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.

Can You See the Elk????

Broke my own rule about not riding in weather under 20 degrees and went out today. Reason was I had told Steve, Kerry and Eric I would be there. My ride was later this morning, at 7 instead of 6. You would think it might be a little bit warmer at that time, but it wasn't.

When I left my house this morning it was 16 degrees, foggy and so cold that when you breathe your nostrils stick together. As I rode up to our meeting point all I could think was "if those guys don't show up I am going to ride up the hill and across to home." I got to our meeting point a little early so I rode around in circles waiting for them to arrive. It reminded me when you are a kid and you are waiting outside your friends house to come out so you can go and play.


After about 5 minutes of riding in circles Kerry showed up, and decided we would go. We left, but it wasn't long before Eric snuck up behind us and Steve blazed down another rode in front of us. I have to thank Eric for sneaking up behind us, I definitely needed that scare to get my blood flowing.


Our ride today was up water tower road, and down roller road. The ride up was pretty good, there was only one slick spot where a bunch of people had rode their sleds. That was my only up hill spin out of the ride.


At the top of water tower road we continued on the flat part. We had only gone a short distance when we saw a large herd of elk going single file up the hills above the Provo Race Course. It was the most amazing sight I had seen. There were over 145 elk walking in a line. I took a picture and as you can see I was not close enough for you to get the full visual affect. I cropped it so you can get a blurry view. Can you see where line of elk are?


Our ride continued up to where the elk where crossing. Steve was lucky and got to see the last 8 elk in the line. I was too slow to see them up close, but we rode a little further and were able to see them up on top of the ridge. I have never seen that many elk in my life, so it was worth it to get up and ride in the freezing cold--that may be a sight I might not get to see again.


At the end of the service road we had a choice we could go down what is known as roller road, or go back the way we came. The road looked good to me, so I opted to go down. This turned out to not be the easiest way, but it definitely was fun.


The road was not as snowy as it looked, it was actually very icy. I went down rather slow, and Steve was very patient and waited every so often to make sure I was okay. I appreciated this. The funny part was one of the times he chose to wait was right after I had slid out and fell into a snow bank. Had he looked back one minute earlier he would have seen a very funny sight.

After my snow bank incident I decided it was safer to ride with one foot in my pedal and one foot out. This turned out to work well and I made it down the hill with no more snow bank falls.


Interesting note. I mentioned it was 16 degrees when we started riding. As we rode up the mountain the temperature increased to 21 degrees, and then when we came back down it was 15 degrees. I find it weird that it is warmer up high. It made it a little hard to come down the hill as I wanted to stay where it was warm.

Our ride ended on the Provo trail and then home. Other than freezing cold you couldn't have asked for a better ride and what a great opportunity to see so many elk.

**BTW thanks Steve for hooking up my wireless router. Thanks to you I was able to watch 9 year olds play while we waited for midnight to come.

The Altar

Today was a day for exploring the Orem Foothills, or actually I was exploring Jolene was leading the way. I have been wondering for quite some time what the trails were like in the foothills. I read Kris's blog and talks about the different trails he has ridden and is mapping out and my interest has peaked. One of the things I read often in Kris's blog is the trail marker of the altar. Well today I got to see it.
The infamous altar.
The ride was a fun ride with a lot of climbing. We started out riding up the road behind the Orem cemetery, and then continued riding up the service road until we got to the trail. The climbing here was not too bad. We would go up and then we would get a break from climbing for a moment. The trail was fun, but had its challenges. The first part, much like the service road you would climb and then get a break, but the last part there is no break. If you stop, you are starting up on a steep incline. Sometimes this was not too bad, other times I skid out and couldn't keep on the trail and ended up pushing the bike to the next suitable place to try and ride.


Of course like all trails after climbing there was a fun downhill. On the downhill we wound in and around the trees. The trees were intertwined with each other above our heads, making it like we were riding through a tunnel. Eventually the trail looped back to a fork we had originally veered off to create this big circle. I am not sure what the name was of this particular trail, but I think it should be called Lasso. After Lasso we continued down the trail to the next fork and turned left on to what Jolene thought was roller coaster and it was fun like a roller coaster. It had ups and downs with a few bermed turns. The trail ended at the service road. From here we headed back to where we had started.

After the ride I stopped at Jolene's and had some snickerdoodle cookies. know this may not seem like something to write about, but I am because it it. They were the best tasting cookies. I could have eaten 20 easily they were so good--I kept myself to 3. The cool part was she made them out of a cake mix, and I got the recipe. I came home to make some, but I only had vanilla and cinnamon swirl cake mix and I am not sure they will work....I may have to find out.
Jolene with bike in hand at the alter.

Posing with my bike at the alter.