More Utah.

Ended up having a great week up in Utah, more riding and even some hiking. I learned that as far as Utah valley goes trails and roads have two directions, up or down. That’s a big change from here in mesa.
After days of riding around Mount Timpanogos I decided it was time to hike to the top. I went up with some of Sarah’s family. It was a heck of a days hike up to over 11,000 feet.
Along the way we walked across glaciers and switch backs which was a nice change from the Arizona heat.
Near the top I heard some rocks falling and looked up to see a group of four mountain goats on the cliffs above us.

I hustled to a ridge over looking the group and caught a couple pictures of the baby in the group.
Once they saw me above them they took off and I was able to catch them on the retreat.
From the top you could see quite a long way; I mean you could guess that as this is the second largest peak in the state right?
Coming down was murder on the knees; it should help with the connective tissue in the legs.

Here is Utah.

The wife and I came up north to Utah for a week to get out of the heat and go to her family reunion. I had to bring both bikes because while I may not enjoy everything about Utah you can’t argue with the riding.
Of course the hotel we are at doesn’t have the most reliable of internet connections, or continental breakfast I might add. I mean even motel 8 has a continental breakfast right?
It is close to some great riding though and yesterday I rode up Provo canyon and then jumped on HWY 89 I think. At any rate it’s the road that takes you right by Sundance Ski resort. The climb was gulling but it allowed for some great views of Mount Timanogos.
Once I reached the top of the pass I had two options, go back the way I came or drop down into American Fork Canyon. I opted to not back track and it was completely worth it. The road down was incredibly steep, so I was glad I didn’t climb it from that direction.
I was going so fast there was no way to break out the camera. Traffic the whole way was incredibly light making the ride even better. My only complaint was that I wasn’t feeling as good as I should, the heat back home just makes it no fun to ride so I am out of shape big time. It’s not a race though so whatever, I do what I want.

Mogollon Rim mountain bike ride.

Travis and I attempted some exploration of the Mogollon Rim last Friday. The weather was great for a long ride and the added bonus of a day off work paid didn’t hurt either.
We set out to try to follow the General Crook Trail that runs along the top of the rim out to some single track. The trail is less then maintained so we spent most of the time on Rim Road 300.
It allowed some great views, however as the day progressed more and more people began showing up to camp for the holiday. The area we choose to explore is really popular for this but we wanted to get out to some single track that is up there.

While we could have just drove out to it that wouldn’t have been as fun so we logged some long dirt road miles in our attempt to get there.
Problems started around mile 20 when Travis got a flat. Then is when we found out that he had forgotten his hand pump and the valve for my big air had gone MIA. Being 20 miles away from your car is not the time to find this sort of thing out.
I started moving quick back to the car but about five miles away here came Travis in the back of some ones truck. He had gotten tired of waiting and decided to take advantage of all the people out there and just hitch hike back. Good thinking.

Next time better preparation and fewer crowds will be in order. We didn’t even get to the single track so we have that to look forward to as well.
One funny thing was the Arizona rain storms up there. When we stopped for lunch there where big thunder heads building up. As I rode back I went through nothing but sunshine though the remnants of a rain storm where clear in the water running down the middle of the road.
Arizona shower will hit one mile of land and then like a light switch off, move a mile down the road and start again.

New road frame, hurray for me.

Thanks to the folks down at Curbside Cyclery I was able to get a brand new frame in exchange for my old Six 13 frame when I had some issues with it last month. Also big thanks to Chris the local Cannondale rep for getting a replacement to me in under a week.
In the exchange I got up graded to the System Six with a full carbon fork and the beefy 1.5 head tube. Talk about upgrade, I have been out on this bike for the last week and it is exponentially stiffer then the old frame with a much better ride quality. We just switched all the components over from the old frame and they did a great tune up on the rig making it all run like it was new.
Right now I am doing the whole lifting cross training thing so time on the new ride is lower then normal and I wont be able to put the rig through its paces for a few months. The System Six is no longer made being dropped in favor of the Super Six but for me who doesn’t have to have the newest and hottest road stuff it works great. Thanks to Cannondale and Curbside for the great ride.