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I eased back into summer Arizona riding by hitting the Rim Country over the weekend. Temps in the low 80s up on the rim were perfect for fishing, lounging outside, and riding…

I only had a couple of hours so I bit off a small piece of the Highline Trail. My favorite stretch, the climb from the See Canyon trailhead up, up, up, to the Drew 291 junction. It’s only a short 2+ mile climb. The first mile merely a warm-up to the second mile of 11 percent incline. This short stint on the Highline is beautiful. You surely earn your descent.

The lower segment of the trail was in pretty bad shape. Horse divots and flood debris made the already technical ascent even tougher. Normally I would be trash talking the equestrians who tore up the trail, but instead I blew it off and relished in the extra challenge the hoofed up terrain offered. There was only one downed Ponderosa on this short stretch.

I love this climb because it always challenges. I haven’t cleaned it completely yet and probably never will, but each new root or rock I glide over is a point for me. The Mogollon Rim always puts up a good fight. But I always come back down the trail victorious and ready for the next match. Fourth of July weekend, game on.

Back from Utah. This is the photo that says it all. Well almost all of it. The downhill was so fun that I never stopped long enough to snap any shots. The Google Earth image below is the exact spot we snapped the shot. Amazing likeness. Anytime I need my American Fork trail fix I can spin through my kmz’s and soak in the views.

Riding at 8000 feet sure sucked the wind right out of me. The climbs weren’t tough at all. But even though I was breathing, I couldn’t feel the oxygen. Suffocating in the mountains…as good as it gets.

Now I’m back at 2000 feet, legs and lungs ready to ride, too bad my heart is still on the Ridge Trail…

Utah American Fork Canyon

Tonight riding the Ridge Trail 157 I asked myself “Why did I ever leave Utah?” After 8 years in Arizona I’ve grown to love the desert, so much that I had nearly forgotten the trails of my youth…these are the trails that I rode back in the mid 90s on the Candy Blue GT Karakoram…

A few weeks after I got the Karkakoram I went on my first epic ride. From my apartment in Provo, up Provo Canyon to the Cascade Springs Trail near the Deer Creek dam. Up the fun doubletrack to Cascade Springs, then up the road to the summit. (I’m not sure if the South Fork trail existed back then, if it did I knew nothing about it.) Down the Ridge trail to Tibble Fork. Back down the Alpine Loop to Canyon Road and back to the apartment. It was 56 miles, and took me most of the day. I remember a screaming headache on the last stretch home.

Tonight, my brother, Mark and Stanley hit the ridge trail to Pine Hollow, to the Great Western to the Timpanooke lot. It was a sweet ride. But even sweeter was the South Fork trail down from the summit. Pure bliss on a bike. Roaring speeds through green meadows, quakies and pines. I’m hooked on Utah (again), It’s going to be tough heading back to 112 degrees and cactus.

Gilbert, Arizona
110°F, Clear

Alpine, Utah
85°F, Clear

I’m in Utah this week working out of my brother’s house in Alpine. It’s been 10 years since I’ve ridden anything on the Wasatch Front. The past few days I’ve hit a couple of the local trails that I never knew existed…Hog Hollow to Clarks and Lambert Park.

Fatty’s always talking about his backyard trails up Hog Hollow so I went out exploring. My first night I got a late start so I though I’d just hammer up the Highland Highway. I like to give the roadies someone to look forward to passing on the way up. It makes them feel good. Close to the top of the climb I found a jeep road that led me to the corner canyon trails. Excited to see some singletrack I flew down Clarks trail knowing that I wasn’t going to be able to make it back before the sun set.

Well the sun set as I was finishing the ride, and it was getting dark fast. Enter cell phone. Thanks to my dirt biking brother who picked me up at the Draper Temple construction site.

The next morning I hit up Lambert Park with my riding buddy Mark and his dog Stanley. Mark got me into mountain biking nearly 15 years ago. It’s good to have riding buddies that you can reminisce fifteen years of rides with…We rode up Spring to the Rodeo down. It was sweet riding. So different than Arizona riding.

Both Clarks and Rodeo are fast and flowy with nice berms. Have I ever even seen a berm in Arizona? And not seeing a cactus the whole ride was practically surreal. So if I fall… I’ll land in that little scrub oak or that tall grass over there? Yup.

Tonight, I’ll be riding a classic Wasatch trail up American Fork Canyon, Ridge Trail 157. Back when I used to ride it in the early 90s we called it sheepherders trail. I’ve got a ton of early biking memories up that canyon. Can’t wait to remember them all.