Map

Here is a link to the route.  Sorry, it would not embed.

The Southern Utah Route

Torry, Hanksville, White Canyon, Natural Bridges, Blanding, Bluff, Valley of the Gods, Moki Dugway, back to Natural Bridges, Hall's Crossing for a boat ride to Bullfrog, the Burr Trail to Boulder, then a huge climb back to Torrey.

Tour Of Southern Utah

 I'm going on a long ride next week, a tour of Southern Utah.  The route is not set but will definitely include Capitol Reef National Park.  I'm going fixed gear, ultra light, and rack-less; and I'll be looking for dirt roads.  I'll provide more details later.  Today I will get the bike ready and meet Josh and Kevin for the shake down ride.

Snow Day

I rode the river trail twice in less than 24 hours on Monday night and Tuesday morning.  No mud or snow all the way up to Spring Hollow.  Now look at it.

It's a good thing I have a fixed gear 'cross bike.  Snow ride tonight.

Work And Play

Patty and Lupine at the bottom of an avalanche chute, Glacier National Park.


Long road, tall mountains.


A wet death.


The whole famdamnly installing a camera on US 93, near Stevensville.

Montana's first animal overpass, near Evaro.

We Are Back

Montana was beautiful as usual.  The work was hard.  Glacier, what we saw of it, was like nothing I've ever seen.  Alpine.  I'll try to get some of our pictures up soon.  This will do for now.

I'm putting the lights on the bike and rolling up Logan canyon now.  More later.

I'm Sorry About The Lack Of Content

I have not been able to post much of late.  I've been a single parent for nearly two weeks.

I did ride the River Trail on Monday.  It's snow free most of the way up into Spring Hollow above Third Dam.  The trail is good and my legs are bad.  So are my lungs.

Last Friday, Greg and I did a fixed gear off road ride in dress pants and jeans.  No, I don't own a pair of dress pants.  We hit all the parks on our way up to Quail Hollow and the Water Lab.  Then we rode up the River Trail and came back through "The Tube."  Some day I'll post a picture of the tube.

I'm on my way to Montana this afternoon.  We are taking bicycles and going to Glacier for a day.  So, I'll try to post from the road and include some Montana pictures.

What Do You Think About This?

On the Right Track from Mayor Sam Adams on Vimeo.

Twitter Style

Yesterday I put derailleurs on the bike.  Today I took them right back off.


If you are driving a car, stopped at a 4-way stop sign, and I roll up and put my foot down, please don't wave me through the intersection.  You have the right-of-way, so take it.  See yesterday's post.


I played half court noon-basketball today, the first time since February.  My back hurts no worse now than it did this morning.  I'm not sayin' it doesn't hurt, it's just not any worse.  Live with it.

Tweet tweet.

To All The Nice Drivers In Logan (And The Rest Of The World)

What am I?  Bicyclist?  Pedestrian?  Ignorant?

Thank you for being nice.  Now stop that, and just follow the rules.  If my ass is on the saddle, I am not a pedestrian.  I'm a vehicle with all the rights and responsibilities of the road.  If you see a bicycle rolling through the crosswalk, just honk at them and throw you hands up and yell "WTF?"  What am I talking about?  Here we go: 

1. If you are are in a turn lane, turning right, and have a green light above your head, and I am in the oncoming left turn lane, please do not stop and wave me through the intersection.  This is really dangerous and really, really stupid.  The drivers to your left traveling through the intersection are not going to stop just because you did.  If you wave me through they are going to hit me.  Would you stop at a green light and wave a car through to turn left in front of you?  No.  And, the guy behind you is really getting upset.
2. If I am waiting at a 2-way stop sign to cross an intersection, please do not stop and wave me through.  The drivers in the oncoming lane going in the opposite direction are not going to stop.  If you wave me through, they are going to hit me.
3. That said, if I'm standing on my feet in a crosswalk, holding the bike (not riding it), then by all means, stop.  Good job.  That's the rule.

The solution to this problem is to make it illegal to ride a bike on sidewalks and through crosswalks.  Yeah, it will never happen.  Until then, let's just all follow the rules.  Ride you bike following the same rules you would when driving a car.  Would you drive your car through the crosswalk?  If you are driving a car, treat a person on their bike as if they were driving a car.  Rant over.

A Little More On Roubaix

It's interesting when a road race is not really a road race at all but a cyclocross race disguised as a road race and the bicycles are not really road bicycles at all but cyclocross bicycles disguised as road bicycles.

Finally, the pros realize that comfortable might just be faster.  Me, I'll always ride a cyclocross bike.  I'm old.  My back hurts.  I like bigger tires.  When I do show up for the occasional Tuesday road ride here in Logan, yes, I'm the dude on the cyclocross bike.  Comfortable.

Cancellara

Unbelievable.  This guy rode away from the wold's strongest riders with 50 km to go today at Paris-Roubaix.  And he didn't just dangle off the front, he put 3 minutes on them.  Unbelievable.

From VeloNews:
“What more could we do? We rode flat out,” said Hammond. “You saw people missing turns. They were doing that because they were knackered. Quickly he put one minute into the best in the world. After 10 minutes we knew we were racing for second. We gave it 15km of chasing, and then we knew. He’s on his own planet. He’s in a different league.”

Read more: http://velonews.competitor.com/2010/04/news/cancellara-cruises-to-roubaix-triumph_111357#ixzz0kpTDhyFN

Today's Ride

There are three things you have to do to be strong on the bicycle.  Ride your bicycle.  Ride your bicycle.  And, ride your bicycle.  It also helps to ride with people who are already strong on the bike.  Thanks for the ride today Kevin.

View Larger Map

One With The Bike

I am one with my bike, but this is crazy.  This is not my hand by the way.  Read the whole story here.

Tossed On The Fixie

Greg got tossed today
Sprinting for the Mendon sign
Onto head and back

It was not a pretty sight, watching a grown man and his fixed gear bicycle doing a flip in mid-air after unclipping a pedal at 25 miles per hour, and landing upside down on the yellow line, feet facing forward, saddle bent, bars scrapped, rear tire flat, and stars circling overhead.  Ouch.  Greg is one tough dude.


View Tossed in a larger map

A Short Florida Report

I'm back from my Florida trip.  It was my first Spring in Florida in over ten years, and it was absolutely beautiful.  Here is a short list of the natural wonders I observed:  yellow jessamine, wild azalea (R. canescens, picture above, thanks Jack), nesting swallow-tailed kites, spring-green new leaves, gopher tortoise, bald eagle, soft-shelled turtle, kinglets, blue birds, and Northern parula (picture at bottom, thanks, David).  Again, this is just a short list.

The Tour de G'ville went just fine.  I ignored my back and hip pain and just rode hard all day.  I even managed to stay at the front ("It's not a race, dumbass!").  65 miles (I did skip the Root Loop and Raiders) in about six hours or so of riding.  I got in one good training ride with the TT men before the event, so I think that helped.  Decades of base fitness trumps aerobic fitness every time.  After four hours or so, everyone is getting tired.  Yes, endurance riding is my strength, but I'll never give up cyclocross.