Trails!

Happy Pioneer Day - 

Its a good day because I am back home again and also because I got to skip work to ride/run the stump hollow trail with Joe.  Not much to complain about there.  I had fun riding that trail on my bike for the first time ever.  Its way more fun on the bike than running.  The going uphill part was tough, especially trying to keep up with speedy Joe.  Luckily he was being nice to me and I survived.  We got to the sinks and decided to run together for a bit until my leg told me enough.  We proceeded to jog up a hill or two and down the other side when all of a sudden both quads seized up on me.  It was wild.  I have never had that happen before.  I would assume it was unrelated to my injury as it happened equally to both legs.  It brought me to a stop for a good 2 mins to try and get them to relax.  They kind of loosened up, but it was painfully tight every step.  Even walking.  I jogged and walked and moaned and whined.  Nothing helped, and the whining just made Joe angry.  At least we were exploring an ATV trail that neither of us had been on.  Sweet views of valleys and even Bear Lake.  All too soon, I opted to start back due to the "minor cripple issue".  I was able to run the whole way back to the bike, but my legs were very unhappy with me.  I hopped on the bike and rode back down the trail.  Luckily, things were fine on the downhill and as long as I didn't try and use any power on the uphills I was fine.  Maybe too many miles/hours in the car yesterday did me in.  Maybe it was pushing too hard on the climb today, or both.  At least the downhill was spectacular.  That trail is custom made for a bike.  No really, there are jumps everywhere.  Loads of fun. 

T-Bike 50 min up 30 min down

T-Run 46 min with a good 8 mins of that walking

2500' Vert combined - Great to be back in the mountains.

Providence Canyon Trail - 

Good news, the trail is now .2 of a mile longer than it was last tuesday.  Progress!  The other good news is that my legs were magically better from the weird tightness I experienced yesterday.  

T- Bike 61 min T- Run 27 min (3 miles) 1600' Vert total

Providence Trail - 

Today I biked to the new lower "bridge" over the creek.  The bridge is right at the backcountry sign about a half mile up the canyon.  Its a bunch of small logs side by side across the creek.  Good enough to stay dry.  I left my bike there and began the run.  I went down to the bottom end of the trail and then to the quarry and back.  Leg felt pretty good today.  Call it 2/10 on the pain/tightness scale (10 being the worst).  Improvement?  

T Bike - 52 min  T Run - 47 min (9:30 pace) 1800' vert total

Jon - I payed attention to my pace today and was running about 10-10:30 pace up and 7:00-7:30 pace down for equal effort.  Easier than Dry Canyon but harder than Green.  (ave 360' climb per mile, but pretty technical)

Providence Canyon Trail -

Same as yesterday.  Only faster. 

T- Bike 32 up 16 down T-Run 45 (9:00) 1800' vert

Deer Fence - 

Biked to the trail, ran 5, biked home.  Kept things pretty chill today.  Leg was a 1 until the last mile when it eased into a 2.  Looking good.

T- 1:23:30 1100' vert

Epic Bike Ride - 

The annual pilgrimage to Logan Peak was long overdue.  The family was gone for the day so what better time than now?  I decided to do it from my front porch to get the full effect.  The route was Hollow Road - Blacksmith Fork Canyon - Left Hand Fork to junction - Left at Junction past Richards Hollow (top side) - Up and over a friggin mountian - Logan Peak road to Peak - Ran to Providence Peak and back - Down the road to Providence Canyon - Home.  Got it?

Highlights:  Well, actually it was pretty boring until I hit the backside of the mountain.  Sure there were some distractions.  Cows, motorcycles and 4-wheelers, boy hitting golf balls at his dad's truck at a camp site, bugs attacking me, heat, dirt, etc.  Once I approached the logan peak area, I noticed a major change.  They closed the old road to the summit and built a new one.  This one followed the side of the ridge instead of going up the valley.  It also had way more switchbacks so the grade was lower.  But the distance from the old fork to the top is probably close to double.  Plus now you bypass the rodeo grounds.  Weird.  Sure changes things.  The good news is that now I was able to manage the grade and ride the bike the whole way to the peak.  After a short break there, I decided to run over and tag Providence Peak too.  It was only a mile away following the ridgeline.  Those hills at altitude (9500') are tough though.  Peaks tagged, time to go home.  I opted for the more direct route down Providence Canyon.  That turned out to be a mistake as the road/trail is washed out and is pure rocks.  It was pure nuts trying to descend on rocks with no dirt down that crazy grade.  I did ok until I faceplanted and slid 10 more feet for good measure.  After that, I decided to "hike a bike" down until the quarry.  The ruts in the road are so large, it will take years and lots of money to rebuild it.  Quite unfortunate.  Once I survived the "trail" I joined up with the old reliable singletrack down the canyon and headed home.  It sure felt good to be up in the high country and even visit my old favorite peak.

Splits: House to Left Hand Fork 60 min (13.1 miles)

LHF to ridge above Richards Hollow 2:27 (17 miles)

Ridge to Logan Peak 37 min (4 miles)

Logan to Providence Peak and back "running" 23 min (2 miles)

Peak to where Providence Canyon road hits South Syncline Trail 24 min (5 miles)

Down Providence Canyon to home 53 min (9.5 miles)

Total Time: 5:45 (50 miles) 5,900' Vert climbing

Profile

Logan Peak from Providence Peak

Old Road/Trail in Foreground.  New Road/Trail in Background