Moab Spring of 2014

I went to Moab this weekend to do some riding.  I just got back this morning and I came home feeling happy and bike replenished.  Saturday morning I left and got there at around 11:00 in the morning and I couldn't wait to do some Moab style riding.  First I did a new trail on the Amasa Back called the Hymasa, it just opened this year and I wanted to try it.  I wasn't disappointed at all and it was also a pretty good hard trail which was all climbing all the way to the top of Amasa Back.

Hymasa Trail looking down.

Self portrait with the Amasa Back in the background.

When I got to the top, this is the view.  It was breathtaking.  I rode a little bit of the top of Amasa Back jeep trail and I was planning to to go all the way to the viewpoint and maybe ride a little bit on Pothole Arch but I felt like I should turn around and go ride on the trails at Dead Horse Point state park which I was planning to do the next morning.  It was a weird feeling.  So I turned around and went back down on Hymasa even though I am too chicken to ride down on Captain Ahab.  I keep hearing Captain Ahab is "too hard" or "just for experts".  Hmmm, maybe next time.

So, I finished the ride and went to town and got a big thing of cold chilled Gatorade and a sandwich and ate while I was driving.  Pretty much all the loading, unloading, stopping at the gas station, and driving to took a good old two hours.  So I took pretty much a two hour break before I got riding again.  I was pretty tired from Hymasa so the break was good while it lasted.  The Dead Horse Point Intrepid bike trails is relatively new and very intermediate difficulty.  I liked it though because I could go pretty fast and it's on top of a mesa, I like trails like those.  So I did a 14 mile loop on all the Dead Horse Point bike trails.  There were many different trails but I kept taking left at every trail fork and did it clockwise. I did the ride at moderate intensity.   I loved it and there were hardly anybody there and there were quite of few people at Amasa Back though.

After riding at Dead Horse Point trails, I was rewarded with this view.  It was amazing.  I haven't been to Dead Horse Point ever since I was a teenager and it was nice to see it again and even better, to ride up there.  Also, this was the first time I've ever been to the Amasa Back area.  So that was pretty cool.
After I was done with Dead Horse Point, I rushed back down to Moab and ate at a fast Mexican restaurant and ate some fish tacos then caught a movie, "Captain America" at the theaters to watch.

After that, I drove to the Kane Springs Campground and crashed in the back of my truck which was a very comfortable bed inside my new Softopper.  The night was pleasant and very warm.  The next morning, the sound of thumping of rain onto the Softopper woke me up and it was raining.  At first I thought I was glad I did that Dead Horse Point ride yesterday instead of today.  I was pretty lucky.  So I got up and ate breakfast somewhere and had banana walnut pancakes and went home while it was pouring rain all over Moab this morning.  It was a great little trip and I enjoyed it.  I did my calculations and I rode about 24 miles and took a total of 3.5 hours on Saturday.  It was enjoyable and did plenty of riding myself.

The Softopper made in Boulder, CO

I got something to add to my truck to make me want to drive it around more.  A topper thing for the bed of the truck.  It's pretty versatile, I can fold it down if I want to load big stuff in the back and I can fold it up to sleep in it or put tools in it.  And I like the style of it.  It is USA made so it is pretty well made and should last a long time.  It will be good for Moab trips so I can sleep in the back.  I also traded in my tires for some better tires.  When I bought this truck last year, it had mud tires on them and I really hated them from day one.  So it took me a year to get rid of them and they still had a lot of tread on them so that means I didn't drive my truck around at all.  I put only a thousand miles on my truck since I bought it a year ago.  Now I think I drive it around more since I put on some all terrain tires on them and they are more quiet and they are better on gas.  That's pretty much what I used my tax refund this year, a Softopper and tires.

In the future I want to get this system and use it to load very long lumber on my truck and this is also made from Softopper from Boulder, CO.  I think this is a great idea to load stuff like this, you can also load a canoe with it.  Well, sometime.  When I have more money.

Also, in the future, I want to get an 1upUSA hitch bike rack system for my car, parent's car, and my truck.  It's versatile and also made in the USA.  I hear good stories about this rack and it's supposed to be the best in the market. You can add up to 4 racks on your hitch but I am just getting one since I always go by myself all the time. I'm still keeping my Thule rack on my Subaru roof but I will use the 1up hitch rack for my fat bike for my Subaru and use it for both the mountain bike and fat bike on my truck and parent's car.

 

I can also fit my fat bike on this rack if I get the fat bike adapter kit for an extra 34 bucks.  It's that easy!  I want to get this whenever I have a lot more money.  If the day ever comes!  In my dreams.

Antelope Island

Last weekend, we went up to take a bed up to my sister's apartment up North and I took my bike with me.  My brother and his boys invited me to ride on Antelope Island with them.  It was a good day but a little chilly but hey, it's March so it was great.  When we got there at the trail head, there was a run event going on called Buffalo Run which was a 100 mile endurance event so they were pretty much running all day.  I wanted to take my nephews on Lakeside Trail because it is short and flat but we did the other trails like up at Elephant Head Trail because there were some runners running on the Lakeside Trail.

We rode the road up to Elephant Head Trail and it is a tough climb.  We all barely made it up and the boys did really good.  We were all happy when we got to the top.  Then we headed onto Elephant Head Trail which the boys liked better because it was more fun and technical.  They like technical stuff because of their awesome dirt bike skills.

At the end of Elephant Head Trail, we were rewarded with this view.  We talked about the movie, "300" and what use could the Great Salt Lake could do.  Then we headed back on Elephant Head Trail and back down the road back to the trucks.  It was a great ride and the boys did really did good even though it was a lot of climbing.  I hope they had fun though.  After my brother and the boys left, I rode on the Lakeside Trail because I was curious about it.  The runners have had mellowed down and so I rode on the trail a little bit.  It is a three mile trail along the side of the lake with a very technical section at the middle mile of it which I walked on.  I don't think my brother and the boys would liked that anyway because I pretty much walked about 3/4 of a mile so the trails we went were perfect and fun enough.  It was very fun to ride with my brother and nephews..

St. George Trip Spring 2014

I've been wanting to go to south for a weekend bike trip for some time lately.  I got to go to St. George over the weekend and it was marvelous.  Did the Prospector and Church Rocks on the first day and Gooseberry Mesa on the 2nd day.

Both of my parents trotted along and they really enjoyed themselves especially being in the nice, warm weather.  While I went riding on the Prospector and Church Rocks, they went to eat lunch.  Prospector and Church Rocks is a good 2 hour ride and it was fast.  Because it had not much long sustained climbs but had mostly rolling hills and fast moderate to flat singletrack.  I loved it though and I also did the Church Rocks loop which was all slick rock and there were a few spots I had to get off and walk the bike.

The ride was pretty much 18 miles and the day was beautiful.  I wasn't that spent but I was saving the leftover energy for the next ride on the next day.  That was my first time on Prospector and Church Rocks.  I'd do it again.

The next day we all went to Gooseberry Mesa.  While I rode, my parents wanted to sit around and listen to audio book and they didn't mind at all because the view at the trailhead parking lot had very good views all around even Zion National Park to the north.  They said that view took the cake because the weather was mainly nice because that's all what mattered to them.

I did the Gooseberry Classic Loop.  It consists of South Rim, North Rim, and the Practice Loop.  I did it all but I made it because these trails were very challenging.  The South Rim was the hardest and it was very technical.  It was awesome though, I did some walking up the hard stuff.  The North Rim was my favorite part of Gooseberry Mesa because it was a little fast and not as hard as the South Rim but still have some challenging obstacles.  The North Rim reminded me of the new trails I like in Moab, like the Mag 7 and Klondike Bluffs trail systems.

I remember doing Gooseberry Mesa for the first time like 7 years ago or so but this weekend was the 2nd time I did it and I forgot how fun it was and I can see how it is known as "world-class".  It's pretty much like the best trail in the St. George area and it's a popular destination for mountain bikers.  I don't know what my next bike weekend vacation is but we will see!

Being a bike bum...again

My work laid me off and I decided not to go back when they have work again and I already told them.  I have a few reasons to not go back, number one is that I don't want to work away from home a lot anymore.  Being in places like North Dakota, Roosevelt, etc got really hard for me and I just wasn't happy working like that.  Some other reasons were I just want to look for something else and didn't want to work there anymore.  So anyway I am looking for another job around here anywhere in the county and mostly looking around in cabinetmaking shops which is what I really want to do.
While looking for a job, I still have been doing some biking on some wonderful sunny days.  I've been everywhere I could do some mountain biking, like Black Hill and up the canyon.

I got a couple rides to go up the Ephraim Canyon Road until the A frame house and back down.  This was last week but today I went up again and it's all dry, no mud anymore.  Black Hill is all dry too, the whole thing.  Last Monday I went riding on some singletrack at Black Hill and it was very challenging because of the steep grades so it was kind of a push for me especially this early in the year.  I wasn't ready for the steep stuff yet but I survived.

While being home more, I did some work for my folks.  I made a scarecrow in the garden, it's pretty cool I thought, I called him "Petey the Snowboarder".  I call him that because of the flannel shirt and long hair, which I used a mop thing for the head and it really looks like a snowboarder.  I did some work in the basement bathroom also, I'm repairing the ceiling above the bath tub.  There was a leak from the upstairs bathroom above it from the valve under the sink.  It did some water damage on the ceiling so I am replacing the sheetrock.  The plumber fixed the leak and I thought it was coming from the shower I just tiled during the winter but we found out it's not.  Wheeew!  That means I am doing something right.  The shower is really nice though and my mom loves it.

I just shaved my legs for the first time in two years.  For cycling reasons I guess.  I don't have to do it but I guess I am doing it probably to make me feel faster and to keep those wounds, scratches, road rashes free from hair on my rides this year.  After I shaved my legs, I didn't noticed this before but I have big huge bad ass calluses on my knees.  It's from the finish work carpentry work I have been doing at my job, like being on my knees all the time.  And I don't wear knee pads but I should though.  I touch them and they are real  and huge!  Well, I hope to find a good job soon and that I can have more time to ride my bike, like after work instead of being away from home and can't do anything.  Wish me luck.

Skiing at Eagle Point

I finally went skiing like what I planned.  Watching the Winter Olympics in the last two weeks gave me an urge to go skiing.  Last time I skied was like back in 2008 and when I went down the first slope, I was loving it.  I went down to Eagle Point Ski Resort which is near Beaver, UT and it is a 2 hour drive south from here.  It's not bad at all.

This resort is small and it is not Brighton, or Solitude, or Park City but for $25 Fridays, it is worth it.  Plus there is no one there all the time and I can have the whole Mountain to myself.  They also have $10 Thursdays and then it is like $48 on Saturdays so it's worth it to me to go either Thursday or Friday.  I did mostly the blue groomed trails and the black diamond trails to which the moguls were starting to form.  I kind of wanted bigger moguls but these were fine because I'm not that good on them anyway.  It was great fun and what a day!  I just wanted to go once this year.

I did some more biking in the past week.  This is a great picture of my bike and my pride in joy, my dog on the top of Cow Road by the pond.  There is still snow and mud but it's February, right?  March will be better and warmer so I am looking forward to it.

Early Spring? Maybe.

It's been pretty warm lately since after that big snow about 2 weeks ago.  Then all the snow melted so I am done with fat biking, unless I go up the mountains but I don't think that is going to happen.  The Kane Valley road is dry and so is Black Hill but there are a lot spots that are still muddy there.

I went on many rides since it's been warm lately, mostly after work.  I am making sure I leave work right at 4 p.m. every day so I can bike for an hour before it got dark.  It's been very enjoyable.  I try to ride 4 times a week and lift weights once a week.  I really need it and I've been feeling better too.  I'm trying to eat healthier too, like adding lettuce in my sandwiches for lunch and it makes a big difference, also drinking less sugar drinks.   And eating more fruits and vegetables.   I've been riding better too since I've been watching what I eat.

Today, I went on a good ride, I went up Kane Valley Road to the top, then back down to town and climbed up on Cow Road up to the pond.  I rode pretty good and never felt better.  Then on Witch's Knoll with my dog, Duke.  The total ride took a good full hour with 900 vertical feet of climbing.

Almost every day after work, I pretty much get my bike workout done, eat dinner, then enjoy the rest of the evening watching the Winter Olympics. It's been fun in the last two weeks, I love watching the Winter or Summer Olympics every two years, something I look forward to every two years!