After leaving the house at 8:00pm, I was still able to ride up the Barrels and get back down to the car before dark. I love this town! The trails were dry as a bone and I rode a coworker's Kona Coiler. I actually like it. It ascends pretty OK, hooks up great in the corners, etc. What sucks on the Coiler? The stupid Hayes Nine disc brakes. They squeak, they don't work well, they require tons of maintenance, etc.

Dutch Hollow Trails, Midway, UT

OK, it looks like I'll be posting a lot about these trails. I had just a little time today after work before the sun went down and I really wanted to sample "The Barrel" trail. I rode up the "Cottontail" trail to the lower portion of the "aqueduct" trail, up that, and to the top of the "Barrel." It is rated "most difficult" but since it is a smooth trail that merely has a lot of whoops and banked turns, I would rate it much lower. It was a real blast though. The Specialist LOVES that kind of trail (since it mimics a dual slalom course to some extent) and it was so fun to just let it fly. Total mileage tonight was probably less than 3 miles, but it was a blast to be back on the bike again so soon.

Dutchman Way Trail, Midway, UT

Although my left crank arm is about to fall off (the spindle hole has been rounded out a bit so it gets loose after about 5 minutes of riding) I took my first ride up into the Dutch Hollow trail system in the Wasatch Mountain State Park. The weather was fantastic and although the trees were all still bare, it was quite scenic looking back over the towns of Midway and Heber and over to Mt Timpanogas and the Uinta National forest. I started at the Dutchman Way trailhead and headed up into the canyon. The trail is not a lot of fun for the first mile or two since the horses have really "pocked" up the trail with footprints that make for a seriously bumpy ride. Eventually, trough, the trail changes from the pockmarked solidified mud to sandy washout to a nice winding single-track through the scrub brush. Right as it was starting to get good though, the trail dead-ended into a gravel road (Dutch Hollow Road). I figured the road would eventually intersect another trail, so I headed up the road. It never did hit another trail, but after a mile or so, the road was steep enough and rough enough that it was similar to a double-track trail anyway so it was OK. The whole ride was a slow grinding climb, but when I finally ran out of water (need to get myself a new hydration reservoir for my pack) and turned around, it was a great downhill run with jumps, ruts, and when I finally made it back to the Dutchman Way trail, the curves were great fun and the rough trail was no problem since I was hovering over my seat anyway.

Later in the day, the kids and I invited their cousins and my BIL Mark over for a hike and we hiked back up into the same Dutchman Hollow trail system. We walked down a few other trails that I am SUPER excited to ride. I have to say, these trails are world class and they are within riding distance of my house - how cool is that! Here's an image from the hike with the kids to give an idea of the views:

Slickrock Trail, Moab, UT

We ran down to Moab and met with some old college friends (Steve and Krista S.). Since we both had lots of kids, Steve and I just had a short time to ride - we did the Slickrock practice loop and then rode into the trail a short ways and back. We messed around for a good bit on a couple of the obstacles and had a good time. The trail was fantastic (as always).

Too bad we just had a cell phone camera - I think we need to go back with a better camera and get some shots for the wall of my office at this spot.

Midway, UT

So - we have moved to Midway UT. Tonight I rode from our house to the Dutch Hollow Trailhead at 40.544958,-111.453031 (on Google maps). It looks like it is almost exactly 3 miles each way. So that will count as my first ride of 2012. A couple of notable items:

- At the trailhead itself, there was still too much snow on the road to ride up anything but a very slight incline

- I saw a herd of deer that were totally unafraid of me in a field on the way out and also on the way back. I rode within 20 feet of them and they didn't even move.

- I saw a couple of bull elk (that are always hanging around right in that area) and they were quite a bit more skittish than the deer

BTW, I just installed the following new parts on the Specialist: Primo Tenderizer pedals, brake and shifter cables, rear derailleur, chain, cassette. It shifts pretty good, but I still need to get a new derailleur hanger.

Austrian Mt. Biking

I think I now know why hiking seems to be more popular in Austria than Mt biking. The "mountain bike" trail we rode today was a gravel road. It would have been nice if it had been even double track, but no, it was just a gravel road. Parts of it even had access by motorized vehicles. It was suspiciously similar to riding up a regular old forest road in the US. The difference was the fantastic views.
I started out with Winter and Jessica, but the initial climb was a death march and Winter soon was unable to continue so Jessica generously offered to take her back to the house while I continued on. Thus the photos are all self-photographed except for the last ones at the lake (where a nice Austrian lady served as photographer.)
By the way, I just about killed myself today - I am not as young as I once was and I was really sucking wind today. I could make excuses all day long about how the air is thinner and whatnot, but in reality, the mountain just kicked my butt (and so did the saddle on the rental bike). Tomorrow is going to be painful. Lovely views though!

Hoge Bergse Bos (Rotterdam)

Today I hit the trail at Hoge Bergse Bos (translates to "high mountain forest" and I would say that all three of those words are probably hyperbole in terms of the extent of the height of the "mountain" and depth of the "forest") just to the North of Rotterdam for a bit of a mt bike ride.

The trailhead is here: Google Maps of Parking lot

The trail is surprisingly nice, but it has the same "feel" as a Texas trail in that they wind the trail around so much (in order to fit a longer trail in a smaller place) that you are often riding within just a few feet of where you just rode a few minutes earlier. I rode a couple loops on the trail and took pictures the second time through:


This is the lookout point at the top of the "mountain":
Some old ladies were nice enough to take a picture for me (although it took about 7 times for the lady to figure out how to get the camera on the iphone to work)
The view of Northeast of Rotterdam and the zevenhuisplas lake:
Looking over the top of the "ski resort" towards downtown Rotterdam:
And looking a little off to the west of Rotterdam:
And looking back towards Zoetermeer:
There was a lot of really nice singletrack and quite a few short (but fairly intense) downhill sections where they have installed stair steps to prevent erosion. So you have to keep on your toes.
They even have some modern art (if you can call it that) mounted out along the trail:
This is (apparently) a replica of the top of the Matterhorn. Apparently it can be climbed inside or out. Below it is some sort of ropes course base camp:


And my ride for the day - my father in law's Cannondale. I really appreciated the fact that he loaned it to me (since I left my Ellsworth in Texas) but I should have approached the trail with a bit more caution. My Ellsworth descends like a (insert analogy to something that is very stable and very very fast and very very reliable) and so I attacked a downhill section too aggressively way too soon (before I was really "tuned" in to the new bike) and I cased it something fierce - I mean I did a full on faceplant where I was picking weeds out of my teeth, nearly broke my nose, trashed the visor on the helmet, and scratched up my forehead. It could have been really really bad if it weren't for the fact that the spot of earth that I attacked with my face was nicely covered in grass, stinging nettle and thistles. If it had been a rock garden, I would almost certainly be in the hospital doing reconstructive facial surgery right now. My neck is majorly tweaked and I feel like a major idiot for going at that downhill like I was on my own bike. Oh well, live and learn right?