Bikepacking Timp

Many years ago I bought a couple of camelbak packs with the idea of being able to fit enough gear to go on an overnight bike trip with my son. This was long before I had ever heard the term bikepacking. Unfortunately I never did get out on a bikepacking trip with my son.

As strange as it is, my first bikepacking trip was in Antarctica. After getting back I have been wanting to go on a bikepacking trip with my other son, but he hates camping. Now he is in Spain, so once again I failed to go bikepacking with my son. 

I decided to close the store on Wednesday and Thursday and go bikepacking. Since I don't have a car available I started from my home. 

The plan: up AF canyon, across the face of Timp and down Battle Creek. I set up camp somewhere above the G on the mountain above pleasant grove amongst all the deer hunters.

It was great using all the gear that has been unused since Antarctica. But this was nothing like the South Pole. It was too hot until the sun went down, and then it was dark. The first time I had used this tent in the dark (the sun never set when I was I Antarctica). Later I woke to the howl of a coyote. 

In the morning I descended down Battle Creek. I was surprised at the size is the creek and the beautiful water falls. However the trail was not very good for a bike loaded down with camping gear. Still it was a great trip.

I just love to ride my bike.

 

Reroute

Fixed the last two sections of the Tickville Gulch trail that needed to be rerouted from the stream bed. The new routes should be great.

The first couple of trips on the new sections are always a little sketchy. But the more times they are ridden the better they get. For one thing the trail gets packed, and the natural flow takes shape. Also as you become familiar with the trail you get better at traveling the trail.

A lot of times when we first attempt something it is hard, but as more and more people do it the best methods are discovered, and as we become familiar with the route it becomes easier. 

Not So Hard

There is a small climb on the Cedar Pass Ranch trail. It isn't too steep, it isn't too rocky, and it isn't too long. Yet it is just steep, rocky, and long enough to make it challenging. The strange thing is, sometimes I give it everything I have and yet fail to clear the climb. Other times it seems that it is just easy.

And really that is just the way things are in life. What seems impossible sometimes, is no problem other times. We just need to make sure that we don't allow those hard times to keep us from trying, or we may never know or enjoy those easier times.

Trail Work

My wife gets very jealous of how much time I spend working on the bike trial, and how little time I spend on our yard. So I guess if she reads this I may be in trouble. 

I took a bit of time this morning to fix up some spots on the Tickville Gulch trail. For years I wondered how that gully got so deep. After all I had never seen much water go down it. This year though we have had numerous flash floods go down the gully. By the marks on the side of the gully you can tell that the water was more than 6 feet deep. The fast moving water has gouged out some new channels that are 4 feet deep. Now I understand how the gully got there.

It is amazing how well the trail has held up with the large amount of water that has gone down the gully this year. This morning I re-routed a couple of spots. One where the water was digging out a big trench in the trail, and then another where the trail needed to be pulled out of the bottom of the gully. I now only have one more spot that I need to re-route to make it so that the trail never just follows the flow of water.

There are a couple of places where the trail crosses the bottom of the gully that have been fine until the new flash floods. I smoothed out the transition across the bottom, but the next time a big stream of water goes there there it will mess it up again. Someday it will either need a bridge or some cement to make a permanent fix.

Back in Time

I switched back to my Time pedals. SO MUCH better. They are easy to click into and to get out of.

The trail in Tickville Gulch has a little damage from the recent flash floods. For the most part it handled all that water well, but there are a few places where rocks got deposited on the trail and a couple of places were the water gouged out a deep rut. I need to go back with a shovel and fix a few things, but the trail is still ridable.

When I got home Monday night I put on some tight socks to keep the swelling down on my ankle. I think it helped but when I took the sock off today my ankle didn't look good. I am lucky that my ankle is the worst of it. Those stupid iSSi pedals could have killed me. Glad to be back in Time.

I just love to ride my bike.

Function over Color

Ouch! Those have to be the worst pedals I have EVER used. 

It is common knowledge that when you are learning to use clipless pedals everyone falls over at least once. I didn't have that problem. I guess it is because I was doing a lot of rocky, technical climbing when I got into the clipless pedals and somehow that combination along with some great Time pedals just worked for me.

I really like my Time ATAC pedals. I think they are the easiest pedals for clipping in and for getting your feet out. But I was having fun with my bike and decided to try out these orange iSSi pedals. The color was perfect for my black bike with orange cables. Right of the bat they were terrible. I went biking in Park City and crashed several times because they just would not let go of my feet. After that I adjusted the tension on the spring to be at the lowest setting available. It made them better but...

Today on the way to work, I was stopped at an intersection waiting for cars to go by. Now, I'm not too good at doing track stands, well actually I'm terrible at it. But I have always been able to try and stand and at the last second I just step out of my pedals and step down. Not with these orange things! Car passes, I have hit my max time that I can track stand, and have to step out, but the STUPID pedals won't let go of my shoes. Down I go, my head on the road where the car's tires were just a couple of seconds before. 

I'm going back to my Time pedals, they work!

I Love Our Trails

I love our trails! Things have dried up so I decided to take the Tickville Gulch trail to work this morning. I was afraid it would be a bit washed out from all the flash floods recently. However the trail from my house to the end was in really good shape. It is a fun flowing trail.

After climbing out of the gulch I headed up Jake the Snake and the Horned Toad trails. I know they are a bit loose and rocky for some people, but the trails suit my tastes well.

I could tell I have spent too much time on the road bike lately. My technical skills were down. Fall with the best mountain biking of the year is just around the corner. I'm looking forward to letting my road bike sit a bit more and get more mountain biking in.

I just like to ride my bike!

Biking Home in the Dark

Commuting by bike means I bike in the dark frequently. With proper lights it isn't really that bad. In fact mountain biking at night is a lot of fun. 

When I was in Antarctica it didn't matter what time of the day I was biking it was always light. Since then I have had a real hard time convincing myself to bike in the dark. With the days getting shorter and the nights longer I decided it was time to get over it, get my lights charged and get back to commuting by bike even if it means biking in the dark.

On the way home I was thinking about some of the great things about biking in Antarctica.

• It is always light. True you couldn't see anything in a whiteout but it wasn't dark.
• The air was clean. There were no fumes from cars, and there were no diesel drivers thinking they are clever by blowing out big clouds of black smoke. It was great to breath clean air for two months.
• It was quiet. It was REALLY quiet. I can find routes to and from work that avoid the roads and the peace of not hearing and endless stream of cars is nice. Sometimes though it is easier to just take the short route to work and deal with the cars. It seems obvious now looking back but Antarctica was amazingly quiet.
• Never had to worry about getting hit by a car. There are so many distracted drivers out on the roads. I think biking to the South Pole is less dangerous than biking to work.

It really was amazing to be able to ride a bike in Antarctica. I am so lucky to have had the opportunity to bike in the world's greatest wilderness.