A mountain biking journal.

No mountain biking tomorrow.

“Keep your eyes on the straight path ahead of you, the path of your own nature and of the nature of the universe. The path of both is the same.”
— M.A.

Saving the Giant Green Snake

We rode the Mormon Pioneer Trail Thursday.  Somewhere midway up the climb, I saw a giant green snake in the middle of the trail.  It was lying straight across the path, and wouldn’t move.  I knew it would eventually be run over by a biker, so I nudged it to try to get it to slither into the forest.  Instead, it took off directly down the trail.  This wasn’t good for its immediate health either, so I picked it up by the tail and flung it into the woods.  Who knows - maybe that killed it.  But it had a better chance there than in the trail being used by at least a dozen mountain bikers at the time. 

The downhill was absolutely beautiful.  The trail was in great condition and the only time I came off the bike was actually on the uphill (!), but I only scraped my elbow and my knee.  I’m hoping Big Water in upper Millcreek is open next week; that will be another great ride.  Details are here.

Through The River And Into The Sun

Rode Quarry last night with my friend Rich Varga.  He’s a great uphiller and I didn’t see much of him until we got the the top of the trail, two thousand feet above.  The downhill was peaceful, but Little Cottonwood Creek was so swollen from snowmelt that it had overrun its banks and turned about one hundred yards of trail into a shallow river.  The sun was setting on our way down and riding directly into it caused visibility problems, but I managed to finish out the ride without laying the bike down.  We ran into Renato midway and he turned around to enjoy the downhill with us.  A good ride, but I’m sore today.

“The success of any human action depends on two things: will and power. If either is lacking nothing can be done.”
— Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy

The Pipeline in Record Time

We rode the Pipeline last night. The gate was closed so we had to climb a mile and a half on the pavement to Elbow Fork, which was fine because it turns out that I sort of have to run the Helsinki marathon in August, so I need all the cardiovascular training I can get. The ride was great fun, but there were a lot of hikers and dogs on the trail. I love the two epic downhills of the Pipeline: Church Fork and Rattlesnake Gulch. Other than that, it’s kind of flat which isn’t really my riding strength. But next week we’ll do the Quarry, five miles straight up and five miles straight down.

“If the things which you complain about losing had truly been yours, you would never have lost them.”
— Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy

Climbing the Wall

We climbed the Wall, cruised down the Rollers and took the high path up Shoreline Trail to another difficult climb to an overlook above Red Butte reservoir.  While the uphill was brutal, the downhill was so much fun I forgot the pain I was in and just enjoyed riding through the foothills of the Wasatch.  Soon this trail will be too hot to ride and we’ll be forced deeper into the mountains.  I had taken my bike in earlier this week, and good thing.  My rear shock was blown; the gasket seal had ripped and had no travel.  The front wheel was completely out of true.  The rear transmission was off.  But Canyon Bicycles did a great job and I felt like the bike held the trail really well.  My only problem so far this year is I’m a little cautious around rough curves; I crashed so many time last year taking them too fast that now I’m overcompensating.  I’m doing yoga with my wife every week and I think this will help my balance here.