Millcreek To Crest Ride

Mark and I mountain biked up the Great Western Trail (GWT) in Millcreek Canyon then took the Wasatch Crest trail to Desolation Lake where we went down the Mill D trail. Half way down Mill D we took the trail up to Dog Lake and returned back to Millcreek.

Going up GWT was harder than usual. My legs had less kick and my breathing was labored. I got on myself for beings so slow, but I kept turning the pedals over. I haven't been riding much in the last week and a half and I suspect that's the cause.

As we climbed a fair number of riders passed us heading down. Jared stopped to say hello as he took off his jacket. The valley was very windy and he reported the Crest was windy and cold. KDay also went by.

I did OK going up the Crest. I still felt hammered, but the legs seemed to feel a bit better.



The descent of Mill D was fun. Some of the technical spots have changed a little. I picked a particularly poor line down the rooty / rocky drop after Lake Desolation and Mark followed (sorry man), but we didn't crash.



I wanted to roll through the angled log drop, but panicked and stopped. Berated myself. Tried again, flinched again. Another pep talk. Third time was the charm, even though it was kind of ugly (chainring caught the log). Next time I'll roll it.

(photo courtesy of Mark)


The climb up to Dog Lake was a grunt. Mark made it pretty far, me not so far. We walked the steep middle part. Then back on the bikes to gain the lake.





The descent back down into Millcreek was good. There were a few people on the trail, but not so many it got annoying. It was getting dark and harder to see, mostly because of the setting sun, but all the dust in the air didn't help.

It felt good to do a bigger ride with a good amount of climbing, despite my sub-par fitness . The trails were in good shape (getting dusty, but not too bad) and the scenery was good like it always is with plentiful wildflowers still going strong.