Crittin' at the DLD

     My time in Utah continued as I made the decision to stay the week with Gma. Dairyland was definitely out of the question now with multiple wheelsets needing replacement. I decided to stay in Utah because the weather forecast was awesome. Sunny and warm every day, the opposite of the week before. Snow was still plaguing the upper elevations, but down in the valley riding was good. The Utah Crit Series had no racing last week, but this week there were two crits and a time trial. I may not being going to Dairyland, but I would get to race a couple of crits.

     Tuesday night brought a crit over at the DLD, a place I was able to race at a few years ago when Dina and I came out for the Pro XCT race at Soldier Hollow. I really liked the course at the DLD as it had a great mix and variety. It takes place on a driving test course, completely closed to traffic. There were plenty of turns that could be configured all sorts of ways, as well as a big climb and descent. Tonight, there was no climb. It was flat course night, staying at the bottom of the hill on the mock street blocks. The course was short and technical with six turns coming in just over 1/2 mile. Five were left turns, one went right. The final four corners came in quick succession, with the finsih line coming less than 200 meters from the exit of the final turn. It was pancake flat. There was no wind tonight as the hills around the course block most of it even on a windy day.

     The A Race (Pro/1/2) had a good field of 18 riders for the 45-minute race. I was a bit nervous as I had not really gone hard since I had been out here. Hopefully by now I was adjusted to the elevation. There were some fast guys on the line that I recognized from other races I have done in the past while out here. The 45-minute distance was not my preferred distance either. I prefer the longer 60+ minute races as the pace is not quite as crazy. Everybody in the Pro/1/2 can hammer 45 minutes. And I wasn't sure what kind of legs I had after doing double trail time the day before when I rode Corner Canyon on the mountain bike and then did the challenging hike up Bells Canyon.

     The start was blistering fast. I just tried to hang onto the back the first two laps. It was literally a full sprint. Then things calmed down and we began what felt more like a normal race. There were attacks, chases and counterattacks. The pace was up and down, but manageable. The course was ridiculous fast. The turns were the only thing to slow us down. I stayed near the back of the group early, then moved up about 20 minutes in. I followed a big move which saw me in a break for a lap before we were caught. The counter that followed was big and it was the one that stuck. Just missed it! Four riders made the break. One eventually fell back and was caught by the peloton.

    I had great legs in the race. I couldn't tell at all that I had done so much yesterday. I was frustrated at missing the break so I followed everything the last 15 minutes in an effort to get across. I was at my limit several times, but always able to recover. The elevation wasn't too hard on me, I just noticed recovering from those efforts took a few extra seconds. I attacked on the final lap between Turns 1 and 2. I figured if I could hit them first and get to Turn 3 in front it would be very hard to pass until the super short sprint. I was the first to attack and led the group into Turn 2. They were quick to come after me. I didn't really get any gap, but I had the speed high as we hit that final four-turn segment. It worked perfectly except I was out of gas coming off the final turn. I gave what I had, but it was a sad little sprint effort. Still, the plan worked well as the sprint was so short that I only dropped one spot and came home with a very solid top 5. The result made me happy and sad at the same time. Happy as the form is finally coming around. Sad because I was on form and not going to Dairyland. We ended up with a 25.9 mph average speed, which was fast on a course with so many turns.

     Wednesday was another race night at the DLD. This time it was climbing night. This course was similar to the first time I raced here, featuring the big climb up to the DLD parking lot. The early races really split up as the hill took its toll on the riders. It was looking like a painful 45 minutes were coming. I was shocked to line up with only two other riders. We had just three total riders tonight. What happened to everyone that came last night? I asked the promoter where they all were and he said nobody ever comes on climbing night. I found that rather comical as this area is known for its climbers and epic mountain climbs. Apparently, riders out here don't like to mix their crits and climbs.

Wednesday night action from one of the earlier races at the DLD

Riders getting some of the hill

Video: B Race (Cat. 3/4 Men and Women) in action at the DLD

     One rider was wanting to go hard so he took off on the start. I was able to follow him, but the third rider fell off the first time up the climb. This climb was a tough one, but thankfully you carried a lot of speed into it. If you got out of the saddle and went on up the hill it was only about 15-20 seconds of climbing. But the course was so fast that it was only a little over one minute before you had to go up it again. The two of us worked together for about 20 minutes. My companion for the day was a top Masters rider in the area training for Masters Nationals. He was the favorite for the Utah State Championship TT coming up the following weekend. They gave us five laps to go before we hit the 25 minute mark. I wanted to do the full race, but everybody else wanted to shorten it. The guy said he wasn't worried about winning and that I could take it, but I refused and told him we were going to race it out. I don't do gifts. I knew he was the stronger rider. I was struggling to hold his wheel up the climb on the laps when I pulled. He punched it up the climb coming to one lap to go and got a little gap on me. I chased hard, but the legs were just not there like yesterday. The adventures of the week were catching up. I chased all the way to the end, but came up short of getting back to him for a sprint up the hill.

Video: Two laps from my GoPro during the Wednesday race at the DLD

     We ended at 30 minutes, but I continued to make laps for another 20 minutes to get in a full race effort. That hill was not fun at all by the time I got done. I sprinted it 12 more times before finishing off my legs completely. Everybody had packed up and left when I finished. The gate was still open to the driving course. I heard there may have been a white van seen making some fast laps on last night's crit course. I can neither confirm nor deny those reports. 

     I was a bit later getting back to the house due to my after-party. Gma was cracking me up talking about being concerned about me being home so late. She said people should be in by 8:30, which is when the race swould have finished if we went full distance. It doesn't even get dark here until around 9 this time of year. I felt like a teenager. I couldn't tell if she was kidding or not when she said she was about to call the police and report me missing. There is no shortage of entertainment when you hang out with Gma!

     I had two more days to ride before I was going to start the drive home. I was off work the following week, but I figured I should go home and get some stuff done since I wasn't racing Dairyland. The weather was looking less favorable for next week anyway. I did another double trail day on Thursday. The time trial for that evening was a flat one along the Great Salt Lake, so I chose to pass on that one and hit the mountain bike instead. I went over to Corner Canyon as it was the only trail close that was in great condition. This time I did did repeats up the various canyon climbs. I did the three main climbs and followed them with three different descents. It was a little bit shorter day at a bit shy of 2 1/2 hours, but I hit it hard like an XC.

Lots of flowers in bloom over at Corner Canyon

     After my ride, I drove north to hike up to Rocky Mouth Waterfall. This hike is much shorter than going up to Bells Canyon Waterfall, but it is steep and burns the legs after a big week of riding and racing. I hiked this back in 2017 with Shannon and Amber. It was not much more than a trickle then. Today, the snow melt had a good flow of water falling down the rock crevice. It was a bit crowded around the falls. I waited a while so I could get a few pictures of the waterfall without smooching couples in the way.

A new bridge on the hike up

Cascading creek as you climb with the waterfall up ahead.

Rock Mouth Waterfall

Video: Rocky Mouth Waterfall clip

Spotted this little snake on the way back down. He stopped to check me out before sliding away through the leaves.

     Friday was a day for a road ride. I opted for climbing Emmigration Canyon out of SLC to the top of Little Mountain, followed by crossing Big Mountain. I turned around around on the north side of the East Canyon Reservoir and climbed the opposite side of both mountains on the return. It was a ride I did back in 2017 as well, one I really enjoyed. Emmigration is fun as it is not too difficult. It's probably the fastest climb I have ridden in the SLC area. Big Mountain is tough, especially on the way out. You get a tough workout and plenty of great views. I completed 53 miles by the time I arrived back at the car. 

Snowy peaks in the distance from the top of Big Mountain

Looking down from Big Mountain. You can see the road I just climbed to get up here.

     There were no hiking plans for after this ride, just packing and resting for a long solo drive back to Tennessee. I was finishing packing quickly. Gma had plans for the afternoon, so I went to the movie theater. Shannon and I had seen a movie the previous week. I had been given a gift card and a vacation is about the only chance we get to go to a movie. The gift card paid for not one, but two movies for me. I almost fell asleep in the second one as I was tired from the ride. I grabbed a pizza on the way home so Gma and I could feast one last time. She loves Papa Murphy's so it made her day when I brought it in. It was the least I could do for her allowing me to stay an extra week, and for the apparent worrying I caused her by staying out soooo late. Haha, love you Gma!

Took an evening walk to enjoy the last view of these mountains I will be getting this year.

Work It Out

      Obviously, I was a bit annoyed at my situation. Once it became clear that Dairyland was not an option, I had to figure out what to do with myself for the next two weeks that I had off from work. This week started off with beautiful weather so I went back over to Corner Canyon to clear my mind and get in some saddle time. I started from the Draper Equestrian Center and climbed the canyon as usual, then opted to ride some different trails. I dropped down the southern side of the trail system, heading over to the Potato Hill area before crossing Traverse Ridge Rd into another network of trails I didn't even know existed. I found a skills park area where several levels of downhill trails brought many smiles. 

Overlooking Corner Canyon from a ridge near Potato Hill

Looking down on a squiggle of the Rush trail

Draper and the Salt Lake Valley down below

Draper Temple

     It was then back up Potato Hill and through another connector trail that I had never ridden to get back over to Corner Canyon. I climbed halfway up the canyon again to get onto the Rattler Trail, which I really love to descend. It is fast and flowy with a large variety of corner types along the way. There are bermed corners, flat corners with little gravels sprinkled around, dips in the apex of some turns and a few blind turns as well. You can hit a fairly high speed if you push it and those corners keep you on your toes the entire way down. The grasses along the bottom half were still tinted red just like when I rode down last week. They were waving in the wind as I zoomed by. 

Video: Handlebar cam of part of the Rattler Trail

     I finished up the ride with another climb up the canyon so I could finish with some air time on the Rush downhill trail. This trail is full of jumps and berms. It's one-way so you can let it rip. Most of the jumps are really well built with a smooth landing. The trail has been extended a little at the bottom with even more jumps added. Some of the lower jumps are really big, bigger than I had the guts to hit on an Epic.

Ann's Point Overlook

View from Ann's Point

Purple blooms all along the trail near Traverse Ridge Rd.

Video: Descending Rush with the handlebar cam

     My ride was over, but I wasn't done with time in the woods just yet. I have always wanted to hike up Bells Canyon to the waterfall there that is supposed to be one of the larger in the area. The trailhead is not too far from Corner Canyon so it was a short drive before I was lacing up my boots. My feet were still a little sore from Saturday's hike up Grandeur Peak, but that went away after a few minutes of walking.

     This trail has two starting points. I chose the more southern route, which began with a short, steep climb out in the blazing sun. Once at the top of the small climb, the trail flattens out as it reaches the Lower Bell Canyon Reservoir. I took a side trail around the lake so I could enjoy the view before continuing the climb. The two initial routes converge at the reservoir, taking a dirt road further up the canyon before the trail splits off to the left. 

Initial steep slope on the Bells Canyon Trail

Lower Bell Canyon Reservoir

     The trail is always climbing, but it's fairly gradual at the bottom as you cross mountain meadows to get to a rushing stream. The trail crosses the stream, which is Bells Canyon Creek, the source of the waterfall. 

The moon appearing over the mountain

Bells Canyon Creek

     The climb becomes more serious after the creek crossing. It moves under the cover of the tree canpy which was nice. The creek gets further away, but you can still hear the rushing water as you climb. The trail becomes covered in rocks which gradually get bigger as you ascend. The posted distance up to the falls was 2.2 miles. The legs were burning as the rocks transitioned to boulders. The climb went from hiking to bouldering. It was like doing lunges up the mountain. I passed very few people on this climb. Not because the trail was empty, but because everybody in Utah can hike. I know I was a little tired from the mountain bike ride, but I got whipped by some teenagers that looked like they were dressed to go to the mall. They were carrying their shiny little water bottles and chap-stick as they crushed my soul into the boulders. The 2.2 mile mark went by with no waterfall in sight. I knew I added on a little when I went around the reservoir, but I was getting discouraged when I got to 2.5 miles and still no waterfall. 

     The last few minutes felt like an hour. I was tired and had sweat dripping off every feature of my face. Finally, I saw a sign. It said turn left for the waterfall. The trail descended a little and then the waterfall came into view. After an hour and 35 minutes of climbing, I could see it! Bells Canyon Waterfall is another powerful one like Horsetail Falls. There is plenty of water volume coming through the canyon with force. The water cascades most of the way down, curving right at the bottom of the main dropping, narrowing up, then curving left as it continues to fall. The upper portion had a lot of spray coming off of it that glistened in the sun with the occasional rainbow band shining out. I climbed down the rocks for a better view. From the bottom, you can see out of the canyon. It's another typical view from the Wasatch as you look over the populated valley.

Rocky trail up Bells Canyon

The top half of Bells Canyon Waterfall

The cascading lower half

The view out of the canyon

     I enjoyed the view from the waterfall. It was hard work getting up there. It turns out there is another waterfall further up the mountain, up an even more challenging section of trail. I was too beat to go on so that will have to wait for another day. But it will happen. I got my feelings hurt a few more times as groups of people smoked on past me as I worked my way down the boulders. If you think you are in good shape and a decent hiker, go to Utah and find out if it's true. When I got back down to the reservoir, I climbed up a pile off rocks for a better view. It was the best view of the reservoir. On my way down, I saw a guy meditating on top of one of the giant boulders. He was definitely enjoying the sunshine. What a tiring, yet very enjoyable day. It was just what I needed. Mind clear.

Back down to the reservoir

Looking north from the reservoir. The trail below is the northern route up to Bells Canyon.

The reservoir from up on the hill of boulders

This was my favorite view of the day

Looking over the valley from the boulder hill

The guy meditating on the boulder hill

Video: Some footage from my hike up Bells Canyon

Everything Falls Apart

      Our time in Utah continued with more trail time, on foot this time as Amber joined Shannon and myself in going up to Horsetail Falls. This trail starts in Alpine and goes up the mountain to a large waterfall. It was 2.2 miles of steady climbing, mainly in the shade of the woods. There are several creek crossings near the top. I love rock hopping across a creek, but Shannon is still not too fond of them. Last year, she got wet multiple times on challenging creek crossings in Shenadoah National Park. Today, it was my turn. I slipped on a slanted rock and fell into the water on the last creek crossing. It was a step I knew I shouldn't have taken. The odds of me getting traction on the rock I lept to were slim to none, yet I went for it anyway. I ended up on my side in the cold water. My Camelbak wedged between two rocks and pinned me down for a few seconds. Shannon and Amber didn't know if to laugh or go into rescue mode. I finally got free and was able to get up. I was wet and cold, but unhurt other than a few scrapes to my right hip. I had our nice camera around my chest and it fell into the water. We lost the lens cap and busted the zoom mechanism inside the lens. The camera body is waterproof so it held up, but the lens was shot.

Dry Creek is not so dry.

Shannon on the first of several water crossings.

Horsetail Falls in the distance. Pretty great view.

Another opening in the trees gave us a sneak peek of the falls.

Amber trying to keep the feet dry.

    It was a shame to lose the camera as the waterfall was quite spectacular. It was much larger than we expected, falling 75 feet just in the main portion. The snow melt and recent rain made for high volume of water as well. It was literally shooting off the mountain. The waterfall spreads out in places, sort of looking like a horse's tail so I can see how it got its name. You can climb down toward the bottom of it and that view is even more impressive. Horsetail Falls is definitely the best waterfall we have seen in the the Salt Lake area. Check it out if you get a chance.

As always with hikes on the west side of the Wasatch, the view into the Salt lake Valley is great.

Horsetail Falls

View from lower down the falls.

That's me near the water. This puts the size in perspective a bit more.

Video: Horsetail Falls

     Rain was back shortly after our hike, so no bike time that day. Or the next day. Or the next. It was storm after storm, especially in the mountains. Saturday's forecast was so bad on the western side of the valley that the Rush Valley Road Race got cancelled. Thunderstorms were expected with wind gusts of over 60 mph forecasted through the day. Not a great recipe for bike racing in an open desert valley. The weather really spoiled my ride plans, as has become the norm on our trips the last few years. I wanted some big miles this week before departing for Dairyland. I had only ridden about half as mush as I hoped for.

At least the rain gave us a big rainbow one day

    Saturday morning was stormy, but the storms stayed away from the eastern side of the Salt Lake Valley. Shannon wanted to do one more hike before she flew out on Sunday. I decided to skip the bike so we could do something together. We had hoped to hike up Mt. Timpanogos on this trip, but I was the only one really prepared for a hike that tough. Shannon and Amber did not feel ready for it after our hikes earlier in the week. We also heard from some people who had been up Timpanogos recently that the snow line was still low and you couldn't reach the top without ice climbing gear. I didn't want to go part way up, so that hike will have to wait for another trip.

     Shannon and I still wanted to summit one of the mountains. We decided on Grandeur Peak, which is right next to where I-80 comes out of the mountains into the valley on the east side of Salt Lake City. It's the peak north of Mt. Olympus, which we climbed back in 2017.  The two peaks are separated by Millcreek Canyon, which is where our trail began. Grandeur is smaller than Olympus, but still offers a great view as the peak seems to sit closer to the valley.

A small cascade early in the hike up Grandeur Peak

Steep climbing means views like this come quickly

     The climb up Grandeur was a tough one. It was a steep asphalt beginning before transitioning to dirt. The first half was more in the shade than sun. The second half is all in the sun and becomes very rocky as you come out of the trees. There's a ridge at 2.5 miles where you can see to the north and west. You get a slight break from the climb there, then it goes up steeply again for the final 0.8 miles to the peak. You can't really see the peak until you are right at the bottom of it. The ridge keeps it concealed as you climb. Shannon was pretty tired by the time we got to the ridge. The sun was hot today for the first time on this trip and it wore on both of us. I had to convince Shannon to keep going once we hit the final up section. Another hiker in front of us was having even more trouble than Shannon, yet still moving forward. I think that motivated Shannon enough to keep going. We made it to the top, along with the other struggling hiker. The view was great We sat up there a while to fully take it in and give our feet and legs a rest. Then we started the 3.4 miles back down to the van. Our feet were pretty shot after a descent that long and steep. Both of us were getting blisters. Steep grades hurt more than just your muscles.

Halfway up the climb the trail is more rocky and exposed to the sun.

A view of downtown Salt Lake City from the ridge about a mile from the peak.

Looking north you can see Big Mountain, Little Dell Reservoir and Mountain Dell Reservoir

At the top looking east up Millcreek Canyon

Looking over the Salt Lake Valley from Grandeur Peak. That's the Great Salt Lake in the distance.

To the south is the mighty Mt. Olympus peak

Butterfly on the peak

     The next day we left Gma's together. It was a shorter trip than normal, but still great to see the family. I dropped Shannon off at the airport, then headed west. I was going to stop for a ride in Park City, then go through Wyoming to Curt Gowdy State Park for a few days. I had until Friday to get to Wisconsin. Not having my Mom split costs with me was going to make the budget tight, but I was still planning on going. I was just feeling too good on the bike right now to miss it if it was finanacially possible to get there. Curt Gowdy was looking a bit questionable though as they have changed many of their campsites over to reservable. It used to be about 50/50 on reservable sites versus first-come sites, but now most of them are reservable, and they were booked for this week. I wasn't sure if I could even get a spot.

     I got to Park City in the middle of the day, parking the van about 3/4 of the way up Empire Pass above Deer Valley. I was planning for a mountain bike ride, but that did not happen. I got the bike ready and headed into the woods only to run into a wall of snow less than half a mile down the trail. Every ski run was still covered in 6+ feet of snow. I walked across three snow-covered runs before I realized this wasn't going to get better. I turned back and instead opted for a road ride.

Crossing the ski slopes on the trail. They all looked like this.

Not a lot of snow remained up here, but it was in all the wrong places to be able to mountain bike.

     The road was closed to the summit of Empire Pass and beyond to Guardsman Pass, as well as all the way down Pine Mountain Rd to Midway. I wasn't sure if that meant the road was covered in snow or not, but I went on up anyway. In Tennessee, bikes can't go on closed roads, but in Utah, the closure is usually only for cars. You see cyclists, hikers and rollerskiers using the traffic-free roads as safe places to train. The top of Empire was covered with snow, but the road was clear. The snow piles along the side of the road were 10 feet high in places. I headed down to Midway first to enjoy the closed roads as well as fresh pavement. This descent down Pine Mountain Rd used to be very rough, yet the steepness made for a fast ride. The pavement not only made it smooth, but now it's even faster. I was a bit cautious on the way down as I was afraid of running up on a hiker or some debris in the road. As I neared the bottom, I felt a bump in my front wheel. The final section to the gate is very steep and I had to get on the brakes hard. The bump quickly got worse, to the point that I could barely keep pressure on the brakes. I thought I wasn't going to be able to stop before the gate, but I got it slowed enough to stop right against the blockade. I got off to look at my wheel. The rim was broken and caving in. As I was examining it and trying to decide what to do, my rear tire went flat. There I was stuck at the bottom of the mountain about eight miles from the car with nobody to call to come get me. I had to try to ride that wheel back up the mountain.

Topping Empire Pass

Looking southeast beyond Heber and Midway

Snow at the top of Empire Pass

     I changed the rear tube and got back on my way. The front wheel was holding up well to everything, but braking. Thankfully, I was going up a mountain for the next 6+ miles. That would get me close enough to walk to the van. I just kept my fingers crossed that the carbon rim didn't split enough to send a chard of carbon into my tube since I had used my one spare already.

     I rode hard to make as much ground as I could before something else happened. The wheel held up fine to the top, but now I was above the van. I had to get back down. I tried to ease into the downhill from Empire, but it's hard to hold back the bike on a grade that will easily get you beyond 55 mph. Once I got rolling, I could barely keep the bike under control. The rim was so rough that it was tearing through my brake pads, literally pulling off chunks with every round. I was able to make it to the van just as the pads ran out of rubber. The rim was totally destroyed, barely even holding its shape. I knew it had a lot of wear on the braking surface, but I did not expect that amount of descending to finish off the carbon lamination. 

Looking down on Park City just before I started limping down to the van

     It took me much longer to complete the ride than expected. I was torn as to what to do. It would be super late when I got to Curt Gowdy and I still wasn't guaranteed to get a campsite. Shannon was still ont he plane so I called Gma to see if I could stay with her for another day or two. She was excited for me to come back as Amber was now gone on a mission trip. Gma was glad to be getting company even if it was just for another day. I had a bed for the night, but now I had another issue. I brought two wheelsets for the trip so I could have spare wheels in the pit at Dairyland. I had wheels to ride, but I would not have pit wheels. That seemed like a long way to go to chance being out of a race because of a flat. I also now would need to buy a new wheelset. I had planned to replace my deep dish set at the end of this year as they are very worn, but I had planned to keep the set that just broke. Now I was looking at two new sets to buy at the end of the year. It became clear that Dairyland was no longer financially possible. It just wasn't meant to be this year.