What's your favorite trail in Moab?

After nearly 4 years of mountain biking it looks like I'm finally going to make it to Moab with my bike. Given the fact that I've been subjected to a seemingly endless chorus of hype about how amazing Moab is over that same period of time, I'll admit to being a bit fearful that it won't live up to the hype. Is it really that good? The mecca of mountain biking? I guess I'll soon find out. So to make sure I ride the best trails during my short 2 days in town, let me know which trails you love and any other information I'll need to know in order to get the most out of my trip.

Road Climb: Little Cottonwood Canyon

Ouch! That hurt. I haven't been up Little Cottonwood on the road bike since I did it with Kris in 2007. I rode Butterfield Canyon a couple of times earlier this year and justified not doing Little C because I thought the former was a tougher climb. Well, I'm here to tell you that, in my opinion, Little Cottonwood is the hardest climb in the valley.

I haven't ridden with a heart rate monitor all year and my Suunto T6 recently died so I don't have any ride data other than mileage (which you already know) and time (which shall remain anonymous). Perceived exertion wasn't too bad except for the S Curves (killer headwind) and Tanners Flat (which always kicks my butt). There were a TON of cars on the road which kept the smell of burned rubber in the air all the way up. That smell is what Little Cottonwood is all about. The fact that cars struggle to make it up just proves how steep it is.

The wind kept changing - headwind, tailwind, cross wind. As the road turned so did the wind. This made for a more exciting than usual descent. 40+ mph and gusty wind don't mix well. Luckily I made it down safely (the new pavement on the top half is the sweetness!) and basically coasted all the way home. This was much appreciated as my legs were pretty toasty because, even though I wasn't pushing the pace, I didn't eat enough and ran out of gas between Snowbird and Alta.

Looking back I should have filled both bottles with Carborocket and brought my last Mung Bean Cake for fuel. Oh well, I limped in to the upper lot, ate a bar, drank some water and then headed down. At the 7-Eleven on the corner of 10000 S and 700 East I bought a Mexi Coke and banana which got me home without any further difficulty.

Caption This

Corner Canyon Therapy

Work has been super stressful this week. How bad can it be you ask? Well, to give you an idea my boss called my cell phone this morning at 7:14 AM to make sure I'd seen the email from our London office detailing an issue a key customer was experiencing. Luckily I'd been awake since 7:11 and, in the previous 3 minutes, being the dedicated company man that I am, had just read the email to which he referred. You see, I sleep with my iPhone on the floor, just under the bed, so when I wake up I can easily check email (and Facebook and the local blogs).

So anyway, work has been stressful. There's a lot going on and I'm feeling a fair amount of pressure. All things considered, this is a good thing. It's great to be employed, even better to be in a position to contribute, and I really enjoy my coworkers. Let's just say it's an awesome place to work. But stress, well, nobody likes that. And you know what makes it 100 times harder to deal with? Not being able to ride. Monday and Tuesday I couldn't get out and let's just say that I wasn't a joy to be around when I got home in the evening.

But today was different. Why? I was able to ride. Given how the day started I had my doubts that I'd be able to pull it off, but thankfully things went well and I was able to leave at a reasonable hour. Kris met me at the Draper Equestrian Center a little after 6 and we headed out for what turned out to be 1 hour and 39 minutes of much needed therapy.

We rode a bunch of trails, some old, others brand new (that's what's so cool about Corner Canyon - there seems to always be something new or improved to ride). All were fun, with the out-and-back we did on the BST through the scrub oak charred by the fire of 2007 my favorite of the night. Hopefully Kris' pictures turned out 'cause I want to steal one for this post. There are a ton of bright yellow sunflowers blooming up on the hillside which contrast dramatically against the bare, black branches of the burned scrub oak. We also had a tailwind - seemingly in both directions, how does that happen? - which made it fast and fun.

Other trails we rode included Gas Line, Lower Ghost Falls, Steps, Clarks and Canyon Hollow (also referred to as Brocks Point). We also rode the new, machined section of what I'm guessing is Jamie's trail as well as the new connector from the top of Clarks to Canyon Hollow.

Clarks is in great shape for a time trial. As smooth as I've seen it this season and hard, hard packed. If you haven't done the tt yet now's the time to do it!

Park City Loop

Keystone:




Shadow Lake:




Wasatch Crest:




Mid-Mountain:




Spiro:



Kris and I started at Park City Mountain Resort and rode the loop clockwise: Crescent Mine Grade -> Apex -> Keystone -> Shadow Lake -> Wasatch Crest Connector -> Wasatch Crest -> Mill Creek Connector -> Mid-Mountain -> Spiro -> Silver Spur.

It took us 4.5 hours to complete the 32 miles. Notable events included:

· Broken spoke (rear wheel driveside) on my bike as we began the Wasatch Crest. Kris flatted at almost exactly the same time. We removed the spoke and Stans sealed the puncture after the tire was reinflated with a hand pump.

· Rode up on a lady who had just crashed lying in the trail. Her husband was there and after verifying that she was uninjured we moved on.

· Kris rode the spine for the first time (on his 29er hardtail). Awesome!

·Another broken spoke (again, rear wheel driveside) on my bike as we approached Red Pine Lodge on Mid-Mountain. We again removed the spoke and continued.

· My fuel for the ride consisted only of CarboRocket (10 scoops in my 100oz bladder) and a Mung Bean Cake. More on the latter in a future post.

Help a brother out and enter to win some cool stuff

Robbie Squire is one of the top U23 Mountain Bike racers in the United States who happens to call Utah home. He's a former Junior National Champion and finished 2nd in this years U23 national championship. Not only is he extremely fast on two wheels (he blitzed Millcreek in 39 minutes yesterday) but he's also a nice guy. So where am I going with this? Keep reading...

Thanks to his excellent results, USA Cycling has named Robbie to the U.S. National Team that will be competing at the upcoming Mountain Bike World Championships in Canberra, Australia the first week of September. USA Cycling doesn't cover travel expenses which - as you can imagine - makes it difficult for Robbie to attend.

Thankfully, the organizors of The Tour De Park City have generously donated some awesome swag for a raffle, the procedes of which will go towards helping Robbie get to Australia without racking up a ton of debt.

Reynolds Solitude Wheelset
Garmin 605
Rudy Project Helmet/glasses combo
3 energy packages including hammer heed, pro bars, sportslegs, and gels

Each ticket costs $5 and the raffle will be held in 2 weeks.

Click HERE to purchase raffle tickets.

Clarks TT: New PR

Daren invited me to join him for some threshold intervals he planned to do up Clarks this evening. I, on the other hand, was going to hit the climb at full gas. Also, while he continued to climb up the doubletrack towards Jacobs Ladder after finishing Clarks (to get in a full 15 minute effort), I rode circles at the top of Clarks trying not to lose what remained of my lunch.

I've been wanting to do another time trial for a while now, especially since it's been more than 3 months since my first (and only) attempt of the season way back on May 6th. That initial attempt also marked my first real ride in 2009 on the single speed and proved to be quite painful. However, I've done a fair amount of riding since then and was confident that I could beat my previous time of 14:04. The question I had to answer was how much quicker could I go now?

Well, this evening's two efforts hurt just as bad (if not worse) then those first attempts, but I'm happy to report that my suffering resulted in a much improved time. I completed the first attempt in 11:56 and the second in 12:19. For the first, I waited about 20 seconds after Daren started and never saw him the entire climb. I did, however, pass 6 riders and 2 hikers on my way up. At the time I thought dealing with all of the traffic would negatively impact my time, but looking back I think it actually worked to my advantage. Being forced to slow and wait for an opportunity to pass prevented me from going out too hard, allowing me to really punch it up the steeper sections over the latter part of the climb without blowing up.

For the second attempt I waited just a few seconds after Daren started to try and use him as a rabbit to chase. I managed to keep him in sight on the lower slopes and actually reduced the gap up the steep section leading up to the big left hand turn at the top of the gully. Unfortunately, at that point my legs were cooked and I started to fade fast until I completely exploded at the upper gate. Looking back I definitely went out too hard (that's what I get for trying to keep up with Daren) which hurt me when I got to the steeper part of the climb.

I'm excited to see how fast Daren can go at full intensity. My money's on a sub-11, especially if he throws down on his cross bike! Speaking of which, he's pretty excited to race cross this fall. In fact, listening to him talk about the different courses tonight actually made me think about giving it a go. I'd need to get a smaller rear cog (currently I'm running a 20 but for cx I'd probably want a 16, 17 or 18), but think I could probably get by on my single speed 29er. If the weather's good (and by good I mean no rain, snow and mud!) I may try a race or two.

I should also note that I couldn't have set a new PR without CarboRocket in my bottle (I don't think anything else would have stayed in my stomach after finishing the tt!) and Fly socks on my feet. Seriously, those two simple products give you wings. I'm pretty sure if I'd worn either my Masher or 29 & Single jersey I'd have gone even faster! As crazy as it sounds I think looking fast actually makes you ride fast(er).

Millcreek - Wasatch Crest - Dog Lake

Mark and I rode the same loop that Kris and I completed last Thursday: Drive to the top of Millcreek Canyon, ride up Big Water, Great Western and the Wasatch Crest trails to the base of the spine. Descend to Desolation Lake and continue down Mill D to the steep connector that climbs to Dog Lake. This climb is about half riding and half hiking (for me - I've heard that some guys can ride the entire thing). Once you reach Dog Lake and climb up to the Little and Big Water trail intersection it's all downhill back to the car. We chose to drop Little Water all the way down to the upper parking lot.

The trails are getting quite dusty and if we don't get rain soon I may start riding the road until we do. There were lots of people out riding, especially on the Mill D downhill (we even passed 3-4 riders climbing up - I need to try this loop in reverse next time). We encountered a group of 3 riders walking the steep, root & rock technical section and just rolled on by, picking a different line than I'm used to riding but making it down no problem all the same. Moments like that make me feel good - not because I think I'm an amazing rider (I'm far from that!) but rather because they indicate I'm making progress. I ride with so many guys whose technical riding skills far exceed my own, it's nice to know that I'm not as bad as I might think.

American Fork Canyon

Desolation Lake