Changing Leaves

After a long week without riding I got in a good one Sunday morning. I reluctantly got out of the car to a brisk 55 degrees, sharp contrast to previous posts, and started up the road to the trail head. Diamond Fork again, there are still some trails I need to explore. I couldn't believe it the lower trail was covered with fallen leaves, I almost missed them changing. The farther up the canyon I went the better the views. I stopped at the Strawberry Ridge Road and was truly impressed, just high enough above the trees to see back on a mountain of color. The views alone made the ride worth it, but it was nice to ride again.

I noticed some new signage at the top. One, or all, of these trails is part of the Great Western. Too bad I didn't see any other signs along the way. I guess the GW comes from the Hobble Creek area? Which is where I'd like to end up one of these days. On purpose that is, I'd hate to park at DF and end up in Springville.

Hopefully we have a long fall. I'm not ready for snow and cold.

Pretty Boring Weekend

Pretty boring weekend. No major plans. No races. Nothing. I wish there were more like it. Brennen and I decided to go on an adventure. He loves to go for bike rides. Which is cool, so do I. Only he likes to be pulled behind my bike. Which I don't like. I pretty much have to disconnect the rear brake. Over fifty pounds of kid and trailer doesn't stop well with only a front brake. Just a little on the scary side of life. Not to mention I have to readjust the brakes when the trailer comes off. I can't deal with squeaking brakes. Back to the adventure. I talked Brennen into riding his big wheel instead of being pulled. We were just going to go around the block, but he decided the park would be more fun. Believe it or not he made it. We had the park to ourselves. After a few minutes he decided to go to the fishy slide (the elementary school), maybe there would be some kids there. Off we went, the school is quite a ways from the park, especially for little plastic wheels. Same story at the school, no kids. We played for awhile and decided to go home. Again, he road the whole way.

I'm pretty proud of my little guy. It took us a couple of hours to complete the trip with a few play stops on the way. But he made it and I didn't have to carry the big wheel.

Another Year

Another year has come and gone. I got to spend my day doing one of my favorite things, riding around in circles. Karl and I attempted the 12 Hours of Sundance as duo team. There were a few other fast teams in the category but we still managed 4th, not bad for a couple of dads. I felt pretty good during the race and feel like I rode each lap consistently. We'll see when the results get posted.

I owe it all to my prerace dinner...

Good Ride

Last week Karl took me on a new trail up Payson canyon, Sheepherder Hill. It starts up the road on the left about a half mile from the cattle guard at the Winward turn out. The trail splits toward the top with the left branch heading toward Lizard Lake. I turned this into a funky lollipop, going past Lizard Lake to Jones Ranch, then back up the road to the Mt.Loafer Trail head and on to Blackhawk. Blackhawk is pretty beat up, cows! But Jones Ranch and Sheepherder Hill are in great condition.

I ran into a couple of hunters trying to fix their motorcycle. After some strange looks and uncomfortable pauses (on their part), I found out that a big cat had scared the one rider and he crashed. Apparently the cat didn't run away, it came down from the tree and started toward the lead hunter. Both of these guys were considerably bigger than me and on bigger bikes. I wonder if I had come up the trail first if you would be looking for me instead of reading about it?

The ride took me about three and a half hours, lots of ups and downs and fun single track. Besides the two hunters and the folks at Blackhawk campground I had the trails to myself.