Mountain Biking - Alta Lakes, CO - June 2012

I had a great opportunity on a work trip to ride with a local in Telluride who, like me, happened to also have a heavy downhill bike. The last time I had come to Telluride for work I took advantage of the FREE gondola ride up to the top of the Mountain Village ski resort and the FREE downhill course the city subsidizes. I had a blast.

On this particular visit the day was ending and a co-worker mentioned to me that anther employee there rides a lot and he introduced me to Erik. Erik was stoked to talk biking and suggested instead of doing the downhill course, that he and take both of our vehicles out up higher in the mountains and ride some single track that is insane and fun, plus there are no other people out there. We drove about 20 minutes out of town, set one vehicle at the bottom of the mountain, then drove a dirt road up to the Alta Lakes trailhead. The road crosses a few old mining ghost towns and ends at one major mining junction. From there we took off through the forest and found our way down the mountain.

We decided to hit another section further down the mountain which also consisted of setting another shuttle vehicle, but this one was well worth it. Very skinny sections and my first crash (minor). I had a blast.

Here is the video of my ride down.

St George Mountain Biking March 2012

I visit St George every few months for work and on my most recent trip I decided to bring my Downhill bike along and do some exploring around some of the marked trails. It's so funny when you drive around the area you have no idea how close you are to some awesome trails, often times right off the road. I referenced utahmountainbiking.com for all my trail information. No downside to that website as they provide as much information as you could possibly need, but I think like any situation, you still don't know what it's like until you're there.

 Day 1 we rode the Church Rocks to Prospector trail, which was right across the freeway from my hotel. This was my first time riding slickrock areas and I had a blast. We left our hotel and rode through a residential area, then on up near a large water tower, through a huge culvert that runs under the freeway, then made our way over to the Church Rocks area where the slickrock started.

 My bike is heavy, so at times I had to jump off and start pushing a bit, which I have no shame doing. Once up on top of the small rim, it was rock and roll from there on out, then a nice downhill section. Church Rocks can be done as a loop, but I knew that the Prospector trail can also get us back to our hotel, just at a different location. As we rode prospector it started to get darker and I wasn't quite sure where our crossing point was going to be for the freeway, so we opted to take a shortcut through another wash/culvert, over a wire fence, through piles of tumbleweeds, then up a steep hill to the frontage road that would lead us back to our hotel. I can't wait to get back and ride both Church Rocks and more of Prospector.


 


 Day 2 we went over to the Green Valley gap/Bloomington area of St George. On my last visit I rode the Bloomington area and had fun there too. On this ride I wanted to explore more of the area and get a ride out to the far end which is called Stucki Spring. I did my best to study a map, but not close enough because with all the trails criss-crossing it got really confusing. Despite it all, I still had a blast and the next time I'm down there I'll know certain spots where I should have turned, etc.


 

City Creek Canyon: Bailey's first hike

We decided to ditch church today and go for a hike. We've been so busy, we needed a break to just do something together at our own pace instead of everyone else's.

Today we just did a short little hike up above City Creek Canyon. We started at the entrance of city creek, then made our way up a trail that rises above the canyon on the East side. We were able to use the Baby Bjorn that April and Bill lent us, so that was nice. We've found that baby's don't always like to be in them, so we tried different things like turning her to face forward, which she seemed to like a lot. However, after a while, they just don't like being in there at all, so we had to stop to feed her.

Bailey and Mommy - Bailey still wasn't sure what we were doing, but she ended up having fun.


Bailey and Daddy - She was much happier after a feeding before heading back down.




A flower


I got really excited because we came upon this giant bike track that stretches a long way (I never made it to the beginning because we had to turn around). Some of these jumps are too big for me, but some of them I could have fun on.























This was a small hike, but it was nice to get out and see a bit more of the City Creek area, plus it's fun to find gold mines like this bike track. I definitely need to get back up here!

My first downhill bike

After a few seasons of riding an old Iron Horse hard tail bike that Bill generously sold to me for $50, I've finally been able to upgrade to a REAL bike. It's not the most innovative, but it will do for me what I need it to do. I'm not a hard-core down-hiller. You won't see me bombing down hills at 50mph or jumping off 15' cliffs, but I like to challenge myself when I have time. This bike will do it for me.

When I first saw it was a Diamondback, I thought: Crap. I used to LOVE Diamondback BMX bikes back when I was a teenager and they were a hot bike to have, but I had noticed that they're sold in regular sporting goods stores, which typically don't carry the high-end bikes. However, I soon learned that they make a high-end bike and a lower-end bike, so I was stoked.

I asked Bill, what he thought of it. He said as long as the forks are good and there are no cracks in the frame, that it would be a good bike. The kid selling it was in St. George, but I arranged for his parents to bring it up when they were stopping through on a trip to Idaho. I inspected it and rode it a bit and it was great. The kid originally paid $1500 for it 2 years ago and I got it for less than half of that, so it's a great deal.

Now I just need to find the time to get out and justify riding it.

Anyone looking to buy an old hard-tail Iron Horse mountain bike? I'll make you a good deal :-).

Taking some handlebars to the chest

I went mountain biking with my sister in-law's husband (what does that make him to me???) Bill at Sundance on Monday. All was going well, considering that I had the cheapest bike on the mountain. I hit this spot that I had hit before. It was a simple drop, no rocks in the way, just regular dirt. Then, in a flash, I was going one way, my bike the other and the end of the handle bars were in my chest somehow, then I was on the ground.

At first, I did a calculated check of all my body parts (much like NFL players do when they take a really hard hit). I had to make sure they were all still there. I realized the handlebars went to my chest and they went pretty dang hard. I had to make sure they did not make a hole in my chest. Good old ribs, they did not, however, they ripped a hole through my shirt and gave me a NICE BIG scratch right in the middle of it. I then noticed I had a gash in my knee, which scared me for a bit, but once I got it washed up, I realized it wasn't as bad.

Anyway, I had a great time at Sundance, but I think I'm going to invest in some knee/shin guards before I do something like that again.

Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure.