access roads only to find them dead end after ridiculously steep climbing out in the sun on a hot day. After that second failed attempt, we went all the way back to the resort and started over on Jenni's trail. I had climbed this one before and remembered it being a decent climb, but not killer. And it may not have been killer on Shannon had I not take her to Trailside for two hours of riding already.

Looking down on Park City from the Armstrong trail

Trails like this are why I love riding in Park City

     We climbed 2.3 miles in the hot sun before finally getting a break with a slight descent and some shade. Then we climbed another mile on some rough singletrack in the woods, passing by several side trails. Each time we passed one Shannon wanted to turn down it, but all would take us straight back to the resort. We wanted a longer descent for all the work we had put in to get up this far. After that mile of climbing we met another rider. We asked him how far it was to Mid Mountain and he said at least another mile and then portions of it were closed. What?!! Shannon was too toasted to climb any more without knowing if it would be rewarded. After a rest break, we decided to go back down and pick one of the side trails we had passed earlier. We chose Loose Moose, a trail I had never ridden. It was a fun descent with several nice berms and jumps, but there were quite a few rough places from water run-off and braking bumps. It beat Shannon up on her XC bike. The best thing about this descent was that it ran next to the new alpine coaster the resort installed this year. It's a gravity-fed coaster that works it's way down the mountain through the woods with several drops and banked turns. It's like an alpine slide on rails.

Park City Mountain Resort's Alpine Coaster

Video: Alpine Coaster at Park City Mountain resort

     We were happy to finally get back to the truck. We climbed 1,435 ft. on this ride alone, and ended the day with almost four hours of bike time. That's a long day for Shannon. After the ride, we decided to grab dinner at Maxwell's in Kimball Junction, which is on the outskirts of Park City next to I-80. We ate outside in the setting afternoon sun.The pizza was one of the best pizzas I have ever put in my mouth! I highly recommend stopping there if you are ever hungry in the Park City area. And the Pearl Izumi Factory Store is just across the street if you are in the mood for some bike apparel shopping.

     The next ride I had planned was a trip over to Corner Canyon and the Draper Cycle Park. More on that in the next blog. Thanks for reading!