Soldier Hollow

     There was a local time trial on Thursday night, but the weather was finally clearing up enough we could get on the dirt. My plan for this week had not been to race every night. I wanted to take Dina to some of my favorite riding spots in this part of Utah. I wanted her to ride at Deer Valley in Park City, at Snowbasin and at Corner Canyon. I had also planned to take her on a cave tour at Mt. Timpanogos and up to the top of Butterfield Peak to see over into the monster Kennecott Copper Mine. But winter has been hanging tough this year, keeping the mountains full of snow and bringing more rain than normal for the middle of May. There is a lot of fear in the area that when the warmer weather finally does arrive that it will melt the snow all at once and create some flooding issues in the valleys. A lot of the Park City trails are still covered in snow. The top of the mountain remains closed to traffic so I couldn't even take my road bike up to the top of Guardsman Pass via Big Cottonwood Canyon. Snowbasin is also covered in snow and Corner Canyon has been very wet and muddy. Mt. Timpanogos is closed due to both snow and construction, and the road to the top of Butterfield is closed. All my plans went out the window with the weather.

     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.

Before the Boogeyman Goes to Sleep He Checks His Closet for Chuck Norris

     Our time in Utah continued on Wednesday with another afternoon Utah Crit Series race. I had some outside work to do today before going to the crit. We got the grass and bushes trimmed on Monday, but Gma's landscaping in front of the house needed some TLC. She had forgotten that Shannon and I replaced the weed barrier and wood chips just a year and half ago, so she told someone it needed replacing. They scooped out one big section of wood chips and tore up the weed barrier, then just left it. So she had a big bare spot of landscaping right next to the front door that nobody had touched in months.

     I offered to take care of finishing the job while I was here. The wood chips were still good other than a little color loss and a lot of grass that had been blown into them during mowing. I took about half of the chips out and was able to mix the remaining half in with new chips so we did not need near as many bags to fill up the bed. The chips that we did remove were then used to mulch around her trees in the front and around flowers in the back. We made use of everything we pulled out. The weed barrier that had not been removed was still good so I tacked it back down and put down some new barrier over areas where it was removed. Dina and I also went shopping for some new plants. We added some color between her main bushes with a variety of lilies and succulents, all plants that need no maintenance so Gma won't have to worry about watering them. We even managed to do all this without her knowing. She was pretty surprised when she came out and saw all the new flowers and shrubs! Of course she wanted to pay for all the materials, but it was a lot more than I know she can afford. I talked her into settling on taking us out for dinner later in the week. It was more money than I intended to spend on the trip, but I just considered it my rent for the week. The smile on her face made all the money and work worth while.

Before we got started on the landscaping

Weed barrier down and bushes trimmed

A little yellow for this edge of the house

Lots of new things by her old fence

We even added some plants to the side of the house between her deck and garage

     I was a little tired after digging and crawling around all day. Between that and the way I blew up so easily at RMR last night, I wasn't expecting much from tonight's crit. Wednesday night action is on the DLD course, which is a testing facility behind the Driver's License Division building in West Valley City. They have a whole course on the property just for driver's testing. There's a series of paved blocks with stop signs, curves, lights, yields and one-way streets. There's also a hill in and out of the facility which makes for some excitement in the race. The DLD lets us use their facility, but only after they close. There is no warm-up at all on the course. Nobody can even take a lap until the race starts. As you might imagine, the first lap of each race is neutral so we can see which of the 16 possible configurations the promoter has laid out for us. I didn't have a trainer to warm up on so all I could do was spin around the parking lot for 10 minutes until time to line up. We were the first race so I had no chance at all to even see the course. It was very worrying since I don't do well in crits without warm-up, but nobody else would have one either so at least we were all even tonight.

     The course was very fun and also difficult. I talked with the main official before the race and he told me the climb always takes its toll on out-of-town riders because of the elevation. It's not the biggest hill, but it has some steepness and length to it considering how many times you have to go up it in a single race. The loop began at the top of the hill with a small square around the parking lot of the facility. You then descended the hill to the training course where we had wide roads and good pavement. We took a 90-degree right at the bottom of the hill, followed quickly by a 90-degree left into a headwind. The wind was vicious on the backside of the course where we did three more 90-degree lefts and a right before hitting a straightaway that put you back onto the climb to the finish. Again, it was about a mile in length, but much more technical than last night's RMR course.

Course map from my Garmin for the DLD course

     We had less riders tonight with just 12 of us on the start line for the Pro/1/2/3. After our neutral lap, one rider went off on the climb the next lap. The chase was not as crazy as last night, so I was able to hang in. The hill would peg my HR at 185 just like last night, but then I was able to recover on the descent and hide in the draft on the windy sections of the course. Our group slowly split up into three groups by the 15-minute mark of our 40-minute race. I found myself at the back of group three. I wanted to attack and bridge to group two, but every little move made my heart rate spike and I knew I would likely blow up. So I just sat on the back and followed everything as riders attempted to bridge for themselves.

Two riders going off early in the Pro/1/2/3 race

The rest of the Pro/1/2/3 group

Two leaders out front

Me hanging on the back

     After about 10 minutes of there being three groups on course, the front group was caught by the second group and then they slowed down. One rider attacked and went off the front solo, but everyone else seemed tired. My group eventually caught back up and made it a front group of ten chasing one. We lost a few riders in the closing laps as the pace picked up again on the hill, but we were unable to catch the leader. He would take it solo all the way to the finish. I got dropped on the climb at two laps to go, but chased hard all the way around and was able to get back onto the group up the climb as we took the bell for the final lap. I had no sprint left after that chase and just hung onto the back of the group to finish 8th. I hit 191 bpm on my heart rate that last lap, way higher than anything I have seen in the last year. The legs were good, it was the heart and lungs that were holding me back again, but not as much as the previous day. My body is starting to adjust to this elevation thing!

These two were the first group when things split up.

Group 2

Group 3

Working hard here up on the front of the saddle

Solo leader now

Chasers starting the climb

Me still hanging out at the back

Coming into the parking lot at the top of the climb

Leader

Me falling off the back at 2 to go, but I fought my way back on the next time up the hill

Cat. 4/5 group ready to start

     It was a fun night of racing on a fun course. Thanks again to Dina for the pictures and some video. She and Amber cheered me on the whole race. It was cool to have Amber there as she doesn't get to see me race very often. We all had some support on the backside of the course from some kids that had come from the neighborhood next door to cheer us on through the fence.

     The official I talked to before the race came over and congratulated me on how well I did on the climb. He was pretty impressed that I was able to hang on for 22 trips up the hill and he gave me a pep talk about how awesome I was going to ride when I got back home to near sea-level. Everyone there was very nice and I hope to be able to support this series again in the future. If you are ever in the area, stop by and do a race. They don't believe in pulling riders so even if you blow up you will get to race the full race. They don't pull because riders don't get better by sitting on the side watching. They really do everything they can to help the riders. It is all about the riders and nothing else, which is how it should be.

Video: Utah Crit Series at the DLD

    Tammy Richardson had messaged me on Facebook to tell me Chuck Norris was supposed to be in the Salt Lake area this week promoting a new bottled water called CFORCE. Turns out he was not that far from where the crit. was so we headed over to the Maverik store in Centerville where he was supposed to be doing pictures. Of course, the line was crazy, but they had a good system down that made things go quickly. We only got a few seconds with Chuck, but he was a super nice guy. Even after a long day of taking photos he genuinely seemed to be enjoying it. He could've just posed for the picture and pushed us off to make room for the next people, but he actually shook our hands and talked to us for a minute. I remember watching a lot of "Walker, Texas Ranger" when I was a kid. It really was a good show, with much more substance to it than most of the crap that is on television these days. It was cool to meet Chuck as I feel like he is a guy that hasn't let the fame go to his head. He still spends countless hours doing martial arts and teaching kids martial arts which is pretty awesome. He truly loves his sport and does all he can to make sure the next generation has a chance to love it too. Dude is 77 years old! You wouldn't know it by how he looks and acts.

The line to see Chuck was long

They were also giving away a big, jacked-up truck called Truck Norris

     If you have been a reader of my writings since I started blogging back in 2005, then you might remember Chuck Norris coming up a few times. I wrote a guest blog for the popular NashvilleCyclist.com in 2006 where I wrote about a trip to the SERC opener in Florida with Kenny Marshall, Rick Harmon and Daniel Matheny among others. We had a whole van-load of people in Kenny's old green van, which we called the Green Goblin. On the drive down, Daniel and I found some papers in the back of one of the seats and they were a list of about 1,000 Chuck Norris jokes, right about the time those jokes were becoming popular. We laughed at those things for weeks. That part of the blog stuck with me for a long time. Other riders called me "Chuck Norris" and "Roundhouse" for about three years after that. Actually, I still hear it brought up in Nashville every now and then. I thought it was kind of fitting that I did end up getting to meet Chuck. There's a lot of new Chuck Norris jokes out there (now called Facts) so Amber, Dina and I spent the rest of this trip reading and exchanging them with each other. One of my favorites is this: "A Handicap parking sign does not signify that this spot is for handicapped people. It is actually in fact a warning, that the spot belongs to Chuck Norris and that you will be handicapped if you park there." I also like: "There once was a street called Chuck Norris, but the name was changed for public safety because nobody crosses Chuck Norris and lives."

     Now I just need to meet Jason Bourne.