Whiting Trail Group Ride

I have gone on a few group rides, and loved all of them.  However, tonight's ride was extra special.  What made this group ride so special?  Three things.  One Scott and I were leading the ride.  I have never led a ride, so this was a first.  The second, this was the first time back on the trails since surgery.  The third, I rode my new bike.

The ride Scott and I led was Whiting trail.  I have never been on this trail, but Scott had and he said it would be perfect.  We decided to have those in north county meet at Mad Dog Cycles and those in south county meet at the trail head.  It turns out this was a great plan, and we ended up with a large group of 16 riders for this ride!

Scott did a great job picking the trail.  It is absolutely beautiful, and there are a lot of fun things on the ride.  It has a lot of ups and downs, stairs and a lot of variety.  The trail was perfect for riding.  We had reports it might be muddy, but instead we ended up with a nice tacky trail.

For our ride Scott stayed in the front and I took the back.  It was great to be at the back, I got to talk with the riders, and I needed to be at the back.  First day back on the trail was hard on my heart and I maxed out pretty quickly-try a 183 hr, trust me this trail is not a 183 hr trail.  I actually had to stop at one point.  Little discouraged about that, but hopefully in time my heart will quit spiking to such a high heart rate and all will be good again.

The ride up the trail is mostly up with a few ups and downs, so it is not a straight up hill climb.  There is nothing too difficult, but there was a couple of tight turns that led to some steep ups.  Why are there always steep ups in percarious places???  The downhill was a blast.  Nice curvy turns, with quick up and downs.  You could really pick up some speed and go really fast down this trail. 

About half way on the down Scott traded me places, and I got to let my bike go.  Sooooo much fun.  It rode great.  It felt so good to go fast.  Thanks Scott for trading me.

I didn't get any pictures of the trail, but I did get pictures of a few of the riders riding down the trail.  If you look closely you can see how pretty the  trail is. 
Scott leading the ride on the down.

I think Dave needs water.

Carson - our sheep dogger for the night.

Group Ride Invite

Mad Dog Race Team sponsors group rides almost every Thursday.  The rides are for you, your friends, family and anyone who might like to ride a bike.  All of the rides are led by some of the Mad Dog Team Riders.  Tomorrow I get to lead on of those rides with Scott Billings!

We are going to ride Whiting Trail, which is in the Springville area.  I haven't ridden the trail, but according to Scott it is a pretty nice trail.  Everyone is invited to come.  It is a no drop ride--since this is my first mountain bike ride since surgery you definitely do not need to worry about being dropped.

We are meeting at Mad Dog Cycle in Orem at 5:30 pm  and the trail at 6:15 pm.  Here are directions:

From Interstate 15, exit at Springville (Exit 260). Head East 2 miles to intersection of Main Street and 400 South. Turn right (South) on Main Street, staying in the right lane toward Highway 89/Price. Continue approx. 2.3 miles to Maple Street. Turn left (East) on Maple/State Hwy 147 for approx. .9 mile to Main Street in Mapleton. Turn left (North) on Main Street. Turn right (East) on 400 North. Drive East on 400 North for approx 2.7 miles until you reach Whiting Campground.

See ya' tomorrow.

It's never too early

So for the last week I have been getting up at 5:15 in the morning to meet a group of guys and go riding. They have a set routine, and it is working out pretty good for me. We have days we ride in the dirt and we have days we ride the pavement. The pavement days are recovery days. This is good, because I am not too good at pacing myself, so I stick with the group and it works out well. The dirt days are ride hard days.

Today was a dirt day! We rode on a trail that I have only been on a small portion of, but today I got to go on a lot of it. It was a blast. Since we are riding in the dark I did not go very fast, which turned out to be a good thing, because I came to a sharp banked turn, and once I realized was there was a turn, it was too late to turn, so instead I rode up the mountain. Good thing it was up the mountain and not off the mountain. I have heard when you night ride you should ride on trails you are familiar with. I tend to agree with this if you do not have someone to ride with. The guys I was riding with were very helpful letting me know what to expect on the trail. I am sure it would have been much more difficult riding had they not given me a heads up of what to expect. I am excited to go back and ride again, however I am worried I will not be able to find my way since I have been going in the dark, and everything looks different in the day.

By the way did I mention I love dirt days. I love riding, but there is something about riding the dirt that puts a huge smile on my face. I don't know if it the challenge of the single track and being able to accomplish riding it, the scenery (although in the dark the scenery does not exactly jump out), or the variety that comes with riding single track. Whatever it is I love it and it is definitely worth getting up for early in the morning!!!

URMB Group Ride

Went today and rode up in AF Canyon for a group ride with Utah Rocky Mountain Bikers (URMB). Those who wanted to join the ride met at the pullout before the guard shack. I messaged the ride leader Steve before hand and met them up at the Timpanooke parking lot. Those that went on the ride today were Steve, Derek and Kerry all members of URMB.

We left the parking lot and somehow I ended up being in the front for the first part of the ride. Which is fine, because it was uphill, and I really did not want to get left behind. I stayed up front until we reached what people call puke hill--I think there is a puke hill on every trail. At that point Derek put the pedal to the metal and breezed by everyone. I didn't know it was possible to go up that hill that fast. Now that I do I guess I am going to have to try it. As I went up somehow I ended up riding off the trail instead of staying on it and ended up off my bike...bummer. I broke my record of clearing this hill, now I will have to start my count over. At the top of the hill Derek took the lead. I made a joke about who let Derek take the lead, and he ended up pulling to the back. Sorry, Derek. I hope you know I was only kidding. However since he was in the back and so was I it was fun to visit and talk about team racing stuff. At the top of the hill I made sure Derek went in front of me as downhill is still not my speciality and I hate to hold people up on the downhill. We rode down and then came to gravel hill. Today was a good day for this hill. It was gravely and loose, but I didn't have any problems clearing the hill. At four corners all the guys went first and I went last and they waited for me at the road. I don't know how long they waited for me on the road, but I know Steve went 29 mph and I went 18.6 mph, I'm not going to do the math to figure this out. On the road it was back to the trail and back to the uphill. Derek wanted to do two laps, so at this point he took off, and I got to be in the lead again. Being in the lead on the uphill is not a bad thing and I had fun as we rode along, but at the Summit it was time for me to go to the rear. This part of the trail is my least favorite, because of the loose rocks and dust. However the more I ride the trail the less I struggle with this part of the trail. Toward the first intersection after the I Summit as I rode down there was a motorcyclist. He was telling Steve he would pull over for me to get by however he did not do that. I had to ride around him as he was saying he would pull over. I found out later that Steve had made him stop, which I appreciate, because the last thing I needed, was to run into on that particular downhill was a motorcycle! The rest of the ride was fabulous. I can't wait for the next group ride with this group. It was a lot of fun.

Derek, Kerry and a rider we met on the trail at four corners.

Derek and Kerry while we wait for Steve to investigate a different part of the trail.

Sorry about the pictures hopefully soon I will get a new camera.