Friends - Snow Basin Crash

The final ICup race.  The race that determined which team would take home the team cup and who would win the overall for the season.  For me there was no chance for any overall win, but it was a chance to put my legs to the test and ride a course I knew I could do well on.

Our start was a group start with the Men 57+, and the 13-15 years old.  My plans for this race was to take the first climb at a relaxed pace, the second climb put a little bit more umph to it, and then when I hit the singletrack to just pound.  Everything went as planned.  By the end of the first climb I was in last--no worries because I knew this was my course.  End of the second climb I passed on rider and entered into the singletrack with no one in sight.  I began to pound working my way along the course.  After a bit I began to worry I had let everyone get too far ahead and I might not catch them, but then I saw it.  I puff of dirt.  A good sign there were riders close by.

I continued to pound and soon was rewarded.  I saw riders.  Little by little I began to pass each rider.  And my thanks to each rider, this is the first time during an ICup race I didn't have to beg and plead to pass.  I began to pass women in my division.  Each of them were awesome and let me by.  After a moment I had worked my way from last to 3rd place.  I couldn't believe it.  I was feeling good, my legs were working well and I thought I could definitely hold this pace without blowing up.  Of course somewhere in the back of my mind came the thought "it's 2 laps, anything can happen in 2 laps".  Actually I have this thought every race, it's what keeps me going.

My race is going well, when I reach a little bit more of a climb than I planned for.  I slow down a bit, but still things are going well.  Then I hear a rider behind ask to pass--of course she is in my division.  I let her go without too much concern, because I knew in the next half mile I would be passing her back and I knew I could totally kill the downhill leaving her and others far behind.  We hit a nice flat spot again and my speed increased I decide now is the time to catch the girl that passed me not too long ago.  I hit a nice turn with a quick up, so I shift and go to pedal hard and that's it.  That's the last thing I remember. 

I don't remember flying through the air.  Not a thing, no seeing the ground, no flying through the air--I remember nothing.  I don't remember Colleen screaming.  The only reason I know she screamed is she told me.  The first thing I remember is hitting my head on rocks really hard.  So hard the first thought that came to my mind was "that's the hardest I've hit my helmet, I bet I broke it" Then the rest of my body hit and it was an instant shock to my spine, leg and hip.  My hip had hit a rock so hard that I knew I was not leaving that spot.  I lay there as Colleen asked me if I was okay.  Normally by this time I would have jumped up, said I was fine and took off.  Unfortunately this was not the case.  My response was no, I've hurt my hip and can't get up.

I stayed where I was and soon the rest of the women in my division rode up.  These women were great.  Marian took off to tell the course marshal's there had been and accident, Kory and Kat helped to slow down riders as they came around the blind corner, and Colleen kept the bugs off of me, kept checking to make sure I was doing okay and let the riders know to stop and get off to go around me. Eventually she and Kat stood right over me to keep riders from riding by me and to protect me from getting hurt.  For those who were at the race you know I was in a percarious place right by a group of rocks, and the safest way around me was to go around me--not ride around me, but get off and walk around me.   Apparently 2 riders thought the race was too important to take the 2 extra seconds to go around me and rode right up the rocks by me.  One slip and they would have landed on me and hurt me worse.  That is what led to Kat and Colleen standing over me.

While we waited the gals kept me entertained--good and bad, because laughing really hurt.  We had to wait a really long time for the EMT's to arrive--by long time, I mean long enough I believe almost every division passed us by before the EMT's got to me.  Which was fine, I wasn't going anywhere.  While waiting there wasn't one rider that didn't offer to help or show their concern as I laid stretched out across the trail. Each offered theirs words of concern and support.  There were many willing to give up their race to help and assist me.  We sent them on their way the Sport Women had it covered. 

When the EMT's arrived that's when it started to get really interesting.  By interesting I mean they started to assess my injuries.  It was then I discovered I hurt more than just my hip.  Ouch my shoulder hurt and yes my kneck is tender, oh and yeah those ribs don't feel too hot either.  Once the assessment was overwe had to wait for the rest of search and rescue to arrive.  While waiting the EMT explained to me they were going to backboard me and take me to the ambulance and then the ambulance would take me to the hospital.  I didn't like this idea and told them I needed to be dropped off at Snow Basin.  Colleen then gave me the motherly "Kendra you need to go to the hospital" talk.  She was right, but I really didn't want to leave--of course this thought left my mind the instant they backboarded me.

The crash it hurt, but not near as bad as the rest of the stuff I went through.  When they backboarded me I was screaming and crying in pain.  You see the whole right side of my body was injured from my shoulder all the way down my leg and there was no way they could get me on without pushing on an area that was injured.  Once on the board they secured me so tight there was no way I was going to budge an inch.  I was so disappointed I cried, I know that's dumb, but it just made me feel like such a wimp.  Collen and the girls made sure I got all of my stuff.  They kept search and rescue from cutting my camelbak, helped with my glasses and broken helmet and then made sure my bike was rescued too.  You see I kept worrying about my bike. 

I won't tell you the rest of the trip was good, because it wasn't.  The ride to the ambulance and the ride to the hospital was very painful.  And all the tests, cat scans and xrays were not without pain.  My initial diagnosis ended up with a mild concussion, whip lash, deep tissue bruising to my hip, bruised ribs and unknown to my shoulder.  I saw the sports medicine doctor on Monday and the diagnosis on the shoulder changed to broken scapula.  Two weeks later after an MRI and only mild improvement the diagnosis on the shoulder became a torn laberal and seperation of the ACL, no broken scapula.  It took almost 2 weeks before I was able to sit up for a good lenght of time, but little by little I have been feeling much better.  Surgery is next week and then I will be back on the bike about 6 weeks later--just in time for cross season.  A funny side note,there are no pictures.  Apparently none of us take our cameras with us during a race.

The part that will always remain with me was the kindness of each rider on the trail and all of the women in my division that gave up their race and placing to help me.  I always knew I raced with a cool bunch of women, but that day they proved just how really cool they were.  Last year I stopped my race to help another racer, this year it was returned ten fold.  I can't tell you how priveledged I feel to know these women as well as all the other riders who showed their concern and caring during and after the race.  I always knew the mountain bike community was great, but now it has been proven. 

12 Hours of Mesa Verde Redemption

This is my second year doing 12 Hours of Mesa Verde, and I had one goal in mind for this race--to greatly improve from the year before.  Last year when I did the race I was fresh off of my heart surgery.  I thought things would go well at that race, but well let's just say that was when I learned the upcoming year was going to  be a year of recovery.  For me the race this year was a pinnacle, a turning point from where I have been and where I am going.

This year I raced with some great gals Sally and Heather--our team name Cranky Cowgirls (theme for the race was western).  Heather started us off, with Sally second and me third.  Heather and Sally killed it on their laps and then it was my turn.  I started out strong, in fact a little too strong.  I was going to hard at the first and was worried I would end up blowing up.  I kept telling myself to slow down a little bit, but no go, I kept going.  Eventually I did settle in and started going at an even, fast pace.  About half way through the course I looked at my time and saw I was ahead of my goal--I was feeling great, everything was falling in to place.  Then it happened, I crashed!  I didn't just crash, I flipped my bike and landed hard on the ground with a huge grunt, startling all of the people behind me.  I jumped up, moved my bike off the trail and let a train of people ride by.  I saw two women in our division go and began to panic--what if I lost our place, what if I ruined everything Sally and Heather had done.  As soon as the trained passed I hopped on my bike and proceeded to catch up.  In less than one mile I crashed again!  This time nothing major, but once again I had to let a train of people go by and fix my brake--ugh, all that time lost.  From here til the end I flew, hoping to make up for lost time.  Results, I improved my lap time by 15 minutes from last year!  Of course all I could think was if only I hadn't crashed how much faster my lap time would have been.  My biggest concern, not letting my team down.



 I wish I could say my second lap was great, but alas it was not.  Both my laps were in the heat of the day, but my second was in the prime of the heat.  Coming from 40 to 80 degrees just does not seem to agree with me--I can't wait to for it to get warm, so I can start to acclamate to the heat.  The other issue, I drank a very heavy milk product inbetween laps.  I know better than to drink milk during a race, I don't know what was I was thinking--I guess you could say I wasn't.  Needless to say when I left for my second lap I was sick,  all I could think about was throwing up, I even tried about mile 3, but without success.  I felt so miserable, my legs didn't want to go and I all I could hope for was to get through the lap and not lose our place.  My goal had changed from killing it on my lap to making sure no woman passed me and I passed any woman I could see.  I felt so miserable I was sure it took me an hour longer to do this lap.  Lucky for me that was not the case.  I only lost us 8 minutes, and no women passed me....whew. 

Heather coming in on her final lap.

Heather wrapped us up with the final lap and our team held on for a poduim win of 5th place.  The teams this year were much faster than last.  To put it into perspective the first two teams were retired pros and pros, and beat last years times by over an hour.  I can't begin to say how cool it was to race with Heather and Sally and podium.  What a great comeback from last year, and what a fun, fun race.  I am so looking forward to returning and racing here again.

Awesome team mates, awesome team!

Last Day of April

I had great plans for mountain biking and then woke up to this!

Not to be deterred by the weather we met up and decide it was time for a long road ride.  About 13 miles into the ride we passed Patty, so she turned around and rode with us until she reached the outskirts of Payson.  The ride was long and fun--53 miles....so take that snow you are not going to ruin my day!!!

Fun Days

So happy to see the sun out today and the weather cooperating.  Couldn't wait to take advantage of the good conditions, so a small group of us went on a 21 mile mountain bike ride.  We started out going up Indian.  If any of you are familar with this trail then you know it is a great fun downhill trail.  Well, it turns out it is also a great, make you sweat bullets, kill your lungs uphill climb.  I was surprised at how difficult it was, and now have a new goal of conquering this climb.  It is not a long climb, but there were a couple of hills I did not clear--nothing bugs me more than not clearing a climb.

After climbing we rode down only to see that a part of our favorite trail has been bull dozed taking away from the beauty of the trail.  It was so sad to see all the trees down. It actually took us a minute to figure out where the trail went  because the bull dozers have wiped it out.  We kept telling Sally how great this trail was, and it was, but not as much as it used to be.

We could have ended after coming down from the BST, but we still wanted to ride, so it was back to climbing.  Up the race course and up to the alter we went.  I can't remember when the last time it was I did this much climbing.  The fun part about climbing, you can visit with the people you are riding with and you get to go downhill!  I love going down the trails in the foothills, they are sooooo much fun.  Of course by the time we got to the bottom it wasn't enough and we took off for the final down of Dragons Back.  Have I ever said I much I like this down--probably every time I ride it.

I had such a great time riding the foothill trails and any other trail we could find.  I am still smiling from ear to ear and dreaming about riding the trails again.  And of course true to fashion since I was so busy having fun I forgot to take pictures, except at the alter.

Unplugged

I have been so busy I haven't had much time to blog or even be online.  Here are just a few of the things that have kept me busy.

Painting Christmas Decorations

 Bringing in the New Year!

 New Years Day Snow Shoeing in 9 degree weather!

 Ladies Day Cross Country Skiing at Sundance.

 Snow Shoeing, Snow Shoeing and Snow Shoeing.

 Ooops with some sledding thrown in too.

 And a little bit of cross country skiing thrown into the mix.

It has been a fun busy time.  So no promises that I will keep current on the blogging, but I will sure try.

Ride after ride after ride

I twisted my knee Wednesday as I was heading onto the trail to ride my bike.  It was kind of a silly thing.  I was riding to go on the trail and did not pay attention to the smashed pumpkin in the road--I probably should have.  Apparently I road over a tiny bit of it, and before I knew it I was on the hard cement.  Somehow while going down I twisted my knee.  I sat there, about 5 feet from my car, for a good 5 minutes not sure if I would be able to ride or not.  It actually hurt pretty bad.  Finally the pain subsided enough for me to stand up, so I decided to try and ride.  Much to my good luck it did not hurt to ride, so I rode.  However later that night I could hardly get up the stairs. 

The next day it was still hurting, but I really wanted to ride.  Can you blame me, the weather has been amazing.  Not wanting to put too much stress on my knee I went for a very flat and level road ride--at least as flat as you can get considering we live near mountains.  Knee seemed okay, but it was definitely irratated.
I decided to take pictures while I rode on my bike without stopping, but I did take one stopped.  Can you guess which one it is?

 

The next day I woke up and my knee was still bothering me.  I was having kind of a down in the dumps day.  Basically I was feeling sorry for myself.  I felt bad about not having a job and not having any responses yet to my apps.  I was discouraged with the knee hurting, because now I am finally getting better and low and behold one more thing.  Basically it was one of those days.  So my plans, despite the weather, was to take a couple of keyboarding tests, and sit around with ice on my knee all day long.  Oh I should mention it is not the top of the knee that is hurt, but underneath.  Which I know is technically not your knee, but it serves as my knee for me.  Anyway while I was sitting preparing my application and getting ready to go take a test, when I get a phone call from Heather.  She wants to know if I want to go for a mountain bike ride this afternoon.  I wanted to say no, because that was how miserable I was feeling, but I didn't, I said yes.  Boy am I glad I did. 

Heather and I met up about 1 pm and headed to Corner Canyon.  I don't think you could have asked for a more beautiful day to ride.  The temperature was nice and trail conditions were perfect.  We did have a few mishapes on the way.  One of the gals we were going to meet got in a car accident and couldn't make it.  I feel so bad for her, what an awful thing to happen on your way to having fun--actually what an awful thing to happen.  We met Gayle on Clarks and it turns out she was having brake problems and her back wheel wouldn't turn.  She ended up having to bail and not getting to ride.  With all of those things that happened we still had a great ride, and  b the time we finished I felt a bazillion times better.  I am so glad I have friends that like to ride otherwise I would have sat moping all day long.

Saturday the plan was for Sally and me to ride AF Canyon.  We met in the morning and headed up the canyon.  Since the gate is closed we decided to ride up the road to get on the trail.  About the time we came to the road at Timpanoke campground we noticed snow!  We became a little concerned about how the conditions of the trial were going to be, but decided to continue up the road to see.  Once we got to the trail it looked pretty muddy.  Knowing how the rest of the trail takes up the water we decided to turn around and ride corner canyon. 

Sally took me to Hogs Hollow to start the ride.  I have always wanted to ride there, but did not know where it was or the way to go.  Thanks Sally so much for showing me.  I loved the ride up and I loved the ride back.  We had a great time riding and since Sally knows those trails so well, I learned some new ways the trails connect up--way cool.  I had such a great time riding that I forgot to take pictures both days.  So you'll just have to believe me about how great it was.

Long Over Due

A couple of weekends ago, Presidents weekend to be exact, I went down with Wendy and Jessika to St. George.  The plan was to drive down Friday, meet up with a bunch of gals Saturday, ride all day and come home.  The plan worked just as we hoped.

I picked up Wendy and Jessika right after work and we drove down.  Can I tell you what fun it is to ride down with 2 single gals in the car.  They had the funniest dating stories, and all of the acronyms I hadn't heard.  I don't think I have ever laughed so hard.  It sure is crazy in the dating world.  My favorite was the story of the guy who took out this girl and wanted to take back the kiss, more than a day after it happened.  Really, who takes back a kiss, you can't take back a kiss, especially a day after it happened! 

We arrived in St. George safely and ready to go to sleep so we could ride the next day.  We were supposed to meet everyone at the race course at 9:30 am, but I took a very long time racking the bikes and then had to make a quick pit stop on the way.  We ended up being late and getting a very late start.  Thank goodness the group we were meeting was patient and waited for us.

We rode the race course with Gayle, Tiffany, Desi, Ashley, Stephanie, and one other gal whose name I forgot.....sorry.  It was a lot of fun, visiting and riding the course.  This is the perfect course to ride on and still be able to visit.  When we got to the second wash we spent a lot of time practicing getting over the rocks.  I did fine on my first try, my second try and my third, however when I was asked to demo again I became jinxed and could no longer make it over.  Oh well, I can only cross my fingers this will not be the case at the race.  Eventually we got on our way and finished the riding the course.

We had perfect timing, because as soon as we got back, we met up with Tim and Jen.  It was decided we would go have lunch and then ride barrel roll.  At this point our groups temporarily parted ways.  Tif and Gayle's group wanted to eat at a place I can't remember, and we wanted to eat at Pizza Factory, so we followed Tim and Jen to Pizza Factory with the agreement to meet the others at barrel roll.

Unfortunately we never did meet the others at barrel roll.  We got there before them, and because we needed to get back home that night we started to ride.  We let Tim lead the way, which means he goes ahead scouts out the trail, comes back to make sure we are still on the trail, and then goes back ahead.  I think riding with us is the best exercise for Tim, otherwise he would just ride the trail in one direction and be done, but when he goes with us he gets to ride it multiple times in small sections--what could be better.

The ride was so much fun.  This was the first trail I rode after Lamberts park when I was learning to ride a bike.  Although I did not remember much of the trail, I did remember walking a lot of sections.  This time I only walked a small section.  The trail left a beautiful 7 inch mark on my backside--yes I measured it.  There was a small up I was going up, and ended up in the wrong gear.  I couldn't clip out and slowly tipped over and landed hard on the edge of a rock.  I cursed and Jen stated it was a fall worthy of a curse.  Thank goodness, because it sure felt like it.  Not 2 feet after the fall I accidently shifted forward on my bike and was acousted by my bike seat!  That should never happen to anyone, I actually had to stop and wait for the pain to subsided.  Other than those miner occurances the ride was awesome.

Sadly we had to leave St. George, but I can't wait to go back.  Fortunately for me this weekend I get to go back, a trip that is long over due.
Slideshow of a great weekend.

I Pushed My Bike

Saturday I went on a great mountain bike ride. with Jen and Dale. The ride was ride up Mill Creek, take the Mid-Mountain Loop to Spiro, Thayne, Scotts Pass, and then down Wasatch Crest and Mill Creek back to the car. I was very excited for the ride and couldn't wait.

The ride started out with a few hitches, the first my 29er was in the shop so I had to ride my full suspension--thank goodness I had a bike to ride. The second hitch was my fs tried to shift by itself when I dropped my gears. Thank goodness Dale knew what to do. A quick adjustment of the cable and it quit automatic shifting. The third hitch, my body was not in a cooperative mood.

About a mile into the ride I started to have breathing problems, I became slightly asthmatic, and of course I did not bring my inhaler. I have been doing pretty good this year, in fact I have only had two issues this year so I felt pretty good about my breathing, so why bring my inhaler. Live and learn, it took a bit before I could breathe normally. I still need to keep that thing with me.

I wish I could say the only problem I had was my breathing, but no it became worse. I was a bit slow going up hill, but I attributed it to the bike. It turns out it was not the bike, but me. I seemed to not be able to turn the pedals like I normally do, and eventually around mile 18 my legs just quit working they did not want to turn. I got them to turn, but nowhere close to a good pace. Around mile 20 every little hill became the biggest, steepest incline I have ever taken on, and when I say little I mean little. I actually walked my bike on a couple of very small steeps. I was not happy with myself at all.

I really am not sure why my body quit working. Just a week and a half ago I mountain biked 26 miles and could have gone more, I felt great. This week I pushed my bike at mile 20 and by the time I got to puke hill, it was nothing but walking as three other riders went past. I wanted to think of excuses, but really there were none--it was a very humbling moment. I don't know why my body was so fatigued. Was a fuel problem, a heat problem, hydration or fatigue from lack of sleep? Whatever it was I am determined to go back and do this loop and not walk anything!

Once we reached the top of puke hill things went pretty well. I was out of water, but luckily Dale had water he could spare...thank goodness Dale was so prepared. Jen had to take off she had to be somewhere, since I was so slow today our ride went way longer than expected...way longer! From the top of puke hill things went pretty well. I had a blast going downhill on my full suspension bike. It has been a long time since I have ridden a full suspension bike and I forgot how well they absorb everything--it made going over the rocks a breeze. I also passed a few guys on the downhill--to me that was pretty cool since normally I do not pass going down. The entire ride we only saw a handfull of riders, very surprising on such a wonderful Saturday. I don't know how we got so lucky.

Of course by the time I got to the parking lot I was tired, so I did not continue on to do pipeline, but opted to ride in the car. When I got home I thought for sure I would be extremely sore the next day, but wouldn't you know it, no soreness what so ever, and I didn't feel fatigued, but I decided to rest anyway and not take any chances. Who knows maybe Saturday was just one of those days.
Flowers on the trail
Dale and Jen eating lunch.

Lookout at Mid-Mountain.

All By Myself

When I first started riding I rode by myself all the time. I loved it. I would go out everyday to ride my bike. I thought it was great and loved how much fun I had riding. However, since I have met more mountain bikers, I have discovered that I enjoy riding with others.

With the holidays and every one's work scheduled changed, except mine, I have been getting up early and riding by myself. There has been a lot of cool things I have seen while riding. For example today and yesterday I saw a deer run across the road. This may not seem like a big deal, but the deer was only about 3 blocks east of State Street. Further up the road where I would expect to see deer I did, however instead of running away the deer watched as I rode my bike huffing and puffing up the hill. I am sure the deer was trying to figure out what strange creature with the bug headed light was going up the road. I was surprised the deer stayed and watched as it was only about 2 feet away from me when I passed.

Later on the ride I got to prove Kerry's explanation of how a bike goes down on the ice. Kerry has told me when you ride on ice you can go down so quickly you won't know what hit you. He was right. Today I rode snow up the road, but on the way down I found several ice patches. When I hit the first ice patch my bike tire slid sideways, and around. I went down so quickly I ended up turned around on the hill. Lucky for me there was snow on the ground so my landing was somewhat soft. The next 2 ice patches I stayed upright, but did a little shoe dance on the ice to keep my balance. It's too bad Kerry and the others missed as I am sure I would have been the comedic relief for the morning.

As much as I have enjoyed the alone time, and it does bring back fond memories, I do miss the group rides and look forward the holidays ending soon so I can have someone to ride with in the mornings.

Lambert Park in the Dark

Went out early this morning for a ride at Lambert Park before the storm came. Met up with Stephen, his son Ryan, Todd, Eric, and Kerry. We drove and parked in Alpine. We got there at the same time as another rider, Russ, so he joined up and off we went. When we started it was pretty dark and we were thinking we should have probably brought our lights, but luckily Todd & Russ had lights, so we followed. Once we actually got in to Lambert Park it became light enough that we did not need them anymore.

The ride was a lot of fun. We rode Rodeo twice, and Ruin twice. I rode behind Todd on Ruin, wow can that guy jump. He hit every jump with great air and nice little twists to the bike. I definitely need to follow him more to improve my technique.

After Ruin we went up White Dog. We didn't take the new Ziggy, but I have it on my list of to do's. Instead we connected up to a trail I had not been on that drops us right back to where we were parked. This was a true mountain bike trail. It had tight switch backs and some very precarious edges. I was quite thrilled that I made it through most of this trail. We had three flat tires on the ride. Russ had 2 and Todd had 1. I used the flat tires as an opportunity to take some pictures, because this group is a go, go group and there is not time to get my camera out to take pictures.
Russ riding up the trail.
Todd & Stephen fixing his tire.

Todd & Ryan looking at the trail we are getting ready to ride.

Lambert Park Duex

Went back to Lambert Park this morning with Jolene and rode a few of the trails today. We parked at he Bowery and started our ride off going downhill. First trail we hit was a small part of Spring which then merged into Lamberts Luge. I like Lamberts Luge it is a fun rock garden. However today I didn't realize until later in the ride that my pro pedal was locked out and I was going without any suspension. This explains all of the bouncing around on the trail. We skipped the bottom half of Lamberts Luget and went on down Ruin. Ruin has a lot of jumps on the trail. However I only took 3 and of the 3 only one did I take really good air. I think I need to ride this trail more so I can familarize myself with the jumps and be able to take more of them. At the bottom of Ruin we did a quick jont onto Middle and over to Poppy. We climbed Poppy and then connected up to Ziggy and continued to climb until we started back down where we shifted onto Zag. I forgot how many turns and switchbacks were on Zag--a lot. After Zag it was up High Bench. On High Bench I think one of the branches are lower. Normally the tall guys have to duck under this branch, but I had to duck while riding. Either I got taller or the branch is a little it lower.From High Bench we took Spring to the top and then came down Upper Rodeo Down all the way down Rodeo Down. Rodeo Down was so much fun we had to do it twice. Conditions on the trail were perfect and it was a fun great ride. Oh and did I mention no one else was out on the trails. How can someone pass up such great riding conditions?

A Beautiful Day for a Ride

Went for a group ride today in Park City with Stephanie, Paige, Dawn and Jolene. This is the first time I have ridden in Park City, and we couldn't have picked a better day for a ride. The temperature was great and there was nice cloud coverage. Our route for the day was Spiro and then parts of Mid Mountain both ways. The first part of the ride starts out with a gradual climb. The cool part about this climb is there are switchbacks which make the climb much less intense. Although some of my riding companions did not feel the same way and at different points in the ride they were wondering how much further we had and how far we had gone. I thought it was funny and it reminded me of times when we take the kids on trips and they ask when will we get there.

By the look of some of these faces I don't think they thought the climb was gradual.

The entire ride up is very beautiful. And there is one part of the trail that is very patriotic having red berries and white and blue(ish) flowers.
At one point on Spiro we come to Mid-Mountain and have the choice to go right or left. We chose to go right first and saved the left for later. This was a nice trail that climbs up to a summit that over looks Park City (it does go further, but we stopped here). What a beautiful view.
After pausing to enjoy the view we took off back down the trail to explore a small part of the other side of Mid-Mountain. Jolene and I ended up doing this part as our riding companions took off back to the parking lot. We went about one mile and it was a blast great trail which seemed like you were going down hill both directions.

After Mid-Mountain it was back downhill to the parking lot. What a blast! You could not ask for better trail conditions. Smooth trail and great switchbacks for the downhill--this is saying a lot since downhill switchbacks tend to really slow me down. I caught air so much coming down that I lost count. This was a great ride, I can't wait to go back and explore some of the other trails.