Part II - Millcreek

Later in the morning Cami and I dropped the kids off at Great Grandma's in Sugarhouse and headed up Millcreek. Amazingly (keep in mind that today is May 12th) we were able to ride all the way to the top. What made this even better was the fact that the gate is closed (anybody know if they ever open the gate before July?) so the last few miles were traffic free. Well, when I say traffic I am referring to motorized vehicles as there were plenty of bikes and hikers on the road.

On the lower section we had been passed by a junior rider who looked to be riding quite leisurely, only hitting it when there was somebody ahead to pass. He never got farther than 200 yards in front of us which made us wonder what he'd do if I caught & passed him. Well, just below the Elbow I left Cami and started working to catch up to him. It took me about half a mile to get him and when I did I just rode by and waved. As expected, I heard him shift and soon he was riding next to me. We talked for a while about the crazy weather and racing at which point he started to pull away. As before, once he established a gap his speed came down and I caught him again. We chatted some more (which was hard for me since I was working hard at this point) and he pulled away again. This time he stayed away until the top. He said he races RMR each week and did Sea Otter last month. He's been racing with the Juniors but since Utah doesn't have many he's going to race with the Cat 5's beginning with Bear Lake. It was fun to hang a bit with the younger generation. I wish I'd had some good advice to pass on but seeing as he was working me over pretty good all I could offer was my recommendation to do High Uintas!

On the way down I saw Norm Jr and another rider heading up. Thinking back I should have flipped a quick U-turn and said hello as I was stopped at the Elbow waiting for Cami to catch up. Norm, of course, looked to be just chilling as he climbed.