2 Epic

You would think after a year and a  half in St George I’d be running out of new terrain to explore when leaving from my front door.  Such is not the case.  This region is tilted, corrugated, eroded into so many different land forms in such a small region as to present seemingly limitless opportunities for back yard exploration.  Necessity is the mother of all invention as they say…this foreign white stuff leading to it’s red-headed stepchild (mud, wet adobe) is necessitating some creativity if any dirt is going to be ridden.  And yes, there is plenty of dirt to ride around here

Time to peer into Topofusion and see what comes out of it’s crystal ball.  OK, that and looking around to see where it isn’t white.  The AZ strip looks fairly covered with white from my place - but that’s looking S towards N facing slopes.  It’s merely an illusion.  If it’s flat and below 4k’ it’s probably snow-free and maybe even dry.

So, this new route.  It’s a beauty and features a rolling 1000′ climb overlooking the Virgin River gorge.  It was a fine route for rolling the SS.

I kept asking myself what had kept me from riding here before?  We’ve talked about it for a few years.

Meanwhile, LW has a snack attack like none other at the top.  She just can’t seem to eat enough.  What is up with that?

Rolling down the climb it dawns on her:  we were sitting atop Starvation Point.

Here’s something to look forward to in Camp Lynda and don’t forget the snacks!

Happy New Year to everybody. Here is to a fabulous 2009!

We spent the last day of 2008 in top style. It was one of those days that turned out to flow and be filled with so many perfect moments.

First stop was snow-tubing at BrianHead. It is fast! Fast enough to make me clench!

You sit in the tubes and get towed up the hill. They are bouncy and made us giggle.

It was the first time I have taken the kids to a ski resort and this was a really kind introduction. The sky was bluebird blue all day and there was no wind. The weather was giddy ideal.

You have to ride solo - everybody does, even cute little girls. When we get to the top the first time the runs looked steep and long and fast and I wasn’t quite sure what to do with Emma, go in front, behind etc?? She said going first was good for her, threw down her tube and took off with no hesitation. Fearless!! I stood there and watched my little pink and yellow girl whoosh off at 20 mph with my mouth hanging open. She has game and loves it.

After snow-tubing and some lunch there was still more daylight to burn so we took the sleds over to Cedar Breaks.

They like fast!

Kaboom!

Yeah!

How deep is this stuff anyway?

About 5 feetish

Out ma hole. This is ma hole!

You too, out ma hole!

We all have fun in the snow but Emma loves the snow in an intense passionate way I love cycling. I see it in her. It surprises me! She was ready to camp in that hole. “Mommy we are not leaving we are camping here”. I have no doubt there is a lot of snow in her future life. It’s funny how much I love the desert being born in Scotland. I belong in the desert. My heart is in the desert. I see a little flash in her that maybe she belongs in the snow.

We’ve been getting a lot of emails asking how the trails are holding up to the relentless round of storms rolling through.  If the camp was this weekend we’d be in trouble - next weekend it would likely be good to go based on the 7 day forecast (sunny and 50’s).

Yesterday we even ran into muck on Prospector trail (just north of Church Rocks).  That opened the door for riding the Bracken’s loop, a trail that I never considered would be rideable.  OK it wasn’t for the most part, but lots of it was frozen sand full of deep horse prints.  Fun in a bizarre way…and killer scenery. 

 The bottom line is we just don’t know what conditions will be like in a month.  They can improve - or deteriorate - quickly around here.  A week of good weather and everything under 4k’ will likely be good to go.  We will call it the week before the camp.  What we really don’t want is to invite y’all here from all over the country and then ask you not to ride vulnerable trails when you get here. 

Rant: The trails are kinda rideable when they are wet with a lot of slipping around and churning up the clay and dirt. This kind of riding is fun once in a while but trashes the trail, sometimes beyond repair. It is super tiresome to hear out of town folks say “I drove 400 miles to be here so I was gonna ride…” Then they go home with a mucky bike and we are left with crappy trails. That is so common. We do stay off the trails when they are mucky. We are riding the road today.

CL v1.0 vets will recall the windy Blakes climb of day 2.  I’d estimate 2+ feet of snow up there right now.  (!)  We won’t be riding Blakes, or Jem, or Gooseberry - those areas all got pretty hammered.  Still a lot of options if the weather cooperates.  Stay tuned.

Merry Christmas to all

We are enjoying a desert Christmas here in St George like no other before…

We still have angels this Christmas

Come visit but leave your mountain bikes at home.

It’s just not so ride friendly here right now. We have a mix of trails too wet and soft to be ridden without destroying them and snow too slippy to ride on. Disappointingly some out of towners took the liberty of riding their bikes on one of my favorite trails here this weekend that is fragile when wet. I hope they didn’t damage it too badly.

People, please stay off the trails until you will not trash them. If you HAVE to mtb, ride Paradise Canyon, Prospector and Church rocks. They are sand and slickrock and are resilient to wet riding. Respect the locals and the trails and stay off Barrel Roll and Stucki and Bear Claw etc please.

Bring your road bike. The pavement is fine here.

Bear Claw single-track stayed bumpy all year this year after some yeehaws rode their bikes along it on a wet day in February and put ruts in it that solidified and lasted all year. It turned a fun trail into one to avoid.

So it is cross training time for us here…

Some arm work

and a little running

Smiles for Santa!

Wes still fits on Santa’s lap

Another couple of inches fell last night crippling St George. Really!

After our snowy walk to school on Tuesday Emma spent the day in class dreaming about making a snowman. The school didn’t let the 1st graders outside to play during the day cause it was such a sloppy melting mess. She was furious when she got out of school to find most of the snow melted. She stomped on a little patch with her moon boots and shouted stupid snow.

She was very pleased with last night’s storm.

It’s the Christmas season and it is snowing in St George. That’s all about kids not bikes… Nothing at all bike related in this post today.

Yesterday was the 1st grade xmas party. We made gingerbread (well graham cracker) houses. It was a good time.

It snowed ALL day in St George yesterday. That is a first since I moved here in ‘96.

Kinders insisted on walking to school today. Ems would not hear of taking the car. She wanted to wear her moon boots in snow

Moon boots make good foot prints.

The neighbour girls were up before dawn to make this snowman.

On the way home from school I stopped by Dave’s house which is conveniently located half a block off route.

Ha ha. Caught on the trainer.

I know many are more curious what is behind Dave in this shot so here is a peek. This part of his garage is known as the bone-yard.

This is what happens with a little snow, a lot of caffeine and some sup O2’s

Old man winter is rearing his head in St George. We don’t see him often here.

Big icicles on the moto.

Neighbours rallying and salting up the sidewalks

Busting out the puffy. It is actually snowing in this pic. Little tiny flakes floating around.

We have 2 more days of snow in the forecast! This storm will leave a mark.