Salt Lake Valley climbs: Completed

Early this year I decided I wanted to do all of the classic Salt Lake Valley climbs. I'd heard other cyclists talk about them and I wanted the experience. This evening I completed the last climb. Here is the list (in the order I climbed them):

1. Butterfield Canyon
2. Suncrest
3. Emigration Canyon (to Big Mountain)
4. Millcreek Canyon
5. Big Cottonwood Canyon
6. Little Cottonwood Canyon
7. City Creek

A few comments:

• Although Parley's Canyon is a worthy climb, I have no interest in cycling along a freeway (I-80) with the associated traffic danger and noise. There is a grass-roots effort to put in a bike/foot path up Parley's and if it gets built I'll climb Parley's.
• I climbed Butterfield last year and I'll probably do it again soon so I will have climbed it in 2007.

So this evening was City Creek. I read a bit about it (here and here) and purposely put it last so it would be the desert. I rode with Mark and Craig - and while climbs are solitary by nature, it still helps to ride with friends.

We rode from near Trolley Square (where Mark and Craig work) to get the legs warmed up. Pedaling up the (fairly steep) Avenues my legs felt sluggish - not good. I felt better on the down-sloping 11th Avenue and the gently climbing Bonneville Blvd.

City Creek starts mellow and rolling averaging 3-4% grade. We handled the few steeper spots pretty good. I was spinning good and kept it in the middle ring all the way past the water treatment facility, but I was forced into the small ring as I approached the lower Rotary park. Mark joked that once I dropped into the little ring I would be left behind so I tried to keep it in as high a gear as I could. I was breathing hard, but the legs weren't going anaerobic so I kept myself in the pain cave. At one point I got a side ache - that's only happened to my while running (from the impact), never while cycling. I was a bit alarmed, but kept pushing it.

Those nasty 10%+ grades hurt, but I tried to keep my speed up. For some reason I thought the road ended not too far past lower Rotary - I was wrong - it just kept going with more steep spots to boot. At each little picnic area I hoped it would be the end, but it wasn't.

By spinning up to a fast (for me) pace and focusing on the climb, I realized about half way up that I had opened up a gap. So as I hit the tough stuff and slowed down I kept waiting for one of my riding partners to pass me. I knew Mark was strong on climbs (he smoked Little Cottonwood and beat me to the top by 6 minutes) and Craig had pedaled solidly up the lower section. I pushed on, but felt my energy draining.

Finally, I spotted what I hoped was the end and heard a cough behind me. I was so lost in my own masochistic world I was oblivious to most of my surroundings so the cough startled me and I did some sort of spastic jerk and let out a little "oh!". Yea, it was Mark, he had caught me - but the end was near so I kept pace and finished it. Mark said he thought about sprinting past me, but feared he would blow a gasket. I think he was being a gentleman to let me finish first for this last of my SLC climbs. If he would have sprinted I would have tried to answer, but it would have been weak and I doubt I could have held him off.

I was pretty worked over. It was a tougher climb than I anticipated, but it felt good to work hard for it. The canyon is pretty with a little stream and plenty of shade. Being an odd day there were no cars (OK, one truck going down) so that was nice. The descent was refreshing, except when I let on too much speed down a steep spot that ended with a sharp right turn - thankfully Craig was showing me the line and I woke up in time and got on the brakes so I didn't go off the road. Some city riding back to the cars and that was it. City Creek was a good finale.

Full Alpine Loop - August 2007

I rode the Alpine Loop from my house in Orem today. I've been wanting to do this ride for two years, and Saturday I got my window of opportunity. Since I've done out-n-back rides up AF Canyon to the summit many times, I decided to go up Provo Canyon. I left my house at 8 AM and went up Provo Canyon. There was a pretty good wind coming down the canyon so I stayed on the parkway trail and went slow. I’ve only gone up the Sundance side once last Spring, and it was tough enough that I turned around at Sundance and went back. That section to Sundance has some steep spots (10-11%), but I made it OK this time and kept going up. I’ve always been impressed by the beauty of AF Canyon, but I think the Sundance side of the Loop is better. That upper section with all the Aspens and the fern covered ground - gorgeous. In fact, I couldn’t get too serious about climbing hard because it would have been a sin to not soak in the scenery. I saw a flock of 10-15 wild turkeys. Very few cars - surprising for a Saturday. I reached the top in 1 hour 41 minutes with a climb of 3180’. I rested for a minute or two then headed down. Lots of cyclists coming up the road. More cars coming up, but not many going down so the descent was nice. I made my way through American Fork, Pleasant Grove and Lindon to return home. 41 miles and 3380’ of climbing, finished under 3 hours. The weather was nice, not much traffic, I felt good on the bike and the scenery was incredible - yea, it was a fantastic ride.

Little Cottonwood - August 2007

Since I got into road biking 3 years ago, I'd heard stories about the various canyon climbs in Salt Lake Valley. I decided to ride each of these canyons this year. Here are the ones I've already done:

- Emigration (Little and Big Mountains)
- Millcreek
- Big Cottonwood
- Suncrest (both the north and south sides)
- Butterfield

What's the obvious one missing from the list? Yep, Little Cottonwood. I'd heard from most cyclists that it's the toughest, and this description (or this one) didn't make me feel any better. After completing Big Cottonwood almost 3 weeks ago, I knew Little was next and it was time. So Mark agreed to accompany me (which is nice because he's done it a few times) this evening.

The weather was about as nice as you can expect for August - only 90 degrees. We started at Willow Park just off Wasatch to give us a few miles to warm up. We got to the mouth soon enough. I felt only luke-warm, but I guess it would have to do. It starts off with a moderate grade, but when you hit the power plant, it's all steep. Mark told me all I needed to do was get past Tanner Flat, so at least I had something to shoot for. I've never seen so many double-digit grade readings on my cyclocomputer before. It WAS brutal.

Mark has a compact double and I have a triple. I tried to stay out of granny, but it just got too steep for me. Mark's lowest gear isn't as low as my granny, and he wanted to keep his cadence up to not stress out his knees - so he steadily opened up a gap farther and farther ahead of me until near Tanners Flat I lost sight of him and never saw him again.

There is a long stretch of road before Tanners Flat that is relentless. It doesn't look so bad at first, but if you look careful you can see that the grade increases each roll along the stretch (I learned later this section is called the Seven Sisters). Then you round a left bend to go past the entrance to Tanners Flat - oh, man that was a grunt! But as Mark promised, once past Tanners it eased up a bit, then a bit more - 7% grade felt like a divine gift! It got a bit steep again going past Snowbird, but after that it eased up a lot and I actually up shifted a few gears.

Once I passed Tanners Flat I was still hurting, but felt pretty sure I could make it. Upon seeing Snowbird I felt I was home free. Then after Snowbird I started feeling elated - I'd made it! All the previous suffering was transmuted into a thrilling feeling of accomplishment. I actually poured it on at the end - standing for some fairly long stretches and cranking away - I felt great.

I made the climb from the light sign to the guard shack in 1 hour 13 minutes. Mark had finish 6.5 minutes before me - nice job! Obviously I'm no super climber, but just finishing this difficult climb on my first attempt brought me a feeling of satisfaction. Here's what Mark had to say about it.

Nebo Loop - July 2007

I rode the Nebo Loop today with Mark. We started in Payson and climbed Payson Canyon, then traveled along the "top of the world", then down Salt Creek to Nephi and back to Payson paralleling I-15. I've wanted to ride it for quite a while. It's quite a brute - the rollers up top hurt me. 70 miles and 5,500' of climbing. But the views are spectacular. We didn't take too many breaks - stopped at Payson Lakes on the way up for water, stopped at one overlook to admire Mount Nebo, then got some more to eat and drink in Nephi. Surprisingly, there wasn't much traffic and we had long stretches with no other sounds but our breathing and bikes. We saw a few cyclists (I only recognized Kenny Jones) coming up the south side (Salt Creek). It was on the warm side, but otherwise the weather was nice. Just a good time on the road bike. Here's Mark's account.