Biking in Las Vegas and Hurricane, UT

I had to go to a trade show in Vegas this week with E. Martin so, of course, we took bikes. The weather has been so gross in SLC this winter that any chance I get to head out of town I find a way to take a bike. Hurricane, UT (which is about 15 mins from where my brother lives in Saint George) was in the mid 60's this week while SLC only got to about 40 and still either snowing or raining every couple days right now. While my yard still has 3 ft piles of snow on it - check out the below pics from the trails near Hurricane:

We rode a loop that consisted of Goulds, JEM and the Hurricane Rim trails. Combining these 3 make for about a 22 mile mtb ride. It took us about 2 1/2 hrs to complete but we ran into some nasty mud on Goulds near the end of it, stopped to take a few pictures, and I got a flat. You can find info on the trails we rode here: http://www.utahmountainbiking.com/trails/hurr-rim.htm

The two pics below are from the Hurricane Rim trail overlooking the Virgin River.

This is E. Martin and my old mtn bike:

Here I am with the Virgin River below:

After riding we were able to go by my brother's place on the way to Vegas to clean up a bit. We were a little late for the show on that day but still made it in plenty of time - probably due to Martin's speeding ticket on the way. We had left SLC early and were on the trail by 9:30 in the morning!

Wednesday we decided to go ride in Boulder City, NV at Bootleg Canyon before the show (http://www.bootlegcanyon.org/). This is where InterBike holds their outdoor trade show demo/events. We had never been there before but it was easy to find and the trails were pretty well marked. Here we didn't have that much time to ride but we were able to sample a couple trails. We rode up East Leg to Boyscout and got to the top of the mountain from Boyscout. From here we headed back down and turned off to ride Caldera. At the end of Caldera we were pressed for time so we just took the Girlscout trail back to the car. Girlscout was actually very fun to come down as it is very fast with great, sweeping turns. East leg and Boyscout were rocky with some technical bits and a great climb to the top of the mountain on the east side of Bootleg Canyon. The pics below are of me nearing the top of Boyscout trail. Total ride distance was just under 10 miles with some decent elevation.

Saint George Riding

We finally decided we had to get out of the snow! We headed down to Saint George over the weekend to visit Keith, Stacey and the boys. The weather was perfect - mid 60's all weekend and in the southern UT desert that feels like 80. We took the road bikes as I was a bit weary of how muddy the mtn bike trails might be. On Saturday Keith and I took off from his house and went across St. George to go climb Utah Hill. We did about 30 miles that ended with a good climb of about 1700 ft. I felt pretty good for most of the ride. My new rear cassette on my road bike definitely helped with the climbing (changed from a 11/23 to a 12/27). I did not eat enough that morning and was feeling a bit shaky by the time the girls caught us in Keith's expedition to pick us up to go play. We all went to a park not far from Keith's house and let the boys go crazy and run off some steam. Camden has so much fun running around chasing his older cousins and you can tell he just wants to be one of the big kids. That night we cooked up a seafood feast (yes - seafood in UT!) Keith and I picked up a bunch of Alaskan King Crab legs and a ton of shrimp to steam up for dinner. I think everyone was good and sick that night from bloating ourselves on seafood and butter!

The next morning Amy and I hooked the trailer up to my bike for Cam and the three of us went out for an 1 1/2 hour long ride all over St. George. Sunday morning is a great time to ride in UT as all the mormons are in church and the roads are quiet - at least until church lets out and then there is a mad dash to get home and read scripture. This is when you have to watch out as a cyclist. I've had some of my scariest moments riding by a church (which is on every corner in this state) as it is letting out. I guess they figure they don't have to pay any attention to the people coming towards them on a bike because they just keep pulling out in front of me.

I didn't even get the camera out on this weekend until we were packing to go home. Take a look at the few pics I did get. You can see quite the contrast in the weather from our snowed in house near Salt Lake to my brother's just 4 1/2 hrs away!

You can tell we are a family that stays fit. Take a look at how my brother keeps his boys fit. Doesn't give them batteries for their toys - they have to take turns pushing each other!!

Cam on the slide:

So, I have the most beautiful wife but for some reason getting her to let me take her picture is like pulling teeth. This is how 90% of the pictures I have of her look. What's ironic is that she'll go through our pictures later and say: "We never have any pictures of me." (go figure!)

Too Much Snow!!

We're just getting sick of the snow!!!

I never thought I would say those words. After all, it was the "Great Utah Powder" that got me to move here in the first place, but this year has seen the most snow I've ever witnessed in the valley. I've been in Utah now for almost 10 years and never remember there being this much snow in the valley. Typically the mountains get dumped on and we just get a light snow that disappears in just a few days. That's not the case this year. I've had piles of snow on my yard all winter and am having to clear the driveway every other day - seriously - we have gotten a considerable amount of snow every other day! I think we are all just getting sick of it. Usually a lot of snow would just mean more snow shoeing or skiing but that is sometimes hard to accomplish with a 2 year old, especially when the temps have been so cold and the sun is not shining.
We do still manage to get out of the house and play though. You've probably seen past posts of the little guy on his sled but this weekend when we got a break in the weather on Saturday we were motivated by Jill's blog from Alaska (http://arcticglass.blogspot.com/) and decided to do some winter biking (for little tikes). It was so much fun! I figured he had so much padding on and the snow was good and soft on either side of the sidewalk that I would just let him pick up his feet and go zooming down the hill. He loved it - I guess he's like his dad and has the need for speed!!




When the sun comes out after a snow, the mountains do look amazing. This is the view from our driveway looking up the street. (This is the mountain I can lay in bed and look at from our window as well).


Sunday we woke up to MORE SNOW!!!! That's how it has been. One day on, one day off. I need to get on my bike! I've transformed my old hard tail to a winter commuting bike and am going to hit the road this week no matter the weather! (Thanks for the inspiration Jill!!)



With the weather being windy, cold and snowy, we woke up this morning and played around the house in our PJ's. Amy and Cam did some coloring and we watched the snow come down sideways.



We are going to be headed to Momentum Climbing Gym in a little bit as I've started my Altitude Simulation Training and have to spend an hour a day there, five days a week. Not bad as we can also blow off some steam on the wall or a stationary bike. Later we have a Super Bowl party to go to so hopefully the snow will stop in a bit so the roads are not too bad. Here is a picture of my buddy Eric on the altitude simulator. Pretty cool concept and hopefully we can sell a few of these things to make this my full time job! Check out our website: http://www.io-usa.com/home