Exploring

Avg 9.3 Dst 11.19 Tm 1:11:57 Max 38.0 Odo 954.6 T.Tm 345:36 T.Odo 2673.1 Odo2 2002 Alt^ 1334

Did a bit if exploring, going up a side road by the Slate Canyon parking lot. Actually I have tried going up here before, but I think I followed the path a bit longer than in the past. Still haven't found a rideable way down from here.

Mountain biking is fun!

Avg 8.7 Dst 8.95 Tm 1:01:21 Max 33.5 Odo 943.3 T.Tm 344:19 T.Odo 2661.8 Odo2 1991 Alt^ 1354

Today's ride was just too much fun. We just went up Slate Canyon to the pipe hill and did some work on the trail but it was so much fun. The weather is just perfect so I decided I'm not going to ride the road bike to work this week so that I can have more fun mountain biking.

To the Top of the Y

Avg 8.4 Dst 12.53 Tm 1:29:05 Max 31.5 Odo 934.4 T.Tm 343:15 T.Odo 2652.9 Alt^ 2036 Other Odo 1982

This morning Brady said he was going to climb Squaw Peak so that he could get ahead of me on elevation gain. Jokingly I countered that we were going to climb to the top of the Y. But then Juan thought it sounded like fun, so we did.Here is a Google Earth image of the trail from Slate Canyon to the Y. Aprox. 40 14' 03.21" N 111 37' 24.54" W

Why wear a helmet?

Max 41.8 Avs 8.5 Dst 9.51 Tm 1:07:08 Odo 921.8 T.Tm 341:44 T.Od 2640.3 Alt^ 1476

Today's picture is of the helmet I cracked up a month or more ago. I was headed down a hill that turns from being steep down to steep up. Unfortunately I was going a bit fast, and my back tire got caught in the washed out rut down the middle and I lost control. I could tell I was going to hit the up side of the hill hard. The first thing that came to my mind as I lay in a pool of blood was "I broke my nose!"

I getting up my helmet was broken into a dozen pieces. I obviously had hit a rock with the front right on my helmet. I gathered up the pieces and walked the rest of the way back to the road. Somewhere along the way I must have dropped a few pieces because they are not all here. Anyway I learned a few lessons from this crash.

1) If Juan suggest we take the safer route down the mountain... listen.
2) Neosporin is a wonder drug. My nose was a big mess, but in an amazingly short amount of time it healed up with only a small scar that is hard to see. I still have a hard time believing how well it worked.
3)I had a third lesson, which was the best one but I forgot what it was. So for my third lesson: The best lessons are soon forgotten.

Alpine loop

Max 38.2 Avs 15.0 Dst 72.09 Atm 4:48:08 Odo 1959 Alt^ 4361

I rode the alpine loop today. This is one of the most popular road bike rides in the area. However, I started from my house in Eagle Mountain which made this a 70+ mile trip. I sure was glad I had a triple, I don't think I could have done this on a double. I only stopped twice, once at the top of the loop, and once at the mouth of Provo canyon. At each place I stopped long enough to eat an apple and candy bar and then continued on.

I had noticed that I was only about 80 miles and 4,000 feet behind Brady for the fall challenge on activebody.org. I planned on also going up Squaw Peak, which I figured would put me ahead. However when I got to the turn off for Squaw Peak I just did feel like climbing it. So, I'm now ahead in feet but not in miles. However when Brady gets back in town I'm sure he'll start riding again and pass me back up.

The ride was about as nice as it can get. Nice fall temperature, and the leaves just past the summit were beautiful. It was almost like a mountain bike trip with the leaves on the ground on both sides of the trail, except this time it was a narrow road. When I got down past Sundance my speeds were approaching 40 mph. With the narrow road and turns I just didn't feel comfortable at those speeds so I was sitting up right as much as possible to catch as much wind as I could and still had to brake a lot to keep the speed below 40.