Help A (Cycling) Brother Find A Job

Mark A. is an avid cyclist, but he's been out of work for a while and if it keeps up he won't be able to buy tubes or tires to keep riding. OK, it's not that bad, but you get the point - being out of work and looking for a job isn't fun. So to give the job search a boost, Mark is offering an incentive - a year's supply of Coke to the person who refers him to a job he lands. (You can choose something other than Coke - see Mark's post for more details.)

I got to know Mark on the drive down and back from RAWROD last year. He's a sharp guy with a good head on his shoulders - for any company that could use his skills I sincerely believe they'd be happy, if not thrilled, with Mark's performance. And it should be obvious from this contest, of sorts, that Mark is a creative thinker and excels at finding creative solutions.

So take a minute to learn more about Mark and work your network to find a fellow cyclist a job.

I've Seen Fire And I've Seen Rain

Monday I didn't ride, yesterday the rain came before I could get out, and the rain convinced me I wouldn't be able to ride today either. I was in a dreary mood. But to my surprise the rain stopped and it cleared to partly cloudy this afternoon. I didn't have much time to ride, but decided I should do it anyway.

The best trails to ride in / after rain are the lower Draper trails. The soil is a course sand that drains well and it actually gets more firm with water added. So that's where I went. I parked at the Equestrian Center and headed up the Lower Corner Canyon trail. With the fire a month ago the hillsides are blackened.



I turned north on the BST and kept climbing. I've done these trails many times, but I still enjoy how they climb - rolling and winding up across the hillside. I hit the bumps and caught some air. At the crossing of the dirt road I got a close look at the fire damage, and some new items Draper City has installed.



Riding north on the BST the trail looks very different - it's a bit eerie. But except for the smoky smell it was good riding - there aren't plants overgrowing the trail anymore.







A little ways past the first gully crossing I turned around (short on time) and reversed course. Back at the junction of 2 trails and 3 dirt roads I peeled of onto the Gas Line trail. After crossing the foot bridge I turned right onto the old dirt road and then turned left onto the new trail they built a few months ago (it leads to the bottom of the Ghost Falls trails, but I'm not sure what it's called). I have only gone down this trail - it was a good climb, not killer. I botched the climb up the switchback around the boulder. At the end of this new trail I reversed course and was happy to make the switchback going down - it's easier now because the trail has settled and packed down and some kind soul moved most of the loose rock off the trail.

After the foot bridge I took a thin trail on the left I had seen before, but not ridden. It threaded through big rocks and down some steps. I thought it was fun but the trail just before the bridge is better.

I enjoyed the descent and took the Creek View trail to ad some more spice to the ride.

There were a few loose spots, but mostly the rain had firmed up the trails. And the cooler temperature felt nice (I was still dripping with sweat since the humidity was up). So even though I only rode just over an hour, it improved my mood - cycling is magic, I tell you!

Bike To Bridal Veil Falls

This afternoon our family biked up to Bridal Veil Falls and back from our home in Orem. It was a beautiful sunny day. The kids did great even though the 13.5 miles was pretty far for them. Even though Kade is pretty good at riding his bike, he rides pretty erratic and we worried about him crashing, so he rode in the trailer I pulled behind my road bike.



Not sure why I'm grimacing.


We played below the waterfall for a while. Kade slipped and got wet.



Going back down the canyon was easier with the gradual decline.



We stopped at my cousin's house on the way home. They moved to Orem from Alpine a few months ago so we stopped to say hi.

Just a good Summer Sunday. I'm not ready for Summer to end.

Saturday I went for a short road bike ride in the morning. I met two other riders and rode with them. On the way up to Sundance we were passed by Val and Adam, strong riders I met through the Utah Velo Club. About half way up to Sundance I picked up the pace and went solo up to Aspen Grove where I ran out of time and turned around and headed home. Going down past Sundance a bee landed on my leg and stung me as I was doing 35 mph. I kept going and swatted the bee off, but the stinger stuck in my skin so I pinched it and pulled it out, which injected more venom. The sting burned for a few miles then started to fade.

After lunch I took my daughter and two of her friends and the rest of my family rock climbing at The Kitchen in Rock Canyon. We had fun and everyone climbed well.

P.S. A local group is raising money to buy out the Bridal Veil Falls property and improve it. The buildings near the river were demolished by an avalanche in 1996, then in June of this year a fire burned the building at the top of the tram line. I was skeptical, but reading over their plan it sounds conservative and practical. It would be nice to improve that area and make it into a park since it's kind of a mess now. I have some fondness for the place because for a few years I attended the Saturday night dances held at the top - some good times.

Foothills Frolic

After work I got out for a mountain bike ride with my love - not my bike, my wife. (I wouldn't need to clarify this for most people, but for cyclist, yes.) We pedaled from our house up into the Timpanogos foothills.

As we went along the Water Tank dirt road we could see two other cyclists down on the Racetrack trails, one was climbing up the Cliff trail - I've never tried that, put it on the list.





We went up Crank all the way to the top. I've never done this before. I usually stop about mid-way and go down the Ireland trail or off the front (west). At first I thought it might be easier than going up Betty, but upon reaching the top, both climbs are about the same difficulty.



Next was a nice downhill on Betty's Lament to the Altar. We thought about going down Frank, but went down Betty instead so we could connect up with Roller Coaster.

Everything is green from the recent rain and the trails were not dusty. Temperature was good. A nice evening for a ride. My only complaint is that it's getting dark so soon now - I already miss the long days of early summer.

Millcreek in November, Wait September

Mark and I have lost a lot of enthusiasm for mountain biking since the trails have been drown in several inches of moon dust thanks to the month long (or longer) string of hot days with no rain. So when it rained, and rained long and hard, this weekend the desire to hit the trails was revived. The target? Millcreek Canyon.



We rode up to Dog Lake then over to The Canyons overlook (GWT). The trails were damp and tacky, yes! Only a few shallow mud puddles. But it was cold. I could easily see my breath and there were patches of snow along the way that didn't seem to be melting very fast - observe:



And while it was a sweet ride - cruising the buff single-track through the serene mountain forrest breathing crisp, clean air - the focus was on Mark. See he was riding his fully rigid single-speed bike. He's taken it on some trails in Boise, but the Millcreek trails would really put the bike and Mark to the test. I was impressed - Mark rode like he's been single-speeding all his life - smooth and sure. I was working hard to keep up in the middle ring, but he was off the saddle most of the time, and while he made it look easy he assured me it was not. He did OK on the downhill, but the rigid fork hammered him on the rough and washboard stuff. While it was fun to watch Mark row the SS, I think I'll stick with my full squish, heavy, geared rig.

LOTOJA Owns The Road

LOTOJA is fast approaching and the faithful are preparing for the pilgrimage. The 206 mile route is a worthy trial, and I wish all the riders well, but there's always been something about LOTOJA that bugs me. More like several somethings.

I've already ranted about the high cost of the event, the crappy no refunds or transfers policy, the annoying logistics, the prevalence of the car window stickers. But now I have a new zit to pick - evidently on that day, LOTOJA owns the road. Check out this warning from the Guidelines, All Cyclists (I'd provide a direct link, but it's not possible with their Flash website):

23. All cyclists are required to wear a wristband, timing chip and race number before they will be allowed to start. These items must be worn throughout the day until arrival at the finish. Security personnel and course marshals will be located at the start and throughout the course to remove participants without these three items.

Security personnel? Do they have their own brute squad?

Let me get this straight, if I'm out for a ride on the holy day of LOTOJA and stray onto their blessed route, a "security personnel" or course marshal can remove me from a public roadway?

OK, maybe this is just some saber rattling, a shot across the bow, by the organizers to prevent poaching, but do they need to sound so nazi? Throwing down this gauntlet makes me want to ride the whole course just to see if someone really will attempt to remove me. And if they do try, I'm very curious what their response will be when I challenge them to prove they have the authority to take such action. If I'm not using any of their services (feeds, bathrooms, etc.) I can't see what grounds they'd have.

It's fair for the LOTOJA organizers to discourage poaching, but by taking such a hard line they only reinforce the elitist, "we're big shots" image. And what do they have to be all high and mighty about? Oh, it's a "race". Yeah, right. OK, maybe it used to be a race, but it's a group ride now and has been for years. If asked, 80% or more of the LOTOJA-ites would say their goal is to just finish, or finish in some time, not win the race. So let's call it what it is: a big group ride with a race thrown in.

I noticed that LOTOJA doesn't have a slogan, and with my rekindled angst I've come up with several ideas:

LOTOJA - the Primal Wear of cycling events.*

LOTOJA - there is no confusion, we're a race, damn it!

LOTOJA - because your cycling addiction isn't annoying enough to your family and friends.

LOTOJA - registration: $150, lodging: $210, gas: $110, the sticker on your car: priceless.

LOTOJA - the Tour de France of middle-aged, middle / upper class, western states men.

LOTOJA - because your family / friends have nothing better to do than waste a Saturday crewing for you.

LOTOJA - we don't care that Jackson Hole hates us.

LOTOJA - voted most popular cycling sticker 10 years running!

* "If you don’t know what no-man’s land is, it’s kind of like that period after you learned what the cycling-related jokes on the Primal jerseys meant, but before you figured out that it was totally uncool to wear them, so you just rode around alone wearing a Primal jersey and looking ridiculous." - BikeSnobNYC

Road & Rack

Quite the rain storm last night! It just kept coming. I woke up in the middle of the night and sat in the open back door just watching, listening and breathing the fresh air. Of course I thought how the rain was solidifying all that moon dust on the trails, making them tacky and firm for mountain biking. It's been hard to get excited about riding those dust-bowl trails.

After the rain quit, after noon, I went for a road bike ride, even though I was pretty sore from wake boarding/surfing Saturday. I went up to the water tanks to see what the BST looked like - mostly just damp, but some puddles. Then I rode up Squaw Peak Road to see if my poor form at Butterfield was an anomaly (from being sick the day before) or a trend. I felt good on the climb so I'm calling Butterfield a glitch (although I need to ride it again to be sure).

A perfect day for climbing - sunny and cool, but not cold. I saw two riders going down as I went up. A few people at the overlook taking in the sights. I wish I would have brought my camera to take a picture of Timp with Sept 1 snow. I passed a car on my way down - nothing big, they were going real slow and I was tired of breathing burned brake fumes. Saw one other rider heading up.

When I got home I did some work on the garage - cleaning and organizing. The bike stuff was out of control. I put up some hooks for tires and wheels to hang on and reclaimed a lot of space.

For the bikes I built a PVC rack based on a design Sombeech posted. It works pretty good, but the bikes stick out from the wall a bit much so I'm going to add jogs so the bikes angle in. It was a fun project, especially with my little buddy Kade giving me a hand. He handled the saw pretty well and cut off 2-3 lengths of pipe.