Roadie Quest

   

     

Gung ho.

The plan: ride up to East Canyon Reservoir State Park, but (again) the snow and the resulting road damage thwarted the plan.

Not be be deterred, we rode to Parley's and mashed pedals up climbs of all manners.

Totalled 30 miles---half of what we planned, but no worries.

Road miles with friends is what its all about.

Cresting the final climb, feeling tired---good tired.

The Great Latte Accord of 2010-11

Last Christmas I gave La Lissa von Stoker a present of as many lattes as she wanted, whenever it was feasible.

So far its turned out to be a great, mutually enjoyable gift. Wether iced or hot, with foam or without, I pull the shots short for no bitterness and add less milk than the average coffee joint would, leading to a full-flavor latte.

And so the Great Latte Accord of Christmas 2010 has been profitable, and very often enjoyed following an outing of Team Tandem-Trailer Continental.

Today it was the City Creek Canyon Climb then down to the Farmer's Market. Our legs were strong, we made great time grinding through 10% grades at some points.

This strength was not so for the day prior, when Handlebar Willie made a solo outing to Killyon Canyon. The legs did not clean every hill, but it hardly matters with views like these:

I rode/hiked this ridgeline of single track to the knife ridge in the distance to the left by the small clouds, then turned around to descend into the canyon, then home.

Rosebud ATV trail and the other Slickrock trail

My continuing tour of ATV trails in Utah led Ben and I to the Aquarius plateau once again.

This time to the short but sweet Rosebud OHV trail that starts from hwy. 12 and descends to lower Bowns reservoir. 

We pedalled from camp

ATV trails are technically doubletrack, but are usually no more than 50 inches wide and so they ride more like singletrack.

After the super fun two-and-a-half-mile descent, we junctioned with the "slickrock" trail. This is not the famous trail in Moab, but a relatively unused, sandy, rocky, and barely ridable 14-mile hike that traverses Boulder Mountain below Highway 12.

We had some fun riding, when we could ride.

It never fails that the trails I choose always lead to a lot of hike-a-bike, and so we only did a few miles of it before we doubled back to camp. What we end up doing usually is not "riding" but more like adventure exploring while sometimes pedalling our bikes when possible.

Baby Testpiece

 We hiked up Mill D North Fork and found this baby boulder problem.

She's a natural. I didn't coach her to do this.

So I'll just spot her.

Send!

We hiked up to see where the snow line was. She saw dad with the poles, so she had to try as well.

Peadalmashing Big Cottonwood

Bottom of the Canyon, going up.

Pine forests = getting higher.

White stuff: higher yet.

A momentary reprieve from climbing at Mineral flat, looking up Mineral fork and the distant Cardiac Ridge---all still skiable in Mid June.

The mountaintop finish: Climb from 4500- to 8300-feet elevation, and with Team Tandem-Trailer Continental's much slower 1800-foot climb makes 5600 feet of vertical for the weekend---not bad stats.

The descent with Reynolds and Gobblers to keep me company.

The Team: Tandem-Trailer Continental

The Team: (from left to right) Handlebar Willie, Immy--trailer captain, La Lissa von stoker.

The vehicle: Univega steel mountain tandem with cantilever brakes and 7-speed drivetrain---nicknamed Gladys---, bought on Craigslist for 400 dollars---the best-spent 400 dollars ever---and Chariot kids trailer, purchased a week past Trailer Captain's due date because we needed to get out of the house and "do something" while we were waiting.

The climb: from Sugar House, up Emigration canyon, to Little Mountain Summit---1800 feet of climbing in two hours, hauling up a massive steel frame, aluminum trailer, and baby cargo.

The Victory lap: Trailer Captain wanted to continue climbing up the hill at the pass. Always hungry for more...

Team leaders look onward at the Sessions Mountains panorama.

The game face: Team members of Tandem-Trailer Continental never let on that we are tired. 

The celebration: On the descent at the Sun and Moon Cafe. Only in Utah would you get a big full-strength micro brew dedicated to Cyclocross.

SLC Busk

This might be the most fantastic bike-trailer cargo I've ever seen.

The guy was pretty good too:

There were a wide variety of instruments. 

In fact, I didn't even bother taking pictures of the ubiquitous and often tiresome kids n' violins, or early-twentysomething male folk guitarists.

This one guy really stood out though. Amazing to listen:

So the SLC farmer's market is quite a spectacle now:

Its grown a lot in the last three years since I've been gone. More bakeries, more farmers, more trinkets/crafts/art. Still, there is no good place to buy a hot cup of coffee (all expensive weak brews---blech), but I'm OK with that.

Three Years Too Little

Ben and I went to Little Cottonwood for some Bouldering early this morning.

This was basically my first time climbing in three years. 

This La Nina thing is out of hand: its June and its still chilly. The rock was crisp, good grip. The cool air, thermos of coffee, and reconnecting with the granite was just what I needed. This may become a Friday morning ritual until it gets too hot. 

The Good Life

Now that I live in Salt Lake, this is what I do most days. I get up at 5:45am, ride my bike up the hill to the office, teach for an hour then meet with students, do some more work in the office, then I ride into the hills.

We made this great bbq mexican chicken, grilled sweet potatoes, onions, and tomatillio salsa. We got the recipie from Rick Bayless's book. The method of grilling called for spatchcocking the chicken (smashing the whole chicken flat). Its fun to say:

Spatchcock.