Wednesday was a great day I met up with seven of my riding buddies to ride Wasatch Crest. We took the Wasatch Shuttle up to the start of the Silver Lake Trail. We got a great deal on the shuttle only $1 a person!
Drop off point for the shuttle--what a beautiful view.
The start of the trail is fun, but for some reason I was not riding it too well, I felt shaky and unsure, so I made sure everyone went in front of me. Eventually I made it to the bottom of the trail and the start of the climb. As I started the climb, I was thinking I must have remembered the climb incorrectly, because it was not that hard, but then I rounded the bend. Oh yeah, this climb is not over. I kept going and going and ended up passing a couple of the riders in our group. As I was going up, two riders in our group were going back down to climb it again (Ryan and Eric T). Now can I say I thought I was sick for liking climbs and such, but today doing that climb twice just seemed sick and wrong. By the time I got to the top I felt like I wanted to puke, yes I said it, puke--boy am I out of shape.
Top of puke hill.
At the top of the hill we waited for everyone and then took off down the trail. We had a little more climbing and then the flat. On the flat I was feeling good and my legs were starting to get warmed up and then there was a loud hissssssss. I quickly stopped, found the leak, and tipped by bike so it would seal up. Of course as luck would have it there was no more sealant left in my tire. It turned out my tire had a good tear on the side. Luckily Kerry had a boot and I had a tube so we sealed the tear and put a tube in and then got going. The good news is when we fixed my tire we discovered the front bearings were loose, so now I know why I was not riding so well.
Just as we got ready to go Stephen's brake pad fell out. While he fixed that I discovered my front brakes were not longer working. I kept trying to pump the brake to see if it was an air bubble and I could get it to move, but no luck. When ended up taking off after about 15 minutes or so of fixing tires and mechanicals with me having no front brake.
We rode the Crest all the way down Mill Creek and dropped into the parking lot. I chose to ride at the back, because of no brake and I didn't want to hold anyone up. Can I tell you this was a huge mistake. Have you ever ridden behind 7 other riders on a dusty trail. Two things happen, one you cannot see the trail and two you eat a lot of dust. Front brake or not riding in the back huge mistake. Also, riding down a trail really fast with no front brake, maybe is not the best idea. As we were going down riders were coming up. As long as the trail was wide, I was fine pulling over so they could ride and I could ride. However, at one point I was going down and the trail was narrow and not wide enough for two riders. All of the sudden Gordon stopped and yelled "rider up" all I could do was use my back brake and yell multiple times "I have no front brake, I have no front brake" as I tried to fish tail to a stop. Luckily the rider going up must have figured out I couldn't stop and he pulled over as I shot in between him and Gordon. Whew, that was a close one.
At the bottom of Mill Creek we took off down the road to catch the pipeline trail. This time I went near the front of the group and that's where I stayed until we reached Rattle Snake Gulch. Stephen was explaining to everyone how technical it was, I told them it was just plain yucky, which meant they would have a blast. I let everyone go in front, except for Gordon, he wanted to stay at the back, and then I went. Now remember I had no front brake, so I was gripping my back brake and just hoping for the best, and the best was what I got. I skidded the whole way down, but I made it!
Eric also got a flat apparently we can't go on group rides without multiple rides.
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