Bike Rides
A BOYS Ride & A GIRLS Ride
Today, we split up. Karen took Laura out on a mountain bike ride. Rich and I met up to do a road ride. Here are our individual accounts:
Rich's Ride:
Rich (Karen's Rich, not me) is training for the Ironman triathalon. He was going to put in 5 hours in the saddle today. I, on the other hand, have no desire to do a tri or 5 hours in the saddle for that matter, but I did want to get a nice road ride in. Rich rode from his house, over to our campground(1 hour down). That's where I met up with him and we knocked down 37 miles in just under 2 hours, avg speed 18.8mph (3 hours down). We separated back at the campground, Rich sped off down the road (2 more hours to go!), I leashed up Snuggles and took her on a cool down ride around the campground.
The road followed I-80, along the Great Salt Lake, so, it was FLAT. It was probably the flattest road ride I have ever done. Now, you might think this would make for an easy ride. But, no, you are pedaling the whole time, if you stop, well, you stop! At least when you mix in hills, you get some coasting time. I can see why Rich uses this as an Ironman training ground, it keeps him spinning. I'm not complaining, I enjoyed the spin, it was a great ride!
Rich's Ride:
Rich (Karen's Rich, not me) is training for the Ironman triathalon. He was going to put in 5 hours in the saddle today. I, on the other hand, have no desire to do a tri or 5 hours in the saddle for that matter, but I did want to get a nice road ride in. Rich rode from his house, over to our campground(1 hour down). That's where I met up with him and we knocked down 37 miles in just under 2 hours, avg speed 18.8mph (3 hours down). We separated back at the campground, Rich sped off down the road (2 more hours to go!), I leashed up Snuggles and took her on a cool down ride around the campground.
The road followed I-80, along the Great Salt Lake, so, it was FLAT. It was probably the flattest road ride I have ever done. Now, you might think this would make for an easy ride. But, no, you are pedaling the whole time, if you stop, well, you stop! At least when you mix in hills, you get some coasting time. I can see why Rich uses this as an Ironman training ground, it keeps him spinning. I'm not complaining, I enjoyed the spin, it was a great ride!
-Rich-
Girls' Ride
Karen and I set off from her house to do a "girl ride". We were originally going to just take one car, park it, ride up 3 miles (at 6000') then ride back down to our car. Instead I got the brilliant idea to shuttle (I know, I'm a genius who HATES climbing). So our plan was to drop off a car at the bottom, and drive up to the gate, which would entail another 1.5 miles of climbing on a road closed to cars. We got about 1/4 mile in, with me huffing & puffing. We came around a corner to see snow all the way across, and about 6" deep. We tried hike-a-biking, but our shoes were getting cold and wet. So we rode back down, past our car about 1/3 mile to a parking lot where we could pick up the trail. The trail overall, was not too technical, but for most of it there was quite a drop-off. Karen kept offering to stop so I could take pictures, but I didn't want to look around. I told her to just pick a spot and stop.
The pictures are from my camera phone, so they aren't the best quality. The majority of the trail is flat or slightly downhill & meanders in & out of the mountainside. Then we got to Rattlesnake Gultch! The trail turns a sharp left and goes down...steeply through drop-offs and rocks. Karen & both got a little freaked out and started walking. I kept trying to convince myself I could get back on the bike and ride, but it was such a steep downhill, I was afraid I'd endo before I got clipped in. 
Needless to say, we didn't get any pictures on that section. Then we got to the switchbacks, which were very sharp, also a walking section. Finally we got to the fun downhill, and just flew all the way down to the parking lot. Whew! That was fun. I probably could have done it again, but I figured it was good to have survived it once, save doing it twice for another day.
-Laura
P.S. Here's a picture of my bike post-ride:
Girls' Ride
Karen and I set off from her house to do a "girl ride". We were originally going to just take one car, park it, ride up 3 miles (at 6000') then ride back down to our car. Instead I got the brilliant idea to shuttle (I know, I'm a genius who HATES climbing). So our plan was to drop off a car at the bottom, and drive up to the gate, which would entail another 1.5 miles of climbing on a road closed to cars. We got about 1/4 mile in, with me huffing & puffing. We came around a corner to see snow all the way across, and about 6" deep. We tried hike-a-biking, but our shoes were getting cold and wet. So we rode back down, past our car about 1/3 mile to a parking lot where we could pick up the trail. The trail overall, was not too technical, but for most of it there was quite a drop-off. Karen kept offering to stop so I could take pictures, but I didn't want to look around. I told her to just pick a spot and stop.
The pictures are from my camera phone, so they aren't the best quality. The majority of the trail is flat or slightly downhill & meanders in & out of the mountainside. Then we got to Rattlesnake Gultch! The trail turns a sharp left and goes down...steeply through drop-offs and rocks. Karen & both got a little freaked out and started walking. I kept trying to convince myself I could get back on the bike and ride, but it was such a steep downhill, I was afraid I'd endo before I got clipped in. Needless to say, we didn't get any pictures on that section. Then we got to the switchbacks, which were very sharp, also a walking section. Finally we got to the fun downhill, and just flew all the way down to the parking lot. Whew! That was fun. I probably could have done it again, but I figured it was good to have survived it once, save doing it twice for another day.-Laura
P.S. Here's a picture of my bike post-ride:
posted by Laura @ 2:04 PM
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