Spent the night camping with the kids and a bunch of church friends. That meant that the bike/run would be postponed until the heat of the day. Brutal. At least its a dry heat. Or so I hear. It was a great day though as the stars aligned and I was able to meet up with Paul for a run. Yeah, that is rare, but super cool. I biked from the house at 11:30 towards Birch Canyon in Smithfield. I headed up Canyon road to BST past Green and along the bench through the weeds and brush. I realized I was going to be late to meet up with Paul so I had to really push it. 15 miles to the start of the singletrack, part dirt, part road, lots of hills. 90 mins. 1700' vert Once I met up with Paul, we headed up the trail hoping for some shade. I was pretty spent already and it took me a mile to recover. Luckily Paul was in no hurry and we enjoyed the trail together. I really enjoyed the dozen or so creek crossings in each direction. I practically laid down in it a few times. A few miles up the trail, the overgrowth became so bad the trail practically disappeared. It made things REALLY slow. We ended up turning around at Paul's 9 mile mark (4.75 miles for me). Too bad too as we were just getting into the really pretty stuff with loads of flowers and great cliff views. To bad that trail is so overgrown, it could be really cool. We found our way back down the trail. Paul being Mr Cautious was even slower on the downhill. It was pretty interesting stepping into and through plants hoping there was a trail somewhere in there. 9.5 miles 1:47 (11:15) 2400' vert (topped out a 7700') Paul stepped it up for the final 5 miles or so back to his house. I rode with him for a bit on the bike before bidding him farewell and blasting home ASAP. The final stretch home was hot but I took the flattest and most direct route and got 'er done. 14 miles. 55 mins 100' vert Great outing. Loved Birch Creek Trail. Well worth it. Wished I had taken the camera. 4200' vert total - Convert to 24 combined equivalent crosstrain/run miles (pain only a 1/10!)
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