St. George

On the last weekend of February, I celebrated the end of the winter by going down to St. George, UT.

I first rode on some trails by Quail Creek Reservoir.  I thought they were a blast....as long as I do the blue intermediate trails.  The advanced trails...really hard.  So I did the Lakeside trail.

The trail does a lot of weaving and meandering through technical stuff all around the reservoir.
But the trail builders are in the process building the trail around the reservoir.  They are not done yet.

I went on one side of the lake and then back and the other side of the lake and back.  It was a real blast because of so many turns.

Lot's of switchbacks and the turns are really flowy.  I loved it.

More trail.

When they are done with the trail, I will go back and ride it, and next time, all the way around the lake(hopefully).  Because it would be a super rad trail if it does go all the way around the reservoir.

I stayed overnight in Hurricane and then on Sunday, I rode on Dino Cliffs, Prospector, and Church Rocks.

This was the first time I did the Dino Cliffs trail and it was kind of hard though but fun.  I couldn't clean all of the trail.  Quite of few steep sections.

Then Prospector was so fun.  I did this trail before and I forgot how fun it was.  It was really flowy and fast.

I ended the ride by riding the Church Rocks loop and going down on Grapevine.  It was a fun Sunday to go to church at Church Rocks.

I came back home and hiked back in Ephraim in this cold and snowy town.  St. George was so nice and warm.

I sure am excited for spring!

End of Winter of 2017

About the end of January, I went on a little good old fat bike trip...to Park City.  I rode in the Round Valley area.  They have cross country ski trails they groom and let fat bikes on them.

There was a lot other fat bike riders and cross country skiers alike.  I've never been on a fat bike with so many other people.  In Ephraim, out in Black Hill, I am the only person out there.  Well, it was fun and I got some good riding in and quite of few miles and elevation.  It was cold too, in the single digits, so that made the snow good.  It was a fun course.  Too bad they didn't get the singletrack trails in the area groomed though, like they should of.  THAT would of been nice.

I'm still hiking everywhere with Duke in the outskirts of Ephraim.  I remember this day being cold also.

Then in February, it got warmer....too warm for fat bikes.  So I gave my new road bike some love and rode around town a lot in the month of February.  The bike rides really nice, it's because it's an endurance type of bike so it feels so much more comfortable.

I'm excited to use the golf course in my backyard because I got some disc golf discs from last Christmas.  When it dries up and me getting some people to play with, I'll be playing.  I've never played before and I am willing to learn.

This is how fast the snow melted in a matter of 3 days.  Above is before picture and the below picture is after 3 days.  It got warm pretty fast that week.  I took Duke and Jeri walking up Mill Road while dogsitting Jeri.

Here's a Sunday ride I did after I got off from church one Sunday, I went up along the canyon road to the rope's course.  I remember being really hot going up and being really cold going down.  It was a crazy ride.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Some more pictures from some more of the road riding around town and down west of Ephraim.

We are already getting some water from the thaw.  We have lot's of snow in the mountains this year.

I finally worked on my mom's window shutters.  I got some composite fencing material from Home Depot.  I was planning to paint them white but after building them, I thought these look really good with the wood texture and color.

I think these look better than white.  They match the roof.  I looked at other houses around town, most of their window shutters matches the roofs.  So I am ok there.  My mom really likes them.

Finally done.  I was supposed to work on them last summer.  I was just to busy with work and biking on the weekends.  I got them all built and hung in 3 hours.

On President's Day, I asked for a day off.  So I went down by Sevier, UT (by Richfield), and rode on the Big Rock Candy Mountain paved bike trail.  There was no snow and the path was all clear from rock and debris.  It was very windy going uphill(southward), so that made it challenging.  I went up the path twice, I got a lot of miles in.  It was fun....and pretty.

Here's some more pictures of the animals at the cabinet shop.  Bella sits in that spot a lot of mornings when I drive in.  I don't know if she is excited to see me or just wants a dog treat.

Lou Lee is getting bigger and becoming a real life dog.

Well, after about a year, Buck came back to visit.  I gave him a treat or two.  His owner came to pick him up later.

Cat is still around but is becoming a pain.  He won't let me work and tries to get me to pet him.  He loves jumping on my shoulder and I feel like a pirate from the Pirates movie.  Sometimes I just try to get him off so I can go to work.

Good Old Wintertime January

Well, back from my "exotic tiki Christmas", I was back in the snow.  But that's ok, I had some things to do to enjoy the winter.

I am enjoying working in the heated wood shop.  We are pretty busy and we have lots of work.  I was knocking myself out with these FM radio ear muffs.  It blocks out all of the loud machinery noise in the shop and just listening to music is heaven.  I asked Santa Claus for these.  A great Christmas present!

On the first weekend back from the trip.  I went snowshoeing with the dogs up to Virgil's yurt.  It was nice to hike up a mountain and to enjoy the scenery and fresh air.

At one point. it started to rain a lot for a week because it got warm.  Then it created an ice rink at my work.

Perfect for ice skating!

I bought some sand bags from IFA and we were prepared at my home.

I did some night rides because I came home when it got dark.  I had to do what I had to do but it turned out to be exciting and adventurous.

A daylight fat bike ride at Black Hill.

My dad got some Jazz tickets for Christmas so we went to the Jazz/Orlando game in the Vivint Smart Home Arena.

It was fun to watch and they'd barely won.  So that made it exciting.

Another ride at night.  It gets scary sometimes because of the ice so I rode slow and carefully a lot of times.  But still fun!

Sleepy head Lily Tiger gets bored sometimes being in the warm house and just plays in boxes and such.

This weekend I did a snowshoe hike and a fat bike ride.  Snowshoe on Saturday, and an unexpected fat bike ride in Black Hill on Sunday.

I didn't get any snow bike pictures, just snowshoe pictures.  Duke and I hiked up to Virgil's yurt then higher up to the cabin on Bald Mountain and a little bit on Willow Creek Trail.  I was first tracks.  A nice and cold snowy day.

South and North Carolina Trip Christmas Break of 2016

I went with my folks to see my other folks such as my older sister and her family.  We went to Mrytle Beach, SC.  Coming from single digits in Utah to 70 degree weather was a big change.  A good change.

Every night during the 3 nights we were there, I swam in this pool.  Because Mrytle Beach is not as crowded in the winter time, I had the whole pool and hot tubs to myself.  It was so nice.

We walked on the beach a lot.  Since it was a little cold to swim in the ocean, a walk is a good activity to do in the winter on the beach.

My sister was nice to bring my North Carolina bike down so I rode my bike almost everyday.  I rode along the roads of Mrytle Beach.  There was some traffic but it was not as bad as I thought.

It was good riding and I got a lot of miles in.  The roads were flat because they were next to the beach but that's all right, I just enjoyed the nice weather.  I was in my summer bike clothing during the winter time!

View from the condo.

Another walk.

We even checked out the shops and ate good food.

At one of the places we ate, we ate at Rioz.  You eat at a delicious high end salad bar and they bring you all you can eat Brazilian meats.  So good!  We also ate at Medieval Times one night where you eat with your hands and watch a show with jousts and horses.  It was fun.

Picture of the Atlantic Ocean before we left for my sister's in North Carolina.

When we got to their house, the first thing they did was did a long lecture to me to not touch this vase because my sister said if I broke it, I wouldn't be able to afford to replace it.  Hmmm, I wonder how much it costs?

During the few days we were there, we partied because of New Year's Day and I did some riding around the country roads near my sister's home.

I did a ride I usually do when I rode there other times but it was always in the summer.  This time in the winter, it was a colder but it is was still warmer than Utah.  About in the 40s and 50s.

More hill climbing on this ride and way less cars driving by.

And there's Lake Lukas.

It was a fun time, we watched movies, ate, and played games.  And I had fun riding bikes in the warmer weather compared to Utah.