The plan was set to ride the Mid Mountain trail in Park City today. But when I looked outside this morning, the road and lawn were wet. Looking up at Timp it was freshly frosted with snow.
I feared the weather had betrayed me and the ride would be off. I called Mark and he said it was dry at his house and Park City hadn't received any precipitation. Perhaps the rain and snow I was seeing was just a localized phenomenon. So, the trip was on.
I met Mark at the Park City Mountain Resort parking lot. It was cool, but not cold - being November I can't complain about the temperature. We made our clothing choices and headed out. We took Silver Spur to Spiro. The ground was wet in spots, but never really muddy. We chatted some, but the most notable aspect of the climb was the quiet and stillness. Not even the slightest breeze and we only heard a few birds. Very peaceful.
After the climb up Spiro and a short jog on the Powerline trail, we headed north on Mid Mountain - we decided to at least climb to the ridge / overlook and then determine our next move from there. This section of trail is so nice.
At the top we took in the view then decided to take Mid Mountain back to Johns, since we didn't feel like hauling clear over to The Canyons. The ride down is even better than the climb. I caught some air on one nice bump in the pines and enjoyed swooping along the curves and dips in the trail.
Heading south from Powerline the Mid Mountain trail is still sweet. Riding through a thick stand of Pine trees, popping out of the trees to cut across a grass-covered ski run, rolling along the side hill cuts - fantastic.
Where the Mid Mountain jogs down a service road, we kept going down to jump on Johns trail near the top of the Payday lift. A steep little climb gets you to the trail head.
I'm sure Johns isn't everyone's cup of tea, but it's one of my favorite trails. I feel like a kid at recess riding it. I smile the whole time as I thread the tree trunks, bounce over the roots, and round the many turns. My goal is to not dab (touch a foot down), and I did it this time (I've done it a few times before). Just icing on this year's mountain biking cake.
Unfortunately Mark took a spill on Johns and he wasn't liking it as much after that. I know how that goes. Sadly, there was more technical riding ahead. Mark toughed it out, but wasn't into it like I was.
Where's Mark?
I had high hopes of cleaning a few tricky spots on Sweeney Switchbacks, I made a few but I still failed on the harder ones. After one wrong turn (why do I always get sucked into these nasty trails at the end of Sweeneys?), we got dumped out onto a street and rode a short ways back to the cars.
We had the after-ride lunch at the same BBQ place we visited last time. That salmon wrap hit the spot.
It was a great ride and a real gift this time of year.
Read Mark's account
The End
2 years ago
1 comment:
Nice pictures. They are a little depressiong, however, as it's clear who was riding strong and who wasn't! Maybe people won't realize that he who takes the pictures of his riding companion does so because he's waiting for the other to catch up! That was a sweet ride.
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