Check out these little boogers

So last night I headed up into Big Cottonwood canyon to camp at Willow Springs Lake. The weather was pretty crappy in the afternoon and at one point I decided not to go because of the thunder and lightning. Around 5:30 the skies started to break so I took off up the mountain. The temp down in the valley was mid 70's, but when I got to the trail head it was a brisk 52deg and dropping along with the sun. I reached camp fairly quick and set the tent up. It was cold, but that was my fault because I was wearing really light weights clothes. Gathering fire wood helped warm me up, except for my hands which got a little cold holding the wet limbs. Problem number 1: everything was WET, really wet. I got the driest, most dead fire starting material I could find, but after a good 30min of trying to get it going I had to give up. Everything in the area was still soaked from the rain that fell just an hour or so earlier.
I nestled up into my tent as the temps kept falling. I wrote a page in the journal and opened up Walk Across America Part 2, The Walk West for the first time. I got the book before I left but haven't started reading it yet, until now. I was surprised to find out I had some cell phone service so I talked to Carrie a bit before I hit the sack, literally. My sleeping bag kept me amazingly warm all night even though it was fairly chilly and I was far from dressed for it.
The morning came along with bright sunshine heated up the air quickly. I had some simple breakfast and started to pack the camp up when I got visitors in the form of some curious, furry, hungry, marmots. The locals here call them "potguts", but basically they are a perfect mixture of a squirrel and prairie dog. They live in groups or families, have underground towns, and chirp just like prairie dogs.
So anyways, I'm getting my tent tore down and two of these little guys start working their way towards me. I had some mixed nuts so I go them out and tossed a few peanuts towards one. Eventually he found the nuts and ate them up. Soon afterwards he took off back towards the colony and within a couple minutes he returned with friends! Next thing I know there were around 8 of these fellas searching my campsite for food. I figured they weren't harmful, and definitely not close to a bear, so I kept tossing more peanuts out for them and one by one they ate them up. Little by little they got more brave and wandered closer to me as I sat on a log near the fire pit. At one point I had a few of them within 6ft of me, and eventually one actually walked under the log and sniffed my shoe as it passed underneath. I was able to get some pics and videos that you can see on my smugmug page (click on the photo below), and the videos are on youtube (you can search by my user name: iambquinn).
It was a good two hours sitting there with my new friends and probably the most fun I've had since I got out here (different type of fun than mountain biking). Enjoy the pics and videos.


Video links: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCsPxANxEPE&feature=channel

Went on my longest to date hike today.

I needed to scout out some potential campsites up the canyons so I headed out late this morning for Big Cottonwood canyon looking for Bear Trap Trail which heads up to Desolation Lake. My map shows a 4 mile walk to the intersection of Bear Trap and a mtb trail, then another 1/4 mile or so to the lake. Driving up Big Cottonwood I had trouble finding the trailhead and ended up seeing Willow Springs trailhead so I decided I would check it out being a really short walk at .8miles. The trail weaves through some really nice aspens (so much better to look at then rocks) and ends up in a meadow with a small lake about 1.5acres in size. A couple nice camp sites available, one of which is right next to the lake which totally pisses me off since this is a watershed canyon and you aren't supposed to camp within 200ft of any water...oh well. Here's one pic, some more on my smugmug site (click on the pic to take you there).


I took off back down the road looking for the Bear Trap trailhead and eventually found the rather elusive gate to the trail. After eating the second half of my nutritional bar I headed up towards Desolation Lake. Not far up the trail I spooked some mule deer that were browsing just off the trail. It was the first time I've seen mule deer not dead on the side of the road...cool. As I climbed the trail back into some pines bits of snow appeared ahead in the shadows. Soon the trail was completely underneath snow I had no way to tell which direction to head. I pulled my map out but all I could tell was that the trail followed the stream, so I decided to head straight up the hill and hope that I would be able to spot the lake. Well that straight up hike was a tad bit harder than I thought. After a solid one mile up a hill at probably around a 30-35deg I reached the ridge line well above my starting point, but no lake was within sight. Here is a view looking back towards my starting point...the road is on the other side of the hill, the trail is down and to the right.

I decided to moved up the ridge a bit more, but first I had to cross some snow

Once across the snow I moved just a bit more up the ridge and spotted the lake down below me, still covered in ice and snow

Needless to say I didn't venture down the steep snow covered slope to the lake, instead I enjoyed the view from the highest point I've climbed to date

The way back down was tough on the ole knees. I took a slightly different route that may not have been the best decision as it was as close to a mountain jungle as you can get between the shrubs and aspens. The visibility was about, oh, maybe 25ft ahead
So total I did about 11 miles, which means 5.5 miles up hill, which is tough on an ole Midwesterner. Tomorrow I hit up the bike trails again in Park City furthering my quest to get into the best shape of my life and ready for the real high altitude summer riding ahead. Life's good.

Getting my legs and lungs back!

It's been rather frustrating the last few weeks here in Utah. I came here recovering from surgery that proved to set me back WAY further than I thought it would. My first three weeks of riding was pure physical hell for me, by far the most suffering on a bike I've experienced to date. The sad truth is that most of the riding I've done here has been somewhat tame compared to what is out there for me to soak up the rest of the summer. The altitude has been fairly low, anywhere from 4,200-8,500ft, compared to many 9,000ft+ trails that cover the western half of the US.
So anyways, yesterday Toby, his friend Bryce, and I took off up into the hills of Park City on my highest climb to date. Although we didn't have any accurate way of measuring the altitude, we were definitely above 8,000ft for a decent amount of our 5.5 mile climb.

Today I was feeling really good, so I decided I would head out for two bike rides. Yes, you heard me right, TWO bike rides in one day. Why you ask, because that is how I roll!!! Ok, so for real, I headed up Little Cottonwood Canyon this morning for a wake me up loosen the muscles ride. After 11 miles I headed back home for some fuel and took off again up Mill Creek Canyon to the Pipeline Trail. Today, since my legs were warmed up, I decided to head past our normal trail head and go to the top trail head which is another couple miles up the road and almost another 1,000ft higher. Total it was app 7 miles of climbing and I tell you what, it was almost the death of me. I told myself that I would not drop down into my small front chain ring (easiest to pedal), and I was able to do that but not without some serious burning in the ole legs. I made it back to the house after 15.7 miles of riding, and quickly through some recovery food into the stomach before I cleaned the bike up.

The best part of all this is that my legs feel really good right now. Not sore, stiff, tired, just the slightest feeling that I pushed them hard today. This is a great sign that my muscles are getting into shape along with my lungs getting used to the altitude. Another couple weeks and I'll be ready to hit the high trails once their dry and snow free. YEAH. And Nick, be prepared for a major butt whooping this fall when I come back home!!!

Man I'm getting old!

Old injuries starting to rear their ugly faces on me. Two nights ago, the night of my last climb and the longest to date, my knees got frustratingly sore and stiff. I did quite a bit of stretching but when I woke the next morning the pain from the night before only worsened. All day I struggled with the discomfort hoping time would heel them. Today my morning was much better so I decided to hit the trails on the bike. Most of the ride was good, although the tougher climbing sections made me grit my teeth a bit over the knee issues. As expected both knees, and especially my "good" knee (the one I didn't have surgery on) started to get stiff and sore quick after the ride that even walking up 5 steps made me want to pop a leftover pain killer. I quickly decided I would head out tonight for an easy going ride that would loosen the knees up a bit, but after sitting for a couple hours they are only feeling worse and worse.
So I decided to pop a pain killer, eat some PB&J, and watch Deadliest Catch (which seems to be on ALL the time). The bad part about sitting around is I always want to eat something! Ughh!!!

Saturday May 23rd

Had another lovely day. Started off with this fantastic home cooked meal that I must say was one of the better breakfast's I've had in awhile.
Worked out at the house for a couple hours before heading to an early showing of the new Terminator movie. WOW, very good. Definitely one to see. Got back home, stuffed some food down me for some energy and took off for a hike up the mountain behind the house. I was feeling pretty good so I decided to try my luck at reaching the peak today. The previous three climbs I stopped short afraid I would get too tired towards the top and pay for it the next day. But today was different, so up I went going for the top. The "top" wasn't quite the top I thought it was. Again I was fooled by the mountains different stages that keep you from seeing past each one. So as you climb and look up, the top you see is just a step in the mountain. To see the actual top you need to drive a couple miles away from the base to see the actual top, but from that far you can't tell that there are multiple 'stages' or 'steps' on the mountain. It's kinda tricky to explain really. So anyways, I did manage to go further today than before, a total of 2,400ft in a little over an hour which is far quicker than previous trips up. It's actually the climb down that gets to my legs more so, or shall I say knees. The accent is tiring for sure, but not hard on the knees like the decent. Anyways, here's a pic of me at the stopping point for today.
On the way down I had my first encounter with a snake. I almost stepped on the darn thing before it moved, scared the living crap out of me since I've been warned about rattle snakes here. It was actually fairly violent when I tried scooting him off the trail as you can see in this pic.
So I eventually made my way back home, made some dinner (taco salad, so yummy), then started loading videos on YouTube under my user name: iambquinn. Mostly family stuff, but check it out if you want.

Tomorrow I hit the bike trails again. Going to start pushing it harder each ride to get into the shape I need to be in. We'll see how that goes.

Made it back from Moab, although a little beat up.

Well, Moab UT. Possibly the #1 mtb destination in all of the US. Located in basically a desert region of Utah, Moab offers a variety of mtb trails from the Slickrock area to some higher elevation rides up in Hazard County area. The most notably trails being Porcupine Rim and Slickrock proved to be interesting in different ways.
Toby and arrived in Moab on Monday May 18th to 97deg temps, ouch! We headed to a campsite that Toby had stayed at before, down near the river in some shade which helped, but the $12/night fee didn't help out the wallet so we headed to the Poison Spider Bicycle shop for some advice on free camping. The ever so friendly guys at PSB pointed us UP to a free site in the national forest area to the east of Moab. The drive up was long and slow in the ole Acura as the washboard dirt road was rough going. After an almost 40min drive up the mountain we found the side road to the campsite. The road, or shall I say trail was deeply rutted and not what I'd call car territory. After some careful maneuvering we made it to the campsite which turned out to be really nice, sporting a picnic table, fire pit, and even a bathroom just 40yards away! Not what we expected. Oh yeah, just up the trail another 80yards or so was the rim of the canyon that offered an amazing view! We were going to camp there but the picnic table sold us on our spot. Here's the view of the canyon.

The rainbow that graced us with it's presence

That night we rode around the trails that passed by the campsite, the UPS/LPS and down to the start of the Porcupine Rim Trail (PRT). The small section was amazing, offering up some of the most challenging single track we had both ever ridden, and this was just a small portion of what Moab had to offer.

Tuesday morning brought cloudy skies and cool temps, YEAH. We ate some grub and headed down to the Slickrock trail at the bottom of the mountain. The Slickrock trail is one of those 'must do' at Moab. It's unique because you basically ride on solid rock for about 2 hours. There are painted dashed lines on the rock leading you in the right direction so you don't ride circles in the never ending sea of rolling rocks. Honestly, I hate to say it, but I didn't care for this trail. With nothing around you it felt boring and even though there were some technical sections that kept your mind focused, it just seemed boring to me. So on we go...

Slickrock area

After the ride we went into town for a bit, grabbed breakfast at the Moab Diner then headed over to Milt's for a chocolate malt. We eyed the burgers they were cooking and decided we must come back to try them out. Oh yeah, the malt was excellent.

That evening we rode up from the campsite getting on the Kokepelli trail which is a double track (two bike widths wide, usually used for more than just biking). The trail is pretty easy and not to exciting especially when climbing up and up and up, BUT when you turn around and haul major butt all the way down it, the trail becomes super fun. It was about a mile or so of ultra fast (prob around 25-30mph average) dirt track with just enough terrain changes to keep you very focused. We decided that night to hit up the big route on Wednesday, so we rested up in preparation for that.

Wednesday morning we drove down into town to the PSB shop and caught the shuttle that takes you way up into the hills for the most epic ride possible in Moab.

The drive up was about 50min and ends in a nice meadow in Hazard County.

The start of the ride is on the Hazard trail, which consist of a short climb and then a very fast and technical single track that meets up to the Kokepelli trail. During this section I had a nasty fall that could've put me in the hospital with ease. I was leading Toby through a sea of aspens hauling the mail, prob around 20mph, when in mid turn my rear wheel caught an exposed root and whipped the bike out from under me. My momentum took me over the handle bars and nearly flung me into two large aspens that had broken bones written all over them. Luckily I missed the trees by a foot or so and landed rather softly in some bushes. After a quick inspection of the bike and my body, we took off riding again.

I noticed in the downhill section of the Kokepelli that something felt a little off on my bike, but I was unable to put a finger on what exactly was wrong. Once onto the UPS trail which turns into a very technical rocky section I kept having steering issues and every time I braked the bike would pull to the left. I was trying to keep up with Toby so my focus was mostly on the trail ahead of me, but after a couple near falls I began loosing my focus and ended up eating it bad on some rocks resulting in some nice cuts on bruises on both my left knee and right ankle. After I picked myself up off the ground I noticed what exactly was wrong with my bike. The front tire was going flat AND my steering angle had gotten tweaked in the fall up the hill in the aspens. That explained a lot! Since I was close to the campsite I walked the bike down the hill about 1/4mile to get things fixed up. After about 30min and fixing two flats (patched the tube but it didn't hold air), we got back on the trail once again.

At this point we were still on UPS trail and about 10min from the PRT start. I had lost all rhythm and was now going pretty slow which actually can be a bad thing in the rocks. Without some momentum the small drop-offs can be harsh on both the bike and body. Eventually I started getting my groove back and picked the pace back up.

There are a couple ways to describe the PRT. One is LONG. The other is BRUTAL. The rocks are pretty much 90% of the terrain, they range from small loose rock to large boulderisk sized, and in some sections you ride on solid rock with gaps that are big enough to roll down into, so you pretty much have to ride fast on those and let the bike soak up the bumps. This may not sound bad but believe me when I say it, those sections are hell on both the bike and your arms and legs! It's like riding over a sea of speed bumps, or like riding down a railroad track without rocks between each tie. It's just plain harsh.

The fun parts of the PRT are the short sections of larger rock that you must weave through usually followed by some drop offs. To better explain, the lenght of these sections are about 10-20ft, you drop down on average about 8-10ft total in that length, and that usually means you go downhill through rocks, then drop off a rock at the bottom onto the semi flat ground. Focus is the key in those sections. If you fall you are going to get hurt. There are probably around 20-25 of those in the top 3/4 of the PRT.

The trail then turns into single track and gets a little harder. As you enter the canyon area the rocks get bigger, the trial becomes much tighter, and the fall become much more serious. Basically put, if you fall to the right on this section you will more than likely end up in the hospital or 6ft under. The scary part of this section (other than the canyon down below), is the sand on top of the rocks. It's everywhere and makes things very slippery. Even the simple descents can be tricky because of the slippery terrain. There are a few sections that require walking the bike over obstacles, and a few sections that very qualified riders can conquer, but would surely result in injury to novice riders.

An example of a tough section of the trail. Yes, plenty of rides go through this with relative ease.
The bottom of the trail dumps you into the Colorado River canyon followed by a few mile ride on paved roads into town. Overall it took us 3hr and about 20min to complete. Take away our 30min stop to fix my bike and the 4-5 stops for water and pics, we might be able to complete it in 2hrs flat with some trail knowledge under our belts. The downside to riding it faster is the risk you take in falling at speed. Simply put, there are VERY FEW spots on the PRT that you can fall without hurting yourself. Rocks are not soft!

That night I took the evening off to let my tired and bruised body heal up. Toby rode a quick loop around the campsite before calling it a night. Thursday morning we heading down into town for the last time and hit up the PSB shop for advice on our last ride. They sent us to the Sovereign trail just north of town near Willow Springs. The trail is low altitude (4,000ft) and very technical, but not quite so harsh on the body and bike. It was definitely fun, but between my beat up body and Toby's rear hub going out on his bike, we made it into a short day and road for maybe an hour or so before calling it quits. I would definitely like to ride that entire trail system though.

Soooo, back in SLC, slept 11 hours last night. Bike is in shop getting rims trued (poor girl). Going to take the weekend off to recover and rest up...maybe. Later

The differences between SLC and Peoria

First off, the scenery is obviously much better here. With mountains on either side you always have a view here. The weather is quite a bit different here too. SLC is actually in a valley so down here they get little rain throughout spring/summer/fall averaging only 1in each month. The temps are hot averaging above 90 in both July and August, but the big difference is the strength of the sun. Winter average temps are highs around 40 while snow fall in the valley is about 60in per year. The Alta Ski resort averages around 500 inches of snow per year!

Sunshine, sunshine, and more sunshine. That's the story for 5 months out of the year here and it's wonderful. Knowing when you wake up that more than likely it'll be sunny out is very nice.

Lifestyle difference. SLC is a diverse city, and remember it is a big city. The center of the city, down in the valley seems to be the more average living with smaller houses and yards in a rather dense forest, but with smaller trees than in Peoria so they aren't so overpowering. The closer you get to the hills the fancier it becomes with houses easily soring over 1 million dollars each. The difference between home prices is also huge, with some house sizes doubling in price here over Peoria. For example, just down the street from my current living place, a ranch with 2500sq ft between both levels asking price is $350K. That same house in Peoria I would consider around 150-170K depending on the location.

While we're on the subject of money, there is quite a bit of it here, and I imagine many of them are doctors with 5 major hospitals here in SLC and millions of people to take care of. It's not uncommon to see many really nice cars (Porsche's and such) in a rather short drive along the hillsides. But with money also comes poverty, and there is plenty of that too here. It's been a long time since I've been asked for a few dollars for "food," but it's happened here twice in the 9 days I've been here.

On to the single biggest difference I've noticed about SLC compared to Peoria. The lifestyle people live here is incredibly different. When people get off of work they head outdoors. Bicycling, hiking, rock climbing, skiing, rafting, boating, you name it and someone is doing it. The weekends are crazy busy outside with cyclist everywhere on the roads in hundreds, and not just putting around neighborhoods, but riding dozens of dozens of miles a day and many riding over 100 miles a day for leisure and training for racing. Every hiking trail has all sorts of people on it and each well known rock climbing face usually has someone climbing up it. Before you say people go for walks in Peoria too, remember the difference now. A hike here can consist of walking up mountains for miles and in high altitude which compared to a practically flat walk at sea level, well it's a HUGE difference. To sum things up, people here embrace the outdoors like I've never seen before and it's wonderful to see.

Because of the active lifestyle of SLC'ers, they are noticeably healthier too. When you walk through the grocery store everyone seems fit. I guess I never really knew how unhealthy Peoria/midwest was until I came here. I saw the mayor of SLC on tv the other day and it was great to know that unless it's snowing out he rides his bike to work EVERY day with his suit on! That's just the type of people that live out west.

One thing that drove me nuts back home was when I asked someone "what's new," or "what did you do over the weekend," I always got the same boring answers which didn't conclude to much of anything. Out here it's completely different, in a much better sense. Friday evenings it seems like every camp site in the area is full of families that are staying the weekend. People take off on major hikes (multi day routes), go ski mountaineering (usually an all day activity)...etc. They don't sit at home wasting their lives away.

Ok, you probably get the point by now. I'm also getting tired of writing about this, so I'm ending it here. Here's a pic of what I did yesterday when I had 2 hours free before going to a movie (not what most midwesterners would do with 2 free hours):

Friday May 15th Adventures

Another beautiful day here in SLC, about 70 degrees and a little cloudy. Toby and I took off from the house back into Little Cottonwood canyon and met Future at some boulders to do some climbing. Time quickly went by and we eventually called it a day at lunch time. After a quick bite to eat we jumped on our bikes and headed up Millcreek to the Pipeline trail. I paid a little better attention to the odometer this time, and by the time we got back to the house is was right at 14 miles, and that's 1/2 uphill!!!

I was feeling really good today so after another quick bite to eat (gotta keep the body fed) I took off on a hike up the mountain behind the house. After one hour and five minutes I reached a good place to take a break and write in my journal for bit. It was such an amazing feeling sitting on the mountain, over looking Salt Lake City with Mount Olympus across the canyon to the south. I had to question why I have been living in the midwest for so long???

After a long hike down, which can be just as tiring when traversing loose rock and steep hills, I decided to take the evening off and relax. Taco salad again for dinner, man I'm hook on this stuff!

Here are some pics for ya:

A spider with a fresh catch


My cozy little writing spot


And one of the MANY piles of deer poop you come across while hiking

Getting skunked rock climbing style

Well this morning we were up early (7:30) and heading out the door to climb with Future in Little Cottonwood canyon where a section broke out of the mountain leaving and gnarly face to tackle.  From the road it look awesome, and as we approached through the trees it looked even better.  About half way up the hike Toby picked up on some bear tracks, another first for me!  Luckily the bear wasn't near by, or at least that we could tell.  When we got to the boulder that was the section that broke away from the mountain we were in awe at the state it settled in.  As it broke off, apparently in sections, the rocks collided and left a nice little passage between each other (see pics).  This offered a really cool spot to climb with the right gear, but unfortunately we didn't have that said gear with us today.

So a short bit more and we reached the opening and were staring at the massive face, a solid 100 yards long and a good 35-40ft tall at the climbing point.  There was a semi steep face that went up to a shelf that was somewhat manageable to walk on granted you kept your footing in mind.  Toby skimpered up that so he could take a look at the route that we were told existed on the far left of the face.  After looking for a couple minutes we realized there was no route!  A couple phone calls got us nowhere and we all looked at each other in amazement and disbelief wondering "what do we do now?"  We just hiked up this hill quite a ways through some nasty brush to have nothing to climb?  We hoped that maybe the route was on one of the sides just out of view, so we checked those out.  Nope.  Dang!

So down the hill we went, around the boulders, through the woods (this time we found a slight path that had been traveled recently), and eventually back to the cars to call it a morning.  Why not go somewhere else you ask?  The light was the main reason we headed up rather early, when the light is on the climber it's just not the perfect scenario, and for a climb like this we need the light to be perfect.  Oh well, this evening will have to do.

The gap between the fallen boulders, notice the size of the rocks compared to future climbing up into them:

The climbing face from the boulders:

Toby climbing up to the face:

Where the section was supposed to be:

...and the walk of shame...no climb this morning : (

More pics on my smugmug site under the "Climbing and Hiking/Hiking" section.  Since we didn't actually climb I figured it would be false advertising putting it in the climbing section.

Once home Toby and I ate some food like we usually do all the time, then rode out bike down to Tanner Park to check out the dirt jump scene.  It was slightly out of our league!  So we came back and both of us crashed.  I woke up when Toby was leaving to go bouldering with Future, and am now writing this before I go see Star Trek (can't believe in a million years I am going to a theater to watch Star Trek!).  Good night all.

My First Real Hike

Well, had some down time this afternoon and was feeling good so I took off from the house and headed UP!  There is a good size mountain directly behind us, not sure how tall it is, but it's up there far enough for a midwesterner like me.  To make a long story short the accent took a little more than an hour and about 40min to hike down.  The view is always breath taking (or maybe that was the altitude getting to my lungs), and it just makes you feel great to make it up to the top...well almost.  From the road the 'top' is not actually the top.  Once I got on the rocks that appeared to be the top of the mountain I found out it was far from it.  Probably another hour hike to make it all the way and not what I could handle this early on.  Here is a pic of me at the highest point I made it to.

The house is down there in the first neighborhood.  Trust me when I say it's a LONG ways down!

The actual top is this:

Picked up another hobby today!

So what do people do that want to rock climb but are scared to death of heights? They "Boulder." That's right, it's a sport of climbing these huge boulders. Some are only 8ft tall, some are 20ft. Some are easy, some are extremely difficult and offer an excellent challenge to even the most experienced climbers. Either way it's a lot of fun and a heck of a lot cheaper than actual rock climbing since you don't have to have all the gear associated with hanging off cliffs.
Anyways, today Toby and I went bouldering for a bit this morning. It was my first time, and I must say it was rather difficult, especially on my sensitive office working hands. The strength needed to hold your entire body by only your finger tips or stand on just the tip of your toes is far greater than expected. Here is a pic of the first boulder I climbed.

Here is a pic of Toby climbing up a more difficult boulder.

Getting Ready For Some Camping!

Got most all of my camping gear (don't ask how much it all cost). Been setting up/tearing down the tent so I can do it with my eyes closed some day. Here she is all setup in the back yard. I was going to sleep in it tonight, but since I've been drinking tons of water while getting used to the altitude I end up needing to get up at night about 3 times to hit the restroom!

Heading to MOAB!!!!

Well, tomorrow Tobias and I are taking off to Moab UT, which is known as one of the best mountain biking destinations in the US, if not THE BEST (EDIT: postponing the trip a couple days).  It's only 4 hours away which is nice, so we'll be able to ride tomorrow afternoon for sure.  The weather will be a little on the hot side, mid 80's which will feel like 100 because all of the rock and no shade, but if we don't go now we'd have to wait until fall.  

Took a drive around SLC today visiting bike shops.  The city is very packed in.  Small yards, tons of shops and restaurants, and people out everywhere.  One really nice thing about SLC is how the people are geared towards being outside and enjoying nature.  You see people riding their bikes all the time, and not just for leisure.  Many people ride to work, to stores, or out for lunch.  The atmosphere is also a lot more laid back and it shows in the way people talk to you.  So far I like it a lot more than the environment back in the midwest.  Another example; when people get off of work they rush home to head right back out the door to go cycling, rock climbing, hiking, skiing, anything to do with being active and outside.  Exactly the type of lifestyle I was looking for.  I can now see why Toby likes it here so much.

So after Moab I'm going to start camping here and there.  Not sure where the next trip is going to be.  The weather here is perfect right now so we may stick around and hit up the trails around here before it gets too hot.  Once mid June comes around, Toby has to start working again and I will plan a few week long trips to some other well known mtb areas.  Will keep you updated!

Another super day in SLC

Weather here is perfect this time of year.  Sunny and around 70, which feels more like high 70's because the altitude intensifies the sun's effect.  Toby and I rode to a nearby park in the morning, then went to I Street Trails which is a dirt jumping park.  See the pics on my smugmug page under MTB/Trail Pics.  Here's one of Toby going off a jump.

My body is tired, sore, trying to keep up with the activities but not doing so well.  I'm taking tomorrow off from riding and may go 'bouldering' with Toby which is like rock climbing but just on large boulders (10-15ft tall).  It's a way for people like me with a fear of heights to have some climbing fun.  

Short update

Still in SLC.  Been riding each day and it's kickin my butt.  In Peoria a ride is usually only 5-7 miles and not much in the way of hills.  Out here you start your ride by climbing up a mountain (not walking, but riding) and that is anywhere from 2 to 6 miles of uphill terror.  From that point you actually start the fun stuff.  I have been struggling to recover from each day's ride, so every day it's been harder and harder for me, and that doesn't include the altitude difference.  

Today we rode in Park City which is a beautiful town just 20min east of SLC.  The ride was a bit more mellow on the climb which was nice, but the rest was flat out fast.  By far the fastest single track I've ever ridden and way cool.  I did have my first fall today and even nicked the bike up a bit : ( along with some cuts and bruises on my right side which took the hit on some rocks.  That's riding for ya though.

Supposed to head down to Moab in a couple of days so I'm taking a few days off from anything crazy to hopefully get back to 100%.  

Few new pics on my site...see above post on how to find those.

Day 2 in SLC

Jeez, what a wuss I am. I woke up a little sore, especially my knee, so I threw on the brace before we took off for some more rock climbing with Toby, Mike, and "Future" from Dallas. Future is a young climbing, only out of high school for a year, but is already very well known for his crazy sick climbing abilities. When he came out to SLC for some climbing him and Toby hooked up to do some climbing and photographing for Future's sponsors. Needless to say these guys convinces me that they are crazy! Check out the pics of Future climbing this overhang, look for the little guy in blue shirt (more at my site).

I actually got a little bored of looking up and my neck was giving me hell too, so I wrote in my journal for about an hour on the side of the mountain while they put their lives on the line. I started to get a little hot from the scorching sun so I took a short hike up the mountain we were on. Another first, not the hike, but I came across some moose poop! It was like 30 large grapes in a pile : )

Got to see a neat little waterfall, but unfortunately my camera battery was flashing red so I didn't take it on my hike. Right before we left I took a self portrait overlooking the canyon we were in.

Once Matt got home from work we took off up the canyon road to ride the same trail I did the day before. Toby was being fairly nice to me knowing I wasn't in super shape, but Matt had none of that pity for me and was soon out of sight climbing the long accent. Needless to say as I sit here typing this my legs are sore! But I'm glad I pushed it because that is the only way I'll get in shape quick.

Next week we might head down to Moab if it doesn't hit 90 degrees, so I need to be ready for that.

I'm sore, tired, ready for bed...I'm out.

The first day!

Couldn't have been better. I got to SLC around 11:30, Toby and I took off to some local bike shops and a REI to look for some camping equip and biking shorts. When we got back we took off from the house up a canyon to hit a fun trail. The climb up the canyon wasn't so fun, about 5.5miles all uphill!!!! My butt was not ready for that, yet alone handling it in the altitude. At one point on the road a sign said 5,800ft and I tell you what, that makes a big difference especially for someone coming from ~400ft. Once we got on the trail it was pretty easy and fast. The trail basically runs alongside the mountain and slightly downhill, enough that I was on my large chain ring the entire time except one short uphill section. At the end of the trail there is an overlook of the city that offered a splendid view of SLC.

The downhill section was crazy fun! Had to ride the brakes basically the entire time and maneuver around lots of rocks. Definitely not like the short downhill sections back in Peoria.

After we got back home Toby, Matt, Mike, and I went rock climbing (ok, so I didn't actually climb but I watched). It was super cool seeing them scale up the rocks like I've never seen before, and these were considered easy!

Right before dark Toby tried climbing a more difficult rock but light quickly faded and he had to come down.

Another first was I saw a moose! It was just a baby, but none the less super cool. Even the baby was huge compared to the deer back home.

The drive west

Well, the day finally came. I left Wednesday May 6th at 3:30am from my friend Nick's house heading for Denver to stay at a family members house for the night. The drive was the longest I've ever done by myself, and actually the longest period. Total it took 14hrs 20min with 4 very quick stops for gas and lunch.

The drive itself is rather boring. I mean, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, and eastern Colorado can't get much worse than that. I was bored enough I took a bunch of pics while driving and posted them under the "Travel" section of my smugmug page (look at the links on this page for that site).

It was nice getting to Denver with plenty of light left. There was some decent overcast that hovered over the mountains, but in a few you can barely see them as I approached from the far side of Denver. The first time I actually saw them I was 88 miles from my destination which is a good 10 miles from the base of the mountains, so I could see them from app 100miles away! It sounds weird, but I got a little choked up when I first saw them. I felt like Clark Griswald when he saw Wally World in the first Vacation series movie.

The next morning I left at 4:40am for Salt Lake City Utah. The first hour or so was in the dark, but as I approached Cheyenne Wyoming the sun very quickly rose to light up the rather barren landscape. One cool thing was all the antelope I saw on this section of the trip. I guessed I saw close to 1,000 total in Colorado and Wyoming!

One thing I didn't realize was the altitude difference heading up into Wyoming. Denver is app 5,000ft and just 90miles north Cheyenne is around 7,360ft and the pass up to Laramie is approaching 8,000ft! The car definitely doesn't have the power at the altitude to make it up hills without downshifting, and it kills your gas mileage too!

After Laramie Wyoming becomes a high altitude desert offering very little to the eye, at least along highway 80. There were a few straight sections of road that seemed to disappear into the horizon, and it felt like nothing cruising at 90mph : )

Once I approached Utah the Wasatch mountain range showed it's snow covered caps in the distant. My excitement grew as I got closer and closer. The drive down into the valley to SLC was fun, a bunch of twisty roads that offered plenty of fun for enthusiastic drivers. Like many cities nestled away in the mountains, you basically come around a corner and there it is. The city is surrounded by mountains on both east and west that still hold some deep snow. You can't really see the Salt Lake unless you are on a hill, and the city seems to go off into the farthest stretches of your eyesight. Overall it's beautiful to look at. Lucky for me Toby's house is right at the entrance of 80 into the city and just 1/4mile off the highway!