Big Mountain

12/25/2011 - Day 3 - Festive 500 - 24 miles

Redemption. Hopefully I can look good while doing it because today I sure felt like crap. It was day three of The Festive 500 today so I took as much time off work as I thought my wife would tolerate and set about to test out my new Gore Bike Wear Balaclava Mask. It was my Christmas present from my wife. It wasn't too cold today at 35 degrees and the wind was only about 5 mph from the South. The sun was out and traffic was very light. It was a perfect Christmas day to go for a ride so I wondered what the heck was wrong with me because I was weaker than circus lemonade out there pedaling today.

I planned a very flat route hoping to average 18 to 19 mph and had about an hour and half of time to squeeze my ride into. Instead I averaged only 17 mph and managed 24 miles. As I was heading back home to the South I was beat. The 5 mph breeze felt like a 5% grade and my quads were gassed. I couldn't manage more that 15 - 16 mph on mostly flat ground. I wondered if my blood glucose was low but I didn't have my meter to check it. I felt like it was. I was spent and shaky so I stopped and had a hot dog to get me home.

Bottom line: I have gotten fat and lazy over the last two months of little riding and lots of eating. I'm sporting around eight extra pounds I didn't have two months ago as the holidays have been very good to me as usual. The more I think about redemption right now the more I think I truly need it right now. 71 miles toward the 311 needed for this ride to redemption have been logged. 240 more need to be logged over the next six days. That's an average of 40 miles per day over these next six days. OK. Wow. Unfortunately redemption is not average. Fortunately neither am I.

6/25/2012 - Dream Small Ride #3 - Pineview Reservoir to Riverton - 88 miles

I have planned Dream Small Ride #3 and placed it on the calendar. On June 25, 2011 I'm going to get dropped off at the little cafe on the south side of Pineview Reservoir and ride back home to Riverton. I'll be slogging up over the hill past Snowbasin and then through Morgan and past East Canyon Reservoir and up the back (north) side of Big Mountain.

Big Mountain. It sounds big. I was checking out a website that was talking about portions of this route which the Tour of Utah raced on over two years ago. That year my kids and I were up on top of Big Mountain as the breakaway and then the peloton crested the summit at the Morgan County line. We had a blast ringing our cow bells and yelling at the pros. At the time I wondered if I could pedal up there on my bike. On this website in the comments someone asked: "Is Big Mountain really what it sounds like?" and the answer was: "From the north it's steep but manageable. From the south it’s a beotch…"

I'll be tackling it from the north on this ride having paid my dues up the south side two summers ago on the old bike. Ouch. This climb up Big Mountain will come at 40 miles into the ride and I'm sure there will be some pain and suffering. I am looking forward to that. The ride will have an elevation gain of 4675 feet and reach a high point there of 7457 feet at the summit of Big Mountain.

After 88 miles I will pull into my driveway and decide if I want to do it again in the fall to take in the autumn colors along the route which are some of the most dramatic in the state. I've heard it said that if men had babies every family would have only one child. Probably true. It's exponentially harder to do something a second time after you have learned the pain and suffering of going through it once already.