Stories From Behind the Handlebars

Tour de St. George: Fall

2010-10-18T08:24:00.000-07:00

Okay, it's been forever since I've updated this blog. I think it is due mostly to the fact that I've lost the blogging bug. Anyway, I've been training all summer long with friends Mike and Cody Smith (they're brothers) and my brother Dale. We've had one goal in mind... the Tour de St. George Century ride. Here's a map of the course that we rode!

Fall Tour de St George Century 2010
Find more Bike Rides in St George, Utah

There will be more pictures and videos, as well as a better narrative to come in a short while, but in the mean time, enjoy this map of the course. Those who are more familiar with the St. George are will appreciate this more than those unfamiliar. In the top right corner you can also see a profile of the elevation. It was quite the accomplishment, and we are all so glad we did it!! We're looking forward to our next century ride... some of us sooner than others, others are willing to wait. :)

Back in Utah!

2010-06-14T12:26:00.000-07:00

My wife and I have finally returned from Houston's rough, pot-hole filled and traffic laden streets to the sweet, wide and vertically challenging roads of Utah County. We couldn't be happier to be back to our riding friends and enjoying the beautiful biking weather, panoramas and friendly streets Utah has to offer.

Before getting to the meat of this post, I'd better do a little ride-reporting. We've only been home since Friday, June 4th. The 5th was my 24th birthday, so I decided that even though I'd only been at 4500 ft. from sea-level for only 28 hours, I would go on a 24 mile bike ride to commemorate the occasion. I was excited, and enlisted the companionship of good bike riding buddy, Mike Smith. He just so happens to hold some fame on this blog. We met at 7 a.m. with another member of our BYU church congregation (Rand) to soak in the cloudless sky. Since my body was not in climbing shape, I decided to show them the joy of riding flat terrain like I'd been accustomed to in Houston... and also because I knew I couldn't survive any uphill offering Utah had to give. We departed, and I planned to turn around at the 12 mile mark to commemorate my big day... after all, I only prepared for such a ride... one bottle of water, no fuel... and way to much slacking off over the previous 6 months. Mike and Rand planned on flexing their muscles to an impressive 40 miles. After only a few miles, it was painfully apparent that my lungs weren't used to the lower content oxygen, but the ride was flat enough to allow me to keep pace with the altitude adapted riders of the group. We enjoyed ourselves, and I liked showing the others a new route they'd never been on before.

After 12 miles, I decided I could go a little further... but not for long. I soon told Mike and Rand I was turning around, only to decide a split second later that I could make it the rest of the way... 8 additional miles each way never killed anyone, right? Wrong! Long ride short, I got home feeling like my body had aged 16 years on my ride, to bring me to a grand total of 40 miles... bad idea. I "bonked"when I got home, or my energy stores hit rock bottom, and I had to enlist the help of my wife to whip up a quick protein shake to help me out.

Having learned my lesson, I went on a mellow ride with Brooke and Roger Barnhart (of Labor Daybor fame) and my wife on Wednesday up Provo Canyon, and a ride this morning back up to Vivian Park with Mike Smith. I can tell my lungs/body is slowly getting acclimated to the altitude, but wish that the process would go faster! For now, I'm being patient and pushing my body to healthy limits.

Now, on to the meat. I have recently been thinking about the caliber of riding that Northern Utah has to offer. I recently had a conversation with my good friend/riding buddy Chris (of much "Behind the Handlebars" fame). We sat down for an amazing lunch in Seattle, and discussed our Utah riding days. He commented on how much he missed it, mainly because the Seattle offerings weren't what he hoped or expected. I commented on the horrendous nature of riding in Houston. We concluded that we'd never ridden anywhere that beat some of our Utah rides. Now, I must admit I have ridden few other places, but I personally think that "Nor-tah" has some of the finest road cycling there is to offer. Let me attempt to prove my point in a photo-journalistic fashion, describing what I feel each picture exhibits about Utah road riding...

Dry, arid, curvy, red rocks.

Bodies of water, mountains, blue sky, fall colors, riding trail.

Aspens, steep climbs, country roads,fresh mountain air.

Steep climbs, great rides in close proximity to civilization.

Steep Climbs, wide roads, smooth roads, clean roads.

Farmland scenery, country roads, varying terrain.

Farmland scenery, stunning backdrops, animals, varying terrain.

Stunning backdrops, mountainous scenery, vegetation, steep climbs, challenging terrain.

Same as above. :)

Stunning backdrops, vegetation, varying terrain, farmland scenery, mountainous scenery.

Of course the only true way to know what I am saying is to come experience it for yourself! Breathing the fresh (albeit thin) air for yourself, seeing the sites in person, suffering the hills, enjoying the flats, appreciating the scenery... all must done for yourself to experience the joy that is "Nor-tah" riding. Please feel free to add anything you think I left out that Nor-tah has to offer to road riders.

Miles since "Back in Utah!": About 110

Bike Article and a Promise...

2010-05-11T07:00:00.000-07:00

So, it's been a while. Lets not talk about it, it's way too painful. Lets you an I just focus on the future. I have big plans, but before I can get back to Utah in two or three weeks and really start to throw down some good mileage, I thought I would share this article.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/05/11/bicycle.wars/index.html?hpt=C2

Also, I promise you, my loyal readers (you must be if you're actually reading this!) that you will see me logging miles on here soon... hopefully some serious mileage. Until then, Share The Road.

Miles logged since my Labor Daybor ride: Countless, but not enough.

The '09 "Labor Daybor" Ride...

2009-09-08T09:58:00.000-07:00

The past week has been a blast when it comes to rides. I think I have mentioned my friend, Roger Barnhart, and that we have a common love for cycling. Him and his wife just so happen to be from Eastern Washington also (Wenatchee and Stehekin to be exact), and they are in our ward. They've been gone all summer, and now that they're back, we've been excited to catch back up with them and to take advantage of some great riding. This last Thursday Roger and I went for a ride and had a great time. I tried to best my P.R. up South Fork (17:30), but was only successful in tying my time. We had a great time and talked about other rides we could go on. With the labor day weekend, we decided that all four of us would go for a ride and enjoy the beauty of biking together.

We decided to do the loop around West Mountain. I've ridden around it before, but this time we drove out to a church parking-lot in Benjamin (SMALL town... not even really a town... west of Spanish Fork). That cut about 30 miles or so off our total ride, which would've been great, but we just wanted to go for a nice, leisurely "Labor Daybor" ride. We enjoyed some beautiful weather and favorable conditions. We even have a nice picture that Roger took to prove we did it!

Me, Bridgie, Brooke and Roger Barnhart

We definitely had a blast and look forward to doing rides this fall. The weather is beautiful, and the roads are calling our names!

Labor Daybor Miles: 31.6

A grueling day after a long break...

2009-09-01T14:20:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the lack of blog posts recently. I know there are many of you out there hanging off the edge of your seats waiting to hear of my latest rides. Unfortunately, for those following my every move (I know you're out there), I've been on so many dang rides since my last post, that there is no way I could post about them all. Let me just make a quick list of places I've been since the last post.

1. Washington State (3 rides)

2. Ride around West Mtn. (south end of Utah lake)

3. Up to Highland a couple of times.

4. Up Provo Canyon a few times.

5. Down to Spanish Fork

6. Past Spanish Fork to Woodland Hills

7. Down to Utah Lake a few times to the Am. Fork/Pleasant Grove overpass.

There you are.

Now, on to today. I left with the intention of going on a long ride because I was by myself, and along the way I talked myself into retracing the Suncrest ride. Yes, I talked myself into torture without the help of my good friend Chris. usually he talks me into punishing my body.

I have to include some funny stories from my ride. One habit I have adopted is to wave to all of the other riders I see. I even try to fight away my silly pride and wave to the peeps on their beater Wal-Mart bikes (due to some misconceptions as to what this means, let me explain that this means people in plain clothes riding squeeky/rusty bikes who couldn't care less if I wave at them or not). Well, today I was at a stop light, and I could see a hard-core rider behind some cars on the opposite side of the light. I got ready to wave to him as the light turned green. I was standing up off my seat while pedaling, thus having all of my weight balanced on my handlebars. I took my right hand off my bars to wave, but the bike swerved from the mis-balanced grip I had. Of course I swerved, fell forward on my bike, and barely caught myself before eating my handle bars. I looked dumb, let's just leave it at that. I shot the dude a toothy grin and a chuckle, and he chuckled back and waved... without faltering an inch. Good thing we were going opposite directions.

The Draper Temple on my ride today. Proof that I really did the ride. Beautiful morning!

My second funny story was toward the end of my ride. I stopped and an old mission companion's house to say hi and get some water. No one was home, which made me sad, because I wanted to see their new baby... and I was REALLY thirsty and out of water. Well, right by their front porch was a spigot with a hose attached. I took the hose off and filled up my water bottle with water. I called my buddy and left a message saying something to the effect of "hey, I missed you guys. I am going to get some water out of your faucet here. I hope it's good water, because if not and I die, it's your fault." I went on my way glad I had water. In fact, by the time I got home, I was all out of water again. I cam into the house, literally collapsed on the bed and tried to recover from my killer ride that I'd accomplished in 3 hours and 45 minutes. I saw that I had a message on my phone from this friend. He said something to the effect of "Hey Smitty, I wouldn't drink that water. It won't kill you, but I've had it before and my cup was full of nasty stuff. I just dumped it in the grass. Let's chill soon. Bye." Oops! Well, I'm still alive... barely. My muscles are super tired and sore, but I hope that rides like this will make them stronger.

Miles ridden feeling foolish: 64.7

A little Entertainment...

2009-08-25T22:05:00.000-07:00

This is my apology for not posting for such a long time... more goodies to come!

The Suncrest Ride...Part 1.

2009-07-15T11:15:00.000-07:00

So, Chris and I have completed what I would consider our first "hard" ride. "Hard" is such relative term. We have been on rides with hard aspects to them... a ride with a hard hill, or a really long ride. But all of these rides have one thing in common... they are either short in nature, or flat.

I will put up another post on this particular ride, but with video and pictures. Yesterday will be a day to remember. Chris and I pushed the envelope like we never have before. We were sure to pack plenty of water, Gatorade, and Cliff bars to keep us fueled. We had two water stops also, where we could fill up and keep moving.

Chris and I left his place at 8:00 in the morning. We had mapped out our ride (or rather, Chris had) and he knew the way to get us to the beginning of our main climb. I've included a link to our map so that those of you familiar with Utah can get a mental picture of our ride. Please take a peek to get an idea of our ride. See the loop that we made around a sparsely populated area on a curvy road? That was the monster hill that we conquered that is known as Suncrest. The name comes from the Housing development that is on top of the mountain.

We killed ourselves up the hill! If you are savvy enough, you can look at a view of the vertical that we did on my map. It was definitely not for the faint of heart! I remember being right by the Mt. Timpanogos temple and staring at those bald mountains right above Alpine and thinking "I'm dead". But then I came around a corner and got a view of the hill we'd be climbing. I wasn't so worried anymore. For those familiar with Utah, you know that the Point of the mountain doesn't look that bad, but try telling that to Chris and I as we were climbing up the hill! It was a long hill... probably about 3 or 3.5 miles. It was super nice to coast down the SLC side though. Chris and I ripped down the hill and cruised back to Provo in record time. I'm still feeling the effects of the ride as of 4:30 p.m. wednesday, and I am sure Chris is too. Fatigue and soreness are a part of life after super long rides.

Miles ridden over the river and through the woods: 65.3

Hours in the saddle: 4.25

A ride on a whim...

2009-07-11T06:34:00.000-07:00

Yesterday (Friday) Bridget left early to go on a ride with a couple of girls from our ward. i was left alone at home trying to decide if I wanted to go one a ride. We have both been on ride together and separately this week, which I haven't had time to blog recently. Here is a pic from our Tuesday adventure.

L-R Chris, Mike Bridget and me at the end of the Hobble Creek trail

So anywho, there I was sitting in bed trying to drag my bum out of the bed, and I decided that I wanted to do another new ride. This brings me to a side note. Cycling is bringing out the adventurer in me. I am no longer content with the same ride over and over again. I need some variety. Pretty soon we'll be taking road trips to great places like Washington, St. George, and Vegas. On my wish list right now is Nor-Cal... don't know if we'll have time for that though.
So, back to my bed. I decided to ride to the mouth of American Fork Canyon because it is one of my goals to ride the Alpine Loop this year, and I'll have to know how to navigate from my place to the start of the loop. I had an eventful ride (for me at least), and enjoyed the change in scenery. What is a good ride without getting lost during part of it? Yeah, I did, but no worries... I found my way. Luckily I'm in Utah, or else would still be lost... thank you grid system!
Once I got to the mouth of the canyon in Cedar Hills, I decided to extend my ride to go say hi to my Bishop and his family, who just moved to Lehi (just east of Thanksgiving Point). I showed up and they entreated me... they're so kind! After a chat, some ice-water and a quick glance at the map, I headed home. I had a gorgeous ride home on Lone Peak Blvd, passing the Mt. Timpanogos Temple. The Blvd was long, straight and had a slight decline... exactlly what I needed! It was a fun cruiser. I made it home tired and spent, but I loved the ride. I love getting out on the road and pushing myself, seeing new places, and even occasionally getting lost.
I have used a website called mapmyride.com that helps to find routes for rides. This time, I mapped out my ride, so you click HERE to see my exact ride that I took. Let me know what you think!

Miles on a whim: 45.4 (45.7 according to mapmyride.com)

My favorite new biker...

2009-07-03T23:03:00.001-07:00

When I came back from my Heber ride last monday, Bridget had gone on a bike ride up to Vivian Park and back on her own volition. I was super proud of her. She mentioned that, after 6 months of me trying to convince her, she was willing to go check out a road bike. That evening we went by our favorite bike store... None other than Mad-Dog's! We found a smokin' deal, a good entry level bike, and sold her "old" bike the next day to someone who put it to great use! Selling her old bike helped us pay for a more than 1/3rd of her new bike.

Here she is with her new ride! Check out her Jersey too!

We went for a ride on wednesday, and the weather was great for a quick jaunt to Vivian Park and back. We took the quenticential picture by Bridal Veil Falls. (don't tell her I told you, but she experienced her first 'I got stuck in my pedals and fell over' spill right before we took this picture) :) It happens to everyone!

Bridgie and I in front of Bridal Veil

All in all, we had a great ride! I am excited to have Bridget experience some stories behind the handlebars with me!

Miles with Bridgie: 22.8

Hell's Hill and Humidity...

2009-07-03T22:31:00.001-07:00

So, Chris and I took a short hiatus from long rides for a while there. We heard the long road calling our names, so off we went on a ride we'd never been on before. We headed to the Spanish Fork windmills at the mouth of Spanish Fork Canyon. It was a nice ride, but it got windy as we got close to the Canyon. Headwind = no fun. I hate wind!
We were super close to one of my friend's house, so we stopped by real quick to say hi. As we left his place, Chris came up with another of his genius ideas... here's how it went.

"Dude!"
...me thinking something was wrong..."What?!"
"See that hill on the other side of the golf course? We're going to do that hill right now..."
...I examined the hill with horror. Even from a distance I could tell Chris was trying to kill me. Trying to sound cool and confident..."but we still need to ride back home. What time do you have to be home?" I was hoping he'd realize he needed to get home soon.
"I have time bro."
...DANGIT!..."let's do it bro!"...secretly thinking 'I hate my life'...

We found our way over to the road and felt the burn from the start, but nothing prepared us for the final hill, what Chris came to call "Hell's Hill". Below is a pic of Chris on the "melow" part that I thought was hard. I had no idea how easy that part was...

Here is Chris conquering his way up to Hell's Hill... CLICK on the pic to get an idea of how steep this is!

Here is another view of the Hell's Hill. Hopefully you're getting an idea of how steep it is.

As we got to the base of Hell's Hill, I was convinced I was done. I was already dying. When I saw the final hill, I yelled "NOOOOO!!!". Chris pressed on though. "You can do it dude! Follow me!" He just pushed on, that jerk! I just couldn't let my dogg down, so I followed. When we got to the top, we made this video...

After our hill climb, we were straight up out of water. We stopped at a Chevron gas station to 'fuel up'. We had no cash, but a super nice dude gave us $5, so we filled our water bottles with gatorade and bought two granola bars. Thanks Good Samaritan Man!
We headed back to Provo via Mapleton. We detoured up Hobble Creek canyon just to put the cherry on top of our long and hilly Sundae. It was SOOO humid in the canyon! I felt like I was in Florida! I couldn't believe I was in Utah. Weird monsoonal weather! Anywho, the trail up Hobble Creek Canyon rocks! We'll definitely revisit, that's for sure.
It was a great ride. We finished it off with a protein shake and stretching sesh at my place. Chris and me add whole oats to our shakes, saying that all the carbs and whole grain would help us 'recover faster'. We were rolling on the floor laughing as we tried to swallow the bottoms of our shake. It was the consistancy of sand!
I would never give up these memories or biking! It is teaching me I can do hard things, and have fun at the same time.

Windy, Hellish, Humid miles: 40.3

An eventful ride and change of scenery

2009-06-29T21:16:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-06-26T09:15:00.001-07:00

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...

2009-06-24T09:19:00.000-07:00

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"

2009-06-12T09:53:00.001-07:00

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!

2009-06-09T10:44:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-04T13:38:00.000-07:00

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

Early morning ride with Frank

2009-05-30T20:32:00.001-07:00

On Friday night, I got a text from a buddy of mine, Frank Pyle, asking me if I wanted to go for a bike ride. I have been lucky enough to have a ton of friends who like to go riding. These guys are not lazy riders either. These guys are willing to go out and get tired and have a great time.
I met Frank through my bro-in-law, Ben Woods. They're close buddies, and in turn, Frank has a great relationship with the Layton family (my in-laws). A while back, we found out that we're both into road biking, so we've gone a couple times together now. We set the time for 8 a.m. to head out this morning. We did "the usual" which is just from my place to Vivian Park and back, and we had a great morning to do it. Another amazing, cloudless and comfortable morning. Since it was a Saturday morning, it was a lot busier than I am used to. There was some sort of run/race going on on the Provo River Trail, but it didn't bother us too much.

Here I am at Vivian Park. I know...the bike and the jersey clash. :( Boo Utes!

Frank and I had some good talks. He mentioned that he was doing some intense relay race/run next month with a bunch of buddies. It goes from Logan, Ut to Park City, Ut. There are 12 legs, and he is doing some pretty intense training for it. This got us talking, and he brought up a race called the LOTOJA Classic. It goes from Logan, Ut to Jackson,Wy...thus the name. Check it out here. The course in 206 miles, and has some pretty decent vertical. It would deffinitely be something to start getting in shape for NOW. This would not be for the faint of heart. You have to finish before dark to finish. Sounds pretty hardcore.We'll have to see where my summer riding takes me.
All in all, Frank and I had a satisfying ride. We enjoyed ourselves, and plan on going for a ride every saturday morning together.

Here we are t the end of the ride. My goal is to be as tan and buff as Frank...

Miles enjoyed: 22.8

My Story: Thursday May 28th

2009-05-28T11:29:00.000-07:00

So, I already have several other blogs that I post on, but the other day I was on one of my many bike rides and thought to myself "you should be recording the wonderful experiences you have on this bike". So, here I am blogging about my biking adventures.

Did I ever think I would be one of those "blogger types"? No. But I think this would be a good way to keep a sort of journal. Also, as I get more and more into aviation, I feel a need to have something else define my life. I love my wife, I love flying, I love christian spirituality, and I have recently come to love road biking. I plan on taking my camera with me to snap some pictures of what I see and experience. I think this will make my rides even more enjoyable.

Let's get started with today! May 28th. I always go for a "long ride" on tuesdays and thursdays... and sometimes saturdays. Last night, a friend from church, Chris, gave me a call and wanted to know if I wanted to go for a ride this morning. Of course! I love having someone to share the ride with. Chris has recently gotten into riding also. He is working his way up the conditioning ladder, and doing well. We left my place at 9:00 a.m. and headed for Provo Canyon. It was a beautiful morning! There is just something special about Utah mornings in late spring! Maybe 65 degrees, clear blue skies, and plenty of sunshine and mountain air... hard to beat.

We made our way toward the canyon via a residential route... less traffic and less crap on the road. We frequent the Provo River Trail, and today was just the same. The trail is great for riding. Usually not too many people on it in the morning and even cooler air because of the river. Along the trail you're treated to great views of Mt. Timpanogos, the Provo River and Bridal Veil falls. Chris just went for a ride yesterday, so he was feeling a bit tired, but I kept him going. I had plans for him... he had no idea what he was in for.

From my house to the end of the Provo river trail at Vivian Park is about 11 miles. Not bad, but there are not to many hills or big challenges. When I have the energy and the weather is nice, I like to continue on up the South Fork road. It is a side road off of the Provo Canyon road, and has plenty of vertical. There are very few cars, and a descent amount of road and mountain bikers. Best of all, it is gorgeous. On the ride down there are plenty of vistas of Mt. Timpanogos. There is a stream that follows the road the entire way up. All in all, it's an additional 5 or so miles to the top from Vivian Park, but a descent 5 miles.

Chris and I got to Vivian and I was feeling great. I wanted to go up so bad, but I knew Chris was feeling it from the ride. It wasn't hard to convince him to go though. He shares the same love and appreciation of nature that I do, so I told him he's love the scenery. Right before we started up, a man that looked to be about 30 rode by on a really nice bike ( A Specialized Tarmac Comp. for those who know bikes). He didn't have a helmet on, so that caught me eye. I saw him tear up the road and thought it would be fun to try to catch up to him. I didn't really think about it after that though.

We had a great ride up. No wind, abundant sunshine and some wildlife. Chris struggled up some of the hills, but did great! I was impressed. He will be tearing up the road in no time! We got to the end, which is a gate into a Girl's Camp, and the dude with the nice bike and no helmet was there taking a rest and fiddling with his bike. I said hello and we got to talking. I told him that I was in the Aviation Program at Utah Valley University. He told me that he was a Captain for Skywest Airlines, and that he had done his flight schooling at UVU back when it was UVSC. We carried on for 20 minutes or so and he ended up giving me his name and phone number in case I ever had questions. I thought of how awesome it is that I could go for a ride and meet some random guy at the end of an obscure road that is living the dream I hope to live. In a way, I feel it is reinforcement from God that I am on the right path.

On a bike ride you get a lot of time to reflect. On the way home I thought a lot about some of the things he said. He is not married, but said that there will be a lot of sacrifices in my beginning years in the regional airlines. He said I would need a supportive wife considering the hours, being gone on holidays, and having really low starting pay (most likely somewhere around $18,000-$22,000 my first year). I feel blessed to have a wife that fits the mold of "supportive". She works hard, and has amazing faith. She'll be just what I'll need during those times.

The ride home was almost all down hill, and we made good time. I think I topped out at 38.6 MPH at one point... common for a steeper downhill ride. Definitely one of the best rides I have been on.

More stories to come. Be on the look out for pictures too!

Miles logged today: 31.6