Climb, climb, and climb...and rain, rain, and rain....

This week turned out great on my riding.  I am back to a lot climbing.  By climbing, I mean climbing up the canyon road until I get tired.  Last Thursday, when the weather was super, luckily the boss called me and told me to not come to work that day.  I was kind of glad because all I wanted to do on that nice, warm day was to go on a big ride on my mountain bike.  I also had Tuesday off, so I went on my once a week moderate pace long ride on that day, the weather forecast forecasted a ton of wind, so I went that morning and tried to get back before the wind started.  I started at 8 in the morning and rode down west of town and around town for an hour and then went home to eat breakfast then switched bikes, so on my mountain bike, I rode another 2 hours on Little Pigeon Hollow Road to Spring City and back.  On the way back, the wind started blowing and I had a major headwind but I made it and logged in 35 miles that morning.
Back to Thursday, it was a ride I really enjoyed because it was all climbing and I love to climb.  I went up along the Powerline Trail and up on Green Gate Road then climbed some more on the canyon road.  I kept going up until I got tired and made it to that sharp curve before Ponderosa Pine Plantation.  I haven't got that high up in two years and it felt great.  I plan to go higher on the next ride.

 

After the climb, I turned around and went down the road then the Flume.  The Flume Trail was all packed down like I said it would(after one week).  It looked like a hundred bikers went down it.  It is really fast and smooth now.  It was a blast though.

Saturday.  Saturday was all rainy all day and cold.  At 7 in the morning, before the wind would start blowing later in the day, I went on a ride on my road bike.  I am glad I did it even though it was pouring rain, I just rode around town then up the pavement of the canyon road twice.  I rode for at least 1.5 hours and logged in 18 miles.  It was very wet, drenched, and cold.  I had a lot of fun though because I had a very good workout and my legs felt stronger than I thought.  It was like being in the Seattle rain again.  I didn't really have the proper bike rain gear but this blue jacket worked for a little while.  But I had no protection on my feet so my ankles and feet were itching so bad after an hour I got home.  It was really a blast though.  I hope I can ride in the rain again but it's rare in Utah to get rain like this.

I like spring....

I pretty much like spring, well, I like all seasons, whatever season comes.....I like it.  I'm a four season guy so that's pretty much it.  So now spring is here in Ephraim, UT and I love it.  This gives me the opportunity to ride quite a bit, if the weather permits.  It's April now so that means April showers.  But it's been pretty nice lately, with a little bit of rain on some days and I like rain too.

The Flume trail is all dried up and I went on that Wednesday morning before work, speaking of work, I got a new job and I enjoy it so much more than my last one.  It's a cabinetmaking job(my field!)in Moroni about 15 minutes from here and I've been working there for a month already.  It's really nice that I enjoy the work schedule better.  I go to work from 9:00 a.m. until 4 p.m., sometimes I go to work at noon so that's what did last Wednesday.  I rode that Wednesday morning on the Flume and it was great, it needs to be packed down more and I am sure it will by next week, it's a pretty popular trail.  The climb up it was different than most climbs other people do.  I like to go on the new trail from the hydroplant and then up the Green Gate Road.  I like that way because it's more challenging.  Everybody else just either go up the main Canyon Road or just shuttles up.  I don't why because that way is so BORING.  I hate it.  So that's why I like to go up the more challenging, harder way.

Thursday, I did a moderate intensity ride on Little Pigeon Hollow dirt road to Spring City and back.  About 20 miles.  Lately I like to go on that road for my moderate rides.  Then today was a very beautiful day.  I rode all around Black Hill and logged in 14 miles.  I did a lot climbing and felt great. I feel like myself again.  I'm now on full power on cycling, the last two years of training was really crappy and I don't why the last two years didn't turn out good at all.  My legs kept feeling sore almost every ride and now my legs feel good when I go riding.  I just don't why though.  Somebody told me it's probably because I didn't eat enough bananas and I was thinking I just needed the rest.  I don't know.  It's going to be a mystery for the rest of my life I figured but I did gain some weight which is not good.

I joined Strava and I follow a few friends but I don't have a Garmin bike computer yet.  I do have an old Garmin Forerunner 201 and it works but I can't figure out how to download my workouts on Strava.  I guess I will wait next month to get a Garmin 500 bike computer for my birthday.  Then hopefully I can figure it out.  I still have the liking to check out Strava lately to see where everybody goes around here.  I did this new route on Black Hill today I found out on Strava which is supposed to be the new advanced Vike on the Bike Mountain Bike Race Loop this year.  I liked that loop though and I didn't really do the whole thing but got most of it.  I won't do the race when they have it this year but I enjoy just riding it.  I'm just antisocial around here I guess.  I already got plans for Memorial Day anyway. 

 Well, it's been a good week and Happy Easter!

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.