Race #9: Taming the Tetons, Jackson Hole, WY

The temperature in Jackson Hole Resort was perfect at 70-75 degrees so it was a nice, sunny, cool day for a bike race to escape the Utah heat. All the racers are all from Utah and this race is part of the Utah bike race series. The race course wasn't one of the most physically challenging races but it was the most technical race of the series. It did have a lot of tight singletrack and service roads, it did have a lot of service roads for passing but they were awfully short. But the singletrack was really great for a bike race and there were a lot of it which made the race fun. A lot of roots, rocks, wood bridges, and twists. There weren't any long major climbs, instead there was a lot of up of down and each lap consisted 1,100 feet of climbing. My class did a full lap then a half lap. I finished 3rd in my class but still finished 10 minutes behind the first guy. There were only 4 guys that raced in my class. There were not very many people at the race so that means the ones that didn't come are real true time party poopers. Wish there were more people though. I got a ribbon, a Jackson Hole mug, and a $3 off tram ride coupon. I am planning to do next year's race also. I really didn't want to leave Jackson Hole, it was so nice up there.

Race #8: Chris Allaire Memorial XC Race, Solitude Resort

It was a beautiful sunny morning and my race started at 8:30 again which was very nice. This race course also had a new singletrack going up instead of the paved service road to get to the top. At first, you do go up the pavement for .25 miles then you get on the singletrack for a while then up the Honeycomb canyon which was a very steep granny gearing service road for like 3/4 of a mile then more climbing on a new singletrack called Queen Bass which just opened last summer. At the top, you go on a service road again then there is the turn off for the finish of the climb of the lower loop. My class did 2 lower loops while some other classes did some upper loops way up the top more for even more singletrack. The downhill of the lower loop is great with a lot of rocks and a few jumps. I finished with a time of one hour and nine minutes. Finished 9 minutes behind the first guy and that is where I usually finish. So the result is 7th place. There were no pictures of me so I got of few pictures of other racers so you see what the trails were like.

Race #7: Mountain Bout, Snowbird

They made a new singletrack trail for the climb up instead of going up the Dick Bass Highway Service Trail. So, it's much better this time. My race started at 8:30 am and I like starting earlier because it's just nicer. Each lap was 4.5 miles which consists a singletrack trail going around then up all the way the top climbing 900 vertical feet, then down a very dusty loose gravel service road which the Snowbird Resort should think about making another singletrack going down instead of the road. Then you reach the lowest point of the trail down the bottom with more singletrack with a few granny gear climbs back to the start/finish line. The class I am in did two laps, others did 3 or 4(the higher classes). I personally liked this one because of a lot of singletrack. Well, about every race has plenty of singletrack, so pretty much about every race keeps getting better throughout of the year. I got 8th place. After the first lap, my back was totally killing me so I didn't do good on the second lap so I finished 10 minutes more than I usually finish. I usually finish 10 minutes behind the first guy but this time I finished 20 minutes behind, which is bad. But all well, at least I had fun. Doing construction work during the week really wears out my back though, LOL! My job is killing me, LOL, LOL! I should get that one t-shirt that says, "this job is killing me", LOL! Seriously.