I spent the last two weeks right after my last race not riding, well maybe a few short rides, but mostly recovery rides not more than one hour. This morning, I felt good enough to go on a hard long ride(finally!). Since I went to watch the Tour of Utah, I thought a lot about Payson Canyon and the Blackhawk Trail happened to slip into my mind. I remember doing this trail during fall of '97 with two other guys. I remember it was a lot of fun and we did it because there weren't much singletrack trails near Ephraim. I decided to do it again today and it was harder than I thought! A lot of granny gear climbing and very long. I did a 16 mile loop and went on the Blackhawk and Big Spring/Jones Ranch trails. These trails are actually equastrian trails and is shared with mountain bikers and hikers. There were a lot of fresh wet horse poop everywhere and I got some on me and my bike. I didn't run into any horses though, thank goodness. There were a lot people up there though, a lot campers, bow hunters, mountain bikers, and road bikers. On the trail, it was nice, only ran into maybe 5 other mountain bikers. It was a good ride today and I was out and in my car in about 3 hours. I probably got 2 hours and 30 minutes of riding and 30 minutes worth of taking breaks and eating snacks. The downhill was great though and that reminds me, I checked both of my brake pads, they are all worn down, I need to get some new ones next week. I'd do this trail again!
I spent the last two weeks right after my last race not riding, well maybe a few short rides, but mostly recovery rides not more than one hour. This morning, I felt good enough to go on a hard long ride(finally!). Since I went to watch the Tour of Utah, I thought a lot about Payson Canyon and the Blackhawk Trail happened to slip into my mind. I remember doing this trail during fall of '97 with two other guys. I remember it was a lot of fun and we did it because there weren't much singletrack trails near Ephraim. I decided to do it again today and it was harder than I thought! A lot of granny gear climbing and very long. I did a 16 mile loop and went on the Blackhawk and Big Spring/Jones Ranch trails. These trails are actually equastrian trails and is shared with mountain bikers and hikers. There were a lot of fresh wet horse poop everywhere and I got some on me and my bike. I didn't run into any horses though, thank goodness. There were a lot people up there though, a lot campers, bow hunters, mountain bikers, and road bikers. On the trail, it was nice, only ran into maybe 5 other mountain bikers. It was a good ride today and I was out and in my car in about 3 hours. I probably got 2 hours and 30 minutes of riding and 30 minutes worth of taking breaks and eating snacks. The downhill was great though and that reminds me, I checked both of my brake pads, they are all worn down, I need to get some new ones next week. I'd do this trail again! 