Bike: Resurrection

This is an old bike I bought back on the year 2000.  I rode it a lot for like 5 to 6 years then bought another Klein bike then rode that for a number of years, then bought my Gary Fisher.  Sold the other Klein but kept this one because I just did.  The parts were all worn out and beat up.  I decided to replace all of the parts and keep the nice Klein frame.  To keep the budget down, I bought like the cheapest decent parts from the internet bike shops.  Got some good deals and for a new wheelset, fork, drivetrain, pedals, Maxxis tires, handlebars with grips, bottom bracket, and headset.  The only things I kept was the seatpost, saddle, stem, shifter/levers, front and back deraillers, and of course the frame.  At first, I thought about selling the bike after rebuilding it but after I was done, I decided to keep it for a backup bike.  Also thinking about every time I go to my sisters house in North Carolina every summer, I could just ship it there every time and I can a bike to ride there.  Then I can ship it back before I leave home.  I will check the shipping prices and if it cost more than just renting a bike, then I will forget about it and rent a bike when I go there.
I rode it a little bit outside of town and it rides nice, it is a bit heavier than it used to be because I am so cheap on parts on this bike since it's just a bike I ride occasionally.  But overall, it is a decent bike.

Great Escape

 Whoever made all these new bike trails should get the Pultzer's Prize!  Seriously!  Now I love Moab riding.  The next day after I did the Klondike Bluffs riding area, I decided to drive up to Dead Horse Point Highway and then go down Jim and I Bridges(Gemini Bridges, I call it "Jim and I") Road then park at Jim and I Bridges parking and then start on a brand new trail called Great Escape.  I wasn't in the mood for another big ride like what I did the day before, so I did the 7.5 mile Great Escape Loop.

 Starting of the Great Escape

"Jim and I" Bridges below

 After Great Escape, I go northwest on Little Canyon Singletrack and Arth's Corner Trail to finish the ride.  It was fun and technical but not as technical as EKG I did yesterday!  It was a great ride and loved the scenery especially when I did this ride like at 9 in the morning before all the crowds came.  It was beautiful.

There are many trails from Gemini Bridges turnoff at the top that go down all the way to Portal Trail near Moab.  These series of trails are called the Magnificant 7.  They are all 27 miles long and someday I want to try them.  It goes through Gold Bar Rim.  There's a new trail in that area called Gold Bar Singletrack.  You do ride a little bit of the jeep trails to make the ride but it's mostly fun, technical singletrack for mtbers. 

Arth's Corner

Klondike Bluffs Ride

 I remember back in the day when Moab mountain biking was all just jeep roads and the famous Slickrock Trail.  Now in the past five years, at least 5 new mountain bikes only trails were built each year(I am not sure, but it seems like it).  I found out about most of them and wanted to give them a shot.  This area I tried is the Klondike Bluffs Riding Area, it consists many singletrack trails instead of just the Klondike Bluffs Road.  This place made me more excited about the area. 

 At first I did the Dino Flow Trail, then Baby Steps Trail which most of it was dirt and maybe 35% of it was slickrock.  It was great fun and it was all climbing to the top.  I had a good climb.

 Dino Flow Trail

 Baby Steps

 Baby Steps Slickrock

 After I did Baby Steps, I went on a brand new trail that was just barely built this year, called UFO.  More climbing and singletrack fun.

 UFO had a few Switchbacks also.  After UFO, I went downhill on a technical Little Salty Trail then Dino Flow then the hardest part EKG!  EKG is pure fun and all slickrock with a bunch of tricky sections.  At the bottom, I went on Dino Flow all the way to the north end side, the went southward on EKG, I bailed out down Little Salty and finished the ride south on Dino Flow back to the car.  The ride took me around 3 hours and I think it was a total of 22 miles!  I was beat.

I don't know when I will go again but maybe when I want to go another fun, hard ride.

The San Rafael Swell Bike Trip(Devil's Racetrack)

My older brother invited me to San Rafael Swell on Easter Weekend. His family rides dirt bikes and do a lot of camping. I've heard of Devil's Racetrack trail before and thought that would be a fun trail to ride on my mountain bike. When I got there, my brother and his family has ridden Devil's Racetrack and told me I was crazy to ride on it on a pedal bike and thought it was too technical for it. I didn't listen to them and decided to go ahead and do it since the trail is right by the campsite. Devil's Racetrack is primarly an atv trail and I went out and back because most other trails in that area were too

sandy and I can't ride in sand. So I (walked) to the trailhead about a mile from the car which was very sandy. Then from the trailhead is all fast to the bone! It was downhill all the way to the wash which was about 10 miles or so and it was a fun, fast, technical ride. There were some parts I walked on like in the middle of the trail and was the most technical and hardest section of the trail.

The scenery was beautiful and the weather was perfect. What more is there to ask? It was great. It was cold at first because I started early in the day and when I started heading back uphill, I got really warmed up.

I found my brother's buggy his wife was riding on out there, way out there, like 8 miles out just before all the technical stuff. They did the big 50 mile loop on the day before. The wheel broke off the buggy and they were on like the last 8 miles of the trail, and that last 8 miles was all the hard stuff. So they left it out there and had a rough time carrying all the kids on their motorbikes but made it. Then it took my brother a lot trips and a trip to the city of Green River to get the part fixed and finally got the buggy back to camp. I'm glad!

This is about where I turned around, well, a little past that, almost to the wash. It was a good technical climb back to the beginning. It was a fun bike ride.

The next day, I decided to go on another trail, Eagle Canyon Trail. It is also another atv trail but way easier, no rocks, and quite a bit of sand down at the wash. I'd rather ride on rocks than sand though so maybe this is a harder trail because I can't ride on sand! I started from Swasey's Cabin and went down the trail and I wanted to get to the I-70 bridges and then ride back. It didn't take long but the ride back was all a climb back. It was fun.

When I got the I-70 bridge, it was pretty cool. All of my life, I've wanted to see the I-70 bridge from down below and people around where I live have told me that there is a trail that goes under the bridges. Anyway, it was awesome how they built them. There were a lot of broken tvs down below. One day, somebody is going to get hit by one, ha ha!

Anyway, it was a great trip and I'd do Devil's Racetrack on my bike again! The scenery was awesome.

Ideal Weight

My mom has been bugging me in the past little while that I need to lose a few pounds. I did some math figuring out what my ideal weight should be, so I can go faster on my bike.

Here'a some math:
Figuring out my baseline weight- 106 pounds for the first 5 feet of height +6 pounds for each additional inch.
So it's 106 plus (my height 72 inches minus 60 inches =12, so it's 12 times 6 is 72) so 106+72=178 is my baseline weight.
Now my wrist size is 7 and a half inches and the rule is add 10% which is the ideal weight (according to a chart I looked at).
So, My ideal wieght is 195 pounds. I am now 233 pounds and body fat is 31% which considers obese. Healthy body fat percentage is for men is 10=25%.

I did some other math:
Here is some math figuring out my ideal weight by using body fat percentage-
Current weight(233)xbody fat percentage(31%)=72.23(pounds of body fat)
Current weight(233)-pounds of body fat(72.23)=160.77(Lean body mass)
Now 1.00-the percentage of body fat you want to be(I say I want to have 20% of body fat)0.20=0.80
At last, lean body mass(160.77)divided by 0.80=200.96 pounds
So my ideal weight is 200 pounds if I want 20% of body fat. I figured it backwards how much body fat I would have if I was down to 195 and it is 17% which is good!

Well, so I got to lose 30 or so pounds to get to my ideal weight. A couple years ago I went from 230 pounds to 208 pounds and looked pretty good and biked a lot better on climbs. But I slowly gained it back it up over the years. Now I have to start all over again and figure out some hell of a way to maintain it. It's going to be hard! Just keep biking and eat nutritiously.

Desert Rampage 2012

This year's Desert Rampage race in St. George turned out to be a fun race, well, ride. It was a beautiful day to start with. Nice, clear sky and hardly any wind. There were quite a few people this year and I did the beginner class instead of clydesdale because I only wanted to do one lap. At the beginning of the race, I was keeping up with everybody and passed a few people then at the beginning of the climb, like in that picture on the right is where I got a flat tire. First I filled up the tire with a co2 pump and expected the sealant to work but it didn't, it got flat again. Everybody passed by and there I was with a flat. I got out my tube and checked my tire there was this nail in it(picture below) and all the sealant was dried up. Crap. So anyway, it took me like 20 minutes to put a tube in it, I got to learn to do it faster but I didn't really rush because it was just a dumb race anyway. So I got on the bike again and just rode. I still had fun and finished it.

The next race is in April during spring break and it's at the same course again so there's a chance I can do a redo but I'd rather go to Moab and just do some riding. Maybe I can do both, we'll see what happens I guess.

Backyard Blitz

It's official. These trails are the ones I ride on right in the mountains behind my house. The Maple Syrup....I built. I also did a lot of help on the trail work on the Pioneer and a little work on The Flume. These trails are also shared with motor bikers. These trails are a blast and the scenery is beautiful. I call it my home. This is a good map somebody locally made, check out http://sanpete.com/pages/bike ..... or...... http://www.blazeofgloryoffroad.com/2011/07/ephraim-canyon-singletrack-trail-mtn.html ...... or.....http://utahmountainbiking.com/ for more information, pictures, and directions.