As the date of my surgery quickly approaches the long list of things I need to get done beforehand continues to grow. Although I could definitely keep myself busy with these endless tasks, I’m also trying to make sure I make time for some fun too.
Last weekend Jason and I squished in a lot of recreation! We went boating on Utah Lake with Cam, Fran, Jim, and Cindy. Cam and Fran bought a new boat and we were more than happy to let them show it off to us. Jas did a little wake boarding and I got to demonstrate my minimal knee boarding skills. Jas, Cam, and Jim took a couple spins on the tube together. Those three large men sandwiched together on one tube looked absolutely ridiculous, but they seemed to rather enjoy it (silly boys).
Although we were burnt (very burnt in my case), tired, and sore after boating we weren’t ready to stop. We played our usual Saturday soccer game and I couldn’t let the whole weekend go by without doing some mountain biking.
We decided to go up American Fork Canyon and bike from Tibble Fork Reservoir to Silver Lake. Aaron, our biking buddy, joined us. Those of you who have journeyed between these reservoirs know that the ride is a very steep one. We opted to go on the horse trail heading up to Silver Lake instead of taking the dirt road. This turned out to be a very bad idea. The dirt on the horse trail was extremely loose due to the equestrian traffic. This, combined with the steepness of the slope, made most of the trail impossible to travel on a bike. We ended up hiking-a-bike through the majority of it. The boys were a little disgruntled by what they termed a “Rachel trail”. So half way up we decided to abandon the trail and continue on the dirt road. The rest of the climb went much faster.
I wouldn’t recommend that horse trail to anyone riding a bike. The dirt road is a much better option. There’s not much traffic on it and personally I am always in favor of pedaling, rather than pushing, my bike up the mountain.
We took the Old Sheep trail coming back down. This single-track trail proved to be a lot of fun and worth the miserable uphill experience.
Aaron has become one of our regular biking companions. He’s tolerated the “Rachel trails” very well even though he has been riding the old Trek 800 I got for my 16th birthday. I think he probably got twice the workout we did dragging that heavy contraption up to Silver Lake. Way to go Aaron!
Yesterday we were ready to hit the trails again for one final ride before surgery puts an end to my biking season. This time we went to Sundance Resort. It was awesome! Except for the part where we got lost on the wrong side of the mountain due to some poorly marked trails. That wasn’t so cool. But otherwise, it was a nice final day of riding for me.
I would recommend Sundance for those who like to do technical biking without the whole strenuous climbing up a mountain thing, since lifts take you and your bike to the top of the mountain, there is relatively little uphill biking required. It’s funny how many mountain bikers don’t actually like biking up mountains. I enjoy having to work for my downhill, but if you don’t, Sundance might be the perfect biking spot for you.