An eventful ride and change of scenery

My great and good friend, Chris, and I decided we wanted a little change of scenery, so we started scheming on stealing the car from Bridget and heading somewhere to get a nice change of pace. This morning we put the bikes on the rack (thanks in-laws!) and headed to Heber Valley. What a beautiful drive. For those of you who haven't been in Utah recently, we've had the rainiest June in Utah record, so all of our surroundings are green and gorgeous! Provo Canyon was amazing, and Heber Valley was the same.

Here we are on our way to Heber... don't those bikes look sexy?

We went for a short, but enjoyable ride. Along our route we passed through Midway. Midway is a small, beautiful, Swiss themed towne (yes, it earned towne with an "e"... it's that cool). We enjoyed plentiful sunshine, empty roads and awesome scenery.
One of the highlights of the ride was passing by the Heber Valley Airport. Check out the video below to get a little glimpse into our ride and what we saw!

I hope you enjoyed having some video and seeing what our ride was like. Chris was stoked on the planes. Me too... I've always loved WWII era aircraft! Wish you were here!!

Miles that flew by: 17.7

Rain and a pinch flat...

After riding with my brother, I was looking forward to going out and pushing myself really hard on the roads. I conveniently ran into an old buddy (David Paul) from my freshman year at BYU. He works at BYU's "Outdoors Unlimited" store and I saw him when we dropped Dale's rental bike. We got to talking, and it turns out that he is doing the LOTOJA this September. He's been doing a lot of training rides, and best of all, he has a lot of variety in his training routes. We made plans, and solidified going for a ride down to the mouth of Spanish Fork Canyon, then coming back and going up Hobble Creek Canyon. I was excited to get some variety!
We left at about 8:30 and headed off with clouds looming in the distance. By the time we made it to Springville, the rain was coming down enough that the water on the road was spraying from my tire onto my butt. That was miserable.
We kept riding and pushing hard. We were having a great ride and keeping a good pace... then it happened. David called ahead to me... he had a flat. We assume he had a pinch flat. Luckily, we have a bike rack on my car, so I called Bridget to come pick us both up.

This is what we looked like riding in the rain...

At least we weren't like these fools in the 2005 LOTOJA. Yeah, it snowed on these gangstas on the 10th of September... they had no clue what they were getting into...

We made it home, wet but safe. Looks like we'll have to go on another ride.

Miles ridden before going flat: about 9

Bike rides with my Brosef...

So, my brother (or my brosef as I call him) drove down from Washington to check out the aviation school that I am going to because he is probably going to transfer down to attend with me! That is really exciting, and equally exciting is his desire to pursue bike riding to get out to school (just like me!) and also to get into shape. He's been riding a ghetto mountain bike back in Washington, but I told him we had to try out a road bike when he came down. So, we went to BYU's "Outdoor's Unlimited" shop and rented a road bike for $33 dollars for 24 hours. That's dang good! We went out to the airport yesterday so I could show him my ride out to school that he will be taking this fall. Then we went out early this morning and rode up to Bridal Veil Falls. We even took a picture on my cell phone to prove it! Dale did great for not being in "biking shape" and coming to our high altitude (about 4600 ft.). I can see biking being a great thing for him.

It was a blast showing him around on a bike. It was a lot of fun showing him how to get used to a road bike. He could really see and feel the difference of a road as compared to a mountain bike. I even taught him how to get on and off a bike so can get on his bike more effeciently. Standing on the left side, you put your left foot on the left pedal, push and then swing your right foot over. Pretty cool.
Here we are at Bridal Veil Falls this morning.

This is the bike Dale rented from BYU's store. It's freakin' nicer than mine!! Not fair!

Total miles ridden with my brosef: 19.2

Cross training and "The Lost Ride"

Sorry, no pictures today. If you are dependent on pictures in the blogs you read, fall asleep now. You'll miss some good stories though.

Let's start with cross training. I grew up swimming competitively for 13 years. I was good, but never good enough to make it to state champs or anything that high up. I always kick myself looking back, wishing I would have cross trained to increase my strength and stamina. It would have improved my performance so much! Merely swimming was not enough to get to where I would have liked to be.

This brings me to biking. I am getting to the point to where I want to be able to do "suicide rides" without feeling like I'm going to suffocate. I was reading my cousin's wife's blog, and she mentioned cross training in one of her posts. I immediately thought "doh!!". Why didn't that occur to me sooner. That is really the key to improving my performance and getting to where I want to be conditioning and strength wise.

I just so happen to have a Gold's Gym membership. My relationship with Gold's has been an on again, off again affair. Recently if has been "off again" due to my extensive bike riding. I have a friend, though, who goes frequently to lift weights. Dan Talley, this friend of mine, has been my recent motivation to cross train, mainly because I don't have the cajones to go lift by myself. He is a good mentor and willing to teach me the ropes, seeing that it has been years since I've lifted free weights and that my experience prior to that is marginal at best. We had a good time lifting and I headed home with what I like to call "jell-o arms". This was tuesday.

Fast forward to thursday. I was definitely feeling the pain from lifting tuesday. Mostly my pecs and triceps hurt the most. I had previously decided to go for a ride with Chris, of previous blogging fame. We left my place at 9:00 and talked about the route we would take. We decided we were tired of the same old ride, and that we needed some variety in our riding diet. Time to explore some new pavement... and that we did. Chris knew the general route we would take, but we decided that we wanted to incorporate the Provo airport into our ride, as well as a route to West Springville. Not exactly routes that incorporate well into each other. No direct routes exist between these two points except I-15. Yeah, not even going there.

We started our ride on 3rd south in Provo, and rode up a hill into some residential neighborhoods. After that hill we decided that this ride would be a flat one if we could help it. We ended up riding through some industrial areas to get to West Springville. I was surprised that it was actually a nice ride. Once there we took SR-77 about 3/4's of the way to Lake Shore. We turned around and got back to the freeway and followed a frontage road. From there we got kind of lost trying to find our way back to Provo so we could make it to the airport. We ended up guessing how to get under the freeway to make it to the airport. We ended up stumbling upon an underpass and meandering through the East Bay area towards the airport. From there we knew where we were going, but it was interesting to follow random paths and take a break from the usual.

By the time we made it back to my place, we were only 1.8 miles from reaching 40 miles total, so we kept going and circled back so that our total miles ridden was 40 miles exactly. I am finding that I really like riding with Chris because he doesn't give up easily. We just keep going until we can't anymore, whether it's because of fatigue or our schedule.

In the end, Chris and I decided that there was no way to replicate our exact ride. We took so many weird turns and got lost a couple of times. We also had a good time just talking about life and it's complexities... from gay marriage, school, family life all the way to the Surf n' Slurp sno-cone shack. It was nice to have some conversation thrown in there.

Miles spent lost: 40.0

Some new gear for my new year!

My birthday was this last friday, and it was a biking birthday. Since this has become my new passion, it was no surprise that most of my presents were biking related. Let's do a quick update on what is new to my bike.
This is my new bike seat, courtesy of my in-laws. It's nicer to my bum that my last seat. I enjoy the long rides a lot more now! Thanks Alan and Leslie!

This is a picture of what my new pedals look like, courtesy of my parents. Thanks mom and dad! I went for my first ride with them this morning, and I loved it!

This is a picture of my new biking shoes that go along with my new clipless pedals. They're stiff, light and keep the airflow going. Thanks to mom and dad again!

I also got a new jersey with some of the b-day money I got. I like it a lot! If you can read it, it says "Mad Dog Cycles" on it. Mad Dogs is where I get all of my gear... everything I have comes from there. My mom even ordered my pedals and shoes from there. The bike shop is only two blocks from our house, so it is super convenient too! Tim, one of the Managers there even gave me 20% off the jersey. He hooks me up. Thanks Tim!
Bridget also got me some new bike shorts, as you can see me wearing in this picture. They're super padded in the saddle area, and VERY comfortable. They make a huge difference in how comfortable my ride is! Thanks Bridgie!

I went for a ride with all of my new gear this morning and had a great ride. I just went to Vivian Park and back, but despite how short the ride was, I noticed a difference in how comfortable my ride was. The pedals and shoes definitely transfer more power to the road. I love my new set up! Thanks family and friends for your great gifts!

Miles logged with my new gear: 22.8

The Suicide Ride

Sorry that I missed Tuesday. I planned on going on an awesome ride and catching some nice pictures to stick on the blog, but my legs had other plans. Follow me on a journey that you would never want to take on your bike...
So there I was on my usual ride up 9th east past the MTC and I think to myself "let's take a different route to get out to the Provo River Trail." So, I turned left at the MTC and head up the hill. That is a pretty dang good hill there by the temple, let me tell you! I got to the top and decided it was time to stretch the ole' legs...more of an excuse to catch my breath really. Yes, I have no shame.
I continued on through the residential neighborhoods above the temple... they call it "Indian Hills" because all the street names are indian names. There is a bike lane and some smallish hills along the way. Then there is a monster of a hill... I'm talking "make your car feel puney and want to pull over and rest" steep. Luckily it wasn't long, and I toughed it out and kept going. I managed to pedal my sorry carcass through the rest of Provo's Foothill Drive. Here's the kicker. (oh man, I KNOW mom won't like this!) Toward the end of Foothill Drive is a Ginormous hill (yes, Gigantic and Enormous... all put together) that goes down to meet up with Canyon road. I was able to rest on the way down, all while doing 40 mph. Yeah, and I wasn't even trying... no pedaling or anything. Well, let's just say I was all tuckered out. I just so happened to see my three buddies riding by on Canyon road heading back home from the canyon, so I folded and followed them home. I told them about the torture I just suffered, and called it good.

Here is a view from the highest point in the Indian Hills. A view of the valley and the lake.

This takes us to today. My buddy Chris and I leave for our ride, and we ecide to play it chill up ninth east. It's not hard to bike up the slight incline, but we know we're going far. We decide to stretch by the MTC to keep our muscles happy during the ride. As we get back in the saddle and get going, Chris has a stroke of genius. "Let's commit suicide". Okay, his actual words were "Hey, show me that ride you took tuesday." Yeah, I tried to tell him no, but he kept saying it wouldn't that bad. So we took the right turn just past the MTC and went up on the north side of the temple. Another breath buster. Then we procede to follow the same torture I went through Tuesday.
Okay, now let me lay some explanation down. I am really bad a pacing myself. I think it come from my days of competitive swimming. I could never figure out how to save energy for the end of the race, thus I excelled at the sprints. Well, same case for biking. Today wasn't nearly as bad as Tuesday because I paced myself. It still gave my legs the shakes, but I wasn't gasping like a fish out of water.
Lest you think I might be saying you were slowing me down Chris, you're wrong! You know how to pace... I don't. The proof comes later in the post.
So Chris and I got to the same hill before mentioned, and this time I hit 42 mph. Yeah, kinda scarey. Rest assured mom and other worried peeps, there is a very daunting ride keeping me from going down that hill.
Chris and I kept on going on the usual route after the suicide ride. We took advantage of a photo-op at Bridal Veil Falls.

Chris and I at Bridal Veil. I think we should trade bikes or jerseys so we can be color coordinated.

By the time we got to Vivian Park I was thinking to myself "well, I am sure Chris is tired, and I don't really want to go up South Fork...Let's go home." Yeah, fist words out of Chris' mouth? "We're doing South Fork, right?" My response? "You know it brother..." Was there any hint of despair in my voice? Absolutely not... Chris wouldn't even have known of my plans if I didn't have this blog... why do I feel like I have to spill my biking guts to the whole world?
We had a great remainder of the ride. We kicked butt and got a good workout. I continue to love riding my bike. It keeps me active, get's me out and helps me to know that I can do hard things. Now I just have to know if I can survive Chris and his drive. He's catching up quick!
Miles barely survived: about 33