St. George Winter of 2016

I've been wanting to feel the warm air again after all the snow playing all winter.  So I went to St. George.

I did a lot of riding and it was great.  So for February for St. George, it was 60 degrees.  It felt nice.

The first day, I did the Green Valley Race Course, Barrel Trail, and Bear Claw Poppy.  It was really good biking and I loved it.  Some technical stuff and a lot of climbing.  Then the Bear Claw Poppy was a fun downhill rolling hill type cruise towards back to the motel.

The next day, I did John Miller Trail, Precipice, Sidewinder, and Barrel Roll Trail.  It made a good 2 hour ride.  The day was very pleasant and there were less people than I thought.

Sidewinder has always been one of my favorite trails in the area.  It's nice a climb to a mesa with switchbacks with a beautiful view.  Then I always like to do the fun Barrel Roll Loop afterwards.  It was just another great pleasant unforgettable weekend bike trip with plenty of sun and warm air!  And I really needed it.

Winter Wonderland II

I got some good photos from my GoPro camera hooked onto Duke while doing more snow biking.

I had some great rides.

My old cross country skis needed some attention and I've read about that there was a new XC ski course at Skyline Mountain golf course near Fairview.  I never skied on a groomed course before and so I had my chance.  It was pretty fun and I was the only person there during the two times I was there.  I wish I could have of gone more but I had fat biking, snowshoeing, hiking, mountain biking to do also.  If I didn't have a job, I'd do a lot more.

Here's my Strava map of the XC ski course I did.  I got 6 miles worth that time.  The guy who grooms the course is someone I knew from a long time ago and that's cool he's doing this.

Another weekend, I wanted to hike Maple Canyon to look at the ice falls.

Here's some photos....

Some ice climbers

Box Canyon

Duke had fun.

Then another weekend, I did some snowshoeing.  I haven't snowshoed in forever.  So, I dusted off my snowshoes and went up to Ephraim Canyon.

I hiked up to Virgil's yurt.  It just snowed the night before and it was perfect.  It was chilly and I had a flu earlier the week so I struggled a little.

Duke came along.  I think out of all the winter sports, he liked me snowshoeing the best.  He just has fun walking behind me and running around in the snow a lot.

Virgil's yurt had a road up to it where there were also some other cabins in the area.  I wonder if my friend, Virgil still uses his yurt.  I was still surprised that is was still there and standing up.
Well, it's been a fun winter.  I think I'll get into biking now and I don't know if the snow will hold up near the valleys after the warm temperatures this week.

Winter Wonderland

Well, so far this winter has been going good.  The part I like is that we are getting enough snow and it's getting cold enough which is a good sign.  Good for the farmers and good for me(so I can play in the snow).

Here are a combination of hiking and snow biking photos.  I've been doing both.  The hiking part is the cross training for this winter.  Then also fat biking in the snow to keep me up for cycling.

Black Hill is the only place I've been doing fat biking this year.  After 4 years of fat biking all over in Sanpete County, Black Hill is the best place to go...if there is enough snow.  But this year there is.  I really like it there because the cat hunters drive their trucks and atvs all over the roads and pack down the snow and I just follow one of the tire tracks.  The tracks make perfect fat bike singletrack.  So, I've been doing this same route on every ride and been trying to beat my time every time.  It's interesting how my times go because the snow conditions are different on every ride.

I got a few gifts for Christmas, and one of them is a GoPro camera and I use it on my dog.  It's real fun to see where he goes.  I might post a video on this blog sometime.

I love it, it's been a fun winter so far.

I also bought myself a Garmin 520 bike computer for Christmas and I am still trying to figure it out, it's just complicated that's all.  I'm not much of a computer guy.  I'm looking forward to Strava Live Segments on it and I think I figured out on setting it up and see how it goes on my next ride.  I broke my old Garmin 500 computer by accidentally dropping it on the cement.  The screen just goes blank when I turn it on now.

More hikes.  I've been exploring old places where I used to ride my bike at and that has been closed by farmers and private owners.

Good packed down tracks!  Fun.  I am still riding my Moonlander and I still like the ride.

More places I haven't been to in years.  Here's Ephraim Arch.

I bought Ice Trekkers for my hiking.  They work great on icy conditions and I love it.  These were only 40 dollars from REI.

So pretty!  I haven't gone on any bike vacations since October and I am enjoying just mellowing out at home and working in the cabinet shop at work.  It's been a great holidays and I did a lot of fat biking and hiking.  I do this every winter anyway because I really hate to travel in the wintertime.  The fat bike is one of the best investments I had because it keeps me entertained and being in shape in the cold, dark, long winters.  This biking makes winter way less miserable for me and shortens the season.

Here is a review of the biking and hiking I did for the 2015 year.  Better than I expected!  I hope I can do better for 2016!

Found a good local trail area...Mayfield White Hills

I went on two different weekends exploring Mayfield White Hills just 20 minutes south of my home.

Yesterday, was a better ride because I knew where to go and I also explored some more going south more.  The White Hills part is better and more fun though.  I really liked this downhill called "White Hill Roller" on Strava.  There was some climbing and it was a little chilly but a great day with no wind.

A few weeks ago, I went for the first time.  Actually this was my second time, my first time was 20 years ago with some friends so I don't remember the place at all from 20 years ago.  I was impressed how fun it was and how it had a lot of fun rolling hills to ride on.

I got lost many times because there were just trails everywhere.  So I just explored and it was an adventure.

Moab Fall of 2015

Well, it was time for my annual Fall ride.  You know about my thing?  Once in the Spring and once in the Fall I go to Moab.  Unless I want to do more.

This time I rode in the Klonzo Trail System.  First, I rode in the southern part of the system and then rode the rest in the northern part.  The south was kind of "eh".  But the northern part was way more fun.  The southern part was more beginner friendly but it was still fun though.  I did about 8 miles worth of trails there.

After the south, I stopped at the parking area where my dad was, he was sitting on a lawn chair enjoying himself and talking to people.  I stopped to eat a little something and took off to the north.

Some of the northern part of Klonzo, I've ridden before a few years ago and I remember I didn't have very good legs when I rode, it was painful.  But this time, I felt really good and I was really ready to ride a whole bunch.  The best part I liked in this area was the trail called "Gravitron".  It was a downhill only flow trail and I loved it.  It was long enough and it was the funnest flow trail I've ridden.  It was so fun that I pedaled to the top again and rode it down again.  I did the "Wahoo" loop and some other trails first though.

Then down further to the trailhead were some trails with slickrock and dirt mix to end the ride.

Just another delightful Moab day.

Then I spent the night and having fun with my dad like watching the Jazz game and eat at Miguel's Baja Grill(I always eat there every time I go to Moab).  The next morning was a pleasant morning but it was a little cold.  We had an extra hour because of the daylight savings time change so that part was very nice.  So we got to the trailhead at Moab Brand Trails at 8:30 in the morning and it was so nice, and there were no one else there.

It was a little cool but I liked it though.  I did North 40 Trail loop first then rode on the EZ Trail to Sidewinder.

Sidewinder is the trail I have never done before and it was really something.  At first it was just a nice cruiser downhill....

...then goes down this canyon.  It was kind of scary but all rideable.  I really liked this trail.  So it went down like 2 miles and then I turned around and backtracked up.  On the climb back, there were some parts I couldn't clean but it was still a cool trail.

Then to finish ride, I went on Lazy Trail which had some fun, fast turns and this view of Arches and the La Sals.  Oh, I also did some of North 40 again and down Maverick because I had some time left.  When I got back to the trailhead, a lot of other people started driving into the parking lot to go mountain biking.  Perfect timing to miss the crowds!

This 2 day Moab trip was worth it and it was on Halloween weekend.   I had a good time and enjoyed the scenery and so did my dad, even though he sat on a lawn chair and talked to people which he liked to do.