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.

I Rode Rattle Snake Gulch!

I know it may not seem like a big deal to some, but to me it is huge. Last year I walked a good portion of Rattle Snake Gulch, so this year to be able to ride the whole thing is absolutely phenomenal to me.

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.

Todd turns off his cell phone.

Rock garden after the spine.

6 bikes in one truck not too bad of a feat.

Wasatch Crest

Yesterday I rode Wasatch Crest with the Hutchings, Nosaks and a few others. I have never ridden this trail, and had been told how great it is, so I was excited the whole car ride up to the trail head--I had big expecatations and they were all met.

I am not sure what trail head we shuttled up to or where we started other than it was at the beginning of puke hill. Lucky me, I had been told about the hill and decided to take it easy so I wouldn't blow up. It worked and I made it to the top. At the top as we waited for our group some rain clouds came in and dropped rain and hail. There was a large group at the top and all of us had our backs to the hail trying to wait out the storm. It wasn't too bad unless it hit your skin, and then ouch! When the final person in our group made it to the top we took off on the trail.

The weather was great for the rest of the ride and the trail was in great condition. There were a lot of people riding the trail, bike peddler from Utah County also had a group that arrived the same time we did so between the 2 groups there were 24 riders on the crest when we started, but it never seemed like a huge group. Eventually the groups disapted and we were out there on our own. I loved riding this trail and had a smile on my face the whole time.

Instead of taking the road down at the end we rode pipeline down to the bottom of rattle snake gultch. It was okay, but nothing in comparison to the crest. I think the pictures will give you an idea of how great the ride was.