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.

Thunder Mountain & Cassidy

My wife and I rode the Thunder Mountain Trail and 2/3 of the Cassidy Trail on Saturday.

Wow, Thunder Mountain is an incredible experience! It's amazing that there is a trail open to mountain bikes through such incredible scenery. We did the loop starting at the trail head at the bottom of Red Canyon then up the paved trail, then the dirt road out to the Coyote Hollow trail head and down the Thunder Mountain trail. Overall the trail is excellent, but it was dusty (just so dry right now) and many of the switchbacks are getting rutted and loose. The first part of the trail rolls up and down across several small drainages, then comes the other-worldly orange dirt and rock section with all the switchbacks, and it ends with a fast cruise back to the parking lot. Here are some photos:



Thunder Mountain Panorama (QuickTimeVR)

After lunch we hit the Cassidy trail. We started at the Red Canyon trail head. The Rich trail branches off of the Cassidy trail and crosses it several times, but we stayed on the Cassidy trail. (This may have been a mistake as the Cassidy trail has some tough technical challenges and I suspect the Rich trail is more moderate.) It was pretty hot by now (90s) and it sapped our energy, but it was still fun. We rode the excellent Casto, Cassidy, Losee loop a few years ago and had high expectations. Cassidy is good, but it is marred by a nasty descent into Losee that was all chewed up from horse travel while the trail was muddy, and even without that it would be a spooky ride down a steep, loose slope. From our previous ride, we expected Losee to be good. It still is, but the trail has been hammered by a lot of horse travel. As we went down, 2 groups of horses past us going up - one group was 15 or more! We discovered that a concessionaire (aka a business that got the OK to use public land for profit) is running horse rides up the canyon. I like horses, they're noble creatures, but the high amount of horse traffic is beating this fragile desert trail to death. It's already starting to form a trench and is easily, on average, 2" lower than when we rode it 3 years ago. Well, it's still a good trail worth riding, just be warned that it's not as good as it used to be and you'll probably run into horses on your ride. Photos:



If you're riding in this area, my 1st recommendation is Thunder Mountain, then the loop ride up Casto, across on Cassidy then down Losee, then Cassidy from Red Canyon.

Kamas Ride

I had a nice road ride Saturday. I went with DJ and rode the Kamas / Oakley loop. We started in Kamas and rode clockwise. Riding west on highway 248 was pretty good - it has a wide shoulder, less traffic than expected and 3 climbs. Almost to the summit of the third climb we turned right onto Browns Canyon Road for 1-200 yards more climbing before descending. The road is fairly new and in good condition which made for a fun, looong descent. At the T with highway 32 we turned right and rolled up into Peoa - the road's not great with narrow shoulder, but not much traffic so it was OK. At Oakley we headed east up Weber Canyon Road for a nice gentle climb with a tailwind that was stronger than we thought. We went up about half way then turned around only to work harder going down thanks to the headwind. We took some backroads in Oakley then back on highway 32 to Kamas - a long, boring stretch of highway with narrow, debris-strewn shoulders and more traffic than I expected. Back in Kamas we stopped to get a sandwich before loading the bikes and heading home. 40 miles.

Overall it was a great ride with sunny, warm weather. Not the most scenic with everything still dead from Winter, but the lingering snow added some interest. Loops are nice, but to cherry-pick the best roads, an out-n-back from the junction of highways 40 and 248 out Browns canyon Road, through Peoa and Oakley then up Weber River Road to the end would be a nice ride.

Moab Century Plus

Well, I finally made it to the Moab Century! For some reason I've been semi-obsessed with this ride. It eluded me last year and I was determined to make it this year. I also climbed the Big Nasty by myself 2 years ago and I didn't make it all the way without stopping, so I really wanted to see if my climbing has improved.

The weather was not looking good. Driving down from Orem I had heavy rain all the way except for 10 minutes in Green River. A ways out from Moab I could see big thunderheads crowding the LaSals with lightning lighting up the sky every so often. At 4 AM it poured and I thought the ride was going to be wet, cold and miserable. But as the morning dawned there were breaks in the cloud cover and by start time it was only partly cloudy. The road was still wet, but it could have been so much worse.

The ride out of Moab went fine and provided a nice warm-up for the climb to come. Soon enough I hit the "Little Nasty" and did OK climbing it even though it registered a 12% on my cyclocomputer and seemed to average 10%. I skipped the mid-way aid station because I wanted to do the whole climb without stopping. They had signs announcing different sections of the climb. One said "launchpad" and I guess it meant that this is the mellow part before you "launch" into the really steep stuff. Sure enough it turned up steep and while I was pretty sure this was the first section I had struggled on 2 years ago, it didn't seem as bad. Sure it hit 14% grade, but I was able to keep going easier than before. Then the grade eased off a bit and soon I hit the second steep section at 13%, but I was still going OK. Anyway, I was breathing heavy and going pretty slow, but I kept moving and made it to the top aid station. Yes, I had conquered the Big Nasty!

The road was mellow for a while and the views were incredible. Then down into a canyon and climbing up the other side (more climbing?!). The rest was pretty mellow, but did have some hills. Then it was the decent into Castle Valley - twisty and steep. And the views of the valley - wow! I got a great view of Castleton Tower part way down - I'd climbed it 2 years ago. You could really open up the speed if you wanted, but I didn't know the road and took it easy. Down in the valley I passed an accident - it appeared that a rider had hit the back of a truck. He was laid out on the pavement. Other riders were already on the scene so I kept going. Scary.

At the junction with the Colorado River road, I felt OK, but tiring so I opted for the 65 mile route and headed back to Moab - it was a good choice. The wind was blowing up the river pretty good and it was exhausting. Luckily I was able to work with some other riders at times. The tall walls of the river gorge are quite impressive on a bike.

By the time I hit Moab (around 12:30) I was getting weary. They had a potato bar for lunch with some really good brownies. I ate and lounged on the grass then headed back to the hotel to shower and take a quick rest.

I left at 2pm and headed to Klondike Bluffs for a quick mountain bike ride. I still had some fuel in the tank and made it out to the Klondike Bluffs lookout to snap a few pictures then returned via the upper Baby Steps (not that great). Car to car was 2 hours. With all the rain the road was a mess in places as was the trail. Then I got in the car and headed home.

A good biking Saturday for me with 65 miles on the road bike and 10 on the mountain bike.