New sport!

Dusted off my XC skis, put on new shoe laces on my XC ski boots which I took off years ago, then went up to Fairview Skyline Drive to try it out again. I have to admit it, if doing it right, it's a little funner than snowshoeing. I only tried it once or twice when I bought my XC skis and boots with some my financial aid money during college. I decided not to do it anymore because of my injured knee so I put them in a closet. In the past week I kind of got interested in it again and did some research on how to do it by looking at it on the internet. Today I went up Fairview at the very top which had barely enough snow on a dirt road, about less than 6 inches. I went on the road because it didn't have steep slopes and it mostly had gradually rolling hills which I thought would be perfect for XC skiing. It was fun and good exercise! I could feel the burning in my legs and my heart pumping, it felt good. This would be a good sport to stay in shape in the winter time other than snowshoeing. I was looking for an aerobic sport to do out in the cold every Saturday to get some aerobic exercise during the winter. To get ready for the bike season next spring, I usually lift weights during the weekdays twice a week then do some aer0bic exercise outside every weekend when it's not dark because it's always dark right after work every day. So weight lifting is a good strength exercise to during during the weekdays while riding a stationary trainer bike also. Then get some fresh air in the mountains every Saturday on XC skis or snowshoes. This will be a good sport for me this winter. Downhill skiing at resorts are getting too expensive! Cross country skiing is like snowshoeing and downhill skiing together. If you want to see me on a weekend in the middle of the winter, I'll be XC skiing at Fairview Skyline. To my brothers and sisters, I won't be seeing you at your house during the holidays, I'd rather be skiing!

New bike!

I just went to Provo tonight and put a down payment on this 2010 Gary Fisher Superfly 29er. I won't get it until January or February but that's ok, there's snow now and it's ridiculously cold. I was going to go put a down payment on a Trek Elite 9.8(26 inch wheels), after I wrote the check, I asked them if I could ride one of their bikes to make sure it's the right size. At first I rode a Trek with 26 inch wheels with a 18.5 inch frame, it felt too small. Then the only 19.5 inch frame they had was the 2009 Gary Fisher Paragon which had 29 inch wheels. I rode it around the parking lot and the first thing I noticed about the bike that it had so much more control and stability. It did fit true to size to my body because of the bigger wheels? I don't know. But it did feel a lot nicer and I could understand why most people like the bigger wheels. I told the guy that I really liked the bike and he told me that about everyone in the race team has the Paragon or the Superfly. I thought about it for a while and I was having a hard time deciding. He was talking into me of getting one because of the advantages. Of course it was like $250 more than Trek Elite 9.8, so I went for it. I can't wait to try out the big wheels on the trails next spring and the races. Also the frame and crankset are both made out of carbon fiber, that is like a big bonus.

Snow!

Last week I was in Five Mile Pass mountain biking in shorts and today I went winter hiking around Fairview Skyline Drive area. I was planning to snowshoe but there wasn't that much snow for it, like a foot of it. So I went hiking in the snow. It was just gorgeous up there with brand new snow and I just wandered around to get some fresh air. I think one more big storm, it should be enough for snowshoes.

Fun at Five Mile Pass...

Owen kickin' butt!

Brayden rippin' it!

There's goes the rear derailler, bummer.

Had a fun weekend with Tony and the boys at 5 Mile Pass between Lehi and Tooele. It was sure a heck of an indian summer all weekend so it because a blast. I took my mountain bike and had some great rides. I rode on the "Showdown at 5 Five Mile Pass" race course they have every spring. I did race it last spring but it turned out to be a rainy day and we just rode on the short course. So I wanted to try out the real actual big 11 mile course so I know what is like for next year's race. I thought it was fun and fast on the big and middle chainring most of the time. Lot's of rolling hills plus "The Wall" and "The Wash". On Saturday, I rode on the race course for like an hour and a half while the temperatures were good in the 60s. Had fun with the boys shooting rockets and playing with the potato gun. Ate bratwurst then watched Transformers 2 in the trailer. Slept in the heated trailer after a heated shower. The boys and Tony did go on rides while I was riding. We also played with RC trucks most of the time. Saturday morning we got up and I went for a short ride around while everybody else stood by the fire and played in the dirt. Then we all ate breakfast while watching a Baja racing video. Then I went for another ride while everybody else went on a ride on their motorbikes. I went to "The Wall" and back then the last mile or so, a rock flipped up and hit my rear derailler while it was in the lowest gear then got caught on a spoke and totally bented and twisted it like a taffy in a taffy machine. There's goes like $200! Well, ya?!?!. So I just coasted back down to camp then we played with rockets and potatos some more. Then we went home. It was all fun except when Owen's brake lever broke, my derailler broke, and Tony's RC truck broke. We all still had a fun weekend. Thanks Tony and the boys!

Talk about luck!!

I would have ran into this...

....and ended up like these guys

....or this guy,

and my bike would have looked like that.

Yesterday, I went for a ride on my road bike. I started at Pigeon Hollow and rode on the brand new road they just built to Spring City(with stimulous money, it's nice though). The weather was fairly decent and I could see a big old black cloud over above Mt. Nebo and Fountain Green northwest from me. I rode through Mt. Pleasant, I could see the storm moving towards me. After I got out of town going towards Fairview on the backroad, the wind started blowing really bad and I couldn't balance myself on the bike very good. I kept putting more weight on the left side of the bike to keep me on. As soon as I got to a hill on the left side, it got calmer because of the hill. It did sprinkle a little bit until the Skyline Golf Course. After passing that, everything was calm was barely sunny just in the spot I was in. Looking back behind me towards Mt. Pleasant, I could see everything was all black and stormy. When I have got to Fairview, I turned around and I could see the storm moving more southeast towards the mountains. So I rode and rode. I got to Mt. Pleasant, everything was drenched. As I rode on the wet road, I was thinking, "man, it stormed here and I was here just 30 minutes ago?" So I got so lucky that I missed the horrible, brutal storm and I would have been drenched and cold. It was wet all the way past Spring City and to Pigeon Hollow. After I got home with a change of clothes on then preparing dinner, I could see outside of the window that wind was blowing like 70 miles per hour and started raining again, like heck. Man, talk about pure luck. One of my lucky rides I call it.

History of a bicycle tire...

Here's something to blog about: History of a bicycle tire...

1846: The pneumatic (air filled) tire is invented, but creator Robert William Thomson uses thick tubes of latex after failing to find adequately thin rubber.

1888: John Boyd Dunlop begins selling the first pneumatic tire, hoping to soften the rough ride that earned early bicycles the nickname "boneshakers."

1891: Inspired by a tire change that involved letting glue dry overnight, Edouard Michelin, of Michelin & Company, dreams up a simpler model that takes just 15 minutes to remove and repair.

1926: Newly invented Mavic aluminum rims are banned from the Tour de France over concerns the metal would heat braking and pop tubes. Some racers sneak them in by using wood colored paint.

1930: Tullio Campagnolo patents the quick-release skewer to make tire- and gear- changing easier. Cyclists previously had change gears by unscrewing their rear wheel's wingnuts. He was driven to create the device after cold-fingered fumbling on a mountain pass.

1937: The German manufacturer StahlGruber begins producing tube patches under the name REMA Tip Top, after Willy Gruber deems them "tip-top" during testing. The technology changes, but the brand name sticks to this day.

1965: Chemical giant DuPont develops Kevlar. The fiber, spun from a crystalline liquid, is five times stronger than steel but lighter and more flexible; its eventual use in tire beads shaves almost a quarter-pound from a set of clinchers.

1989: Slime unveils its tire sealant and prefilled tubes-the polymer provides a nontoxic option for folks looking to prevent auto and bike flats.

1990: CO2 bike tube-inflation devices are intoduced. The Instaflate uses 12-gram unthreaded cartridges and deploys with a trigger.

1999: The first tubeless mountain bike systems are introduced by Mavic and Michelin. Basic tubeless systems appeared as early as the late 1800s, but generally bombed in terms of performance.

2000: Stans Tire Sealant enters the bike market to provide flat protection for tubeless and tubular tires-a godsend for riders in thorn-ridden areas.

2003: Michelin, Shimano, Hutchinson and Mavic collaborate to develop the first modern tubeless road tire and rim system.

Bike Deer Valley

This is the picture for just the Silver Lake Trails, there's more trails to it that goes way beyond!

After not getting into any team with my Mad Dog Cycle teammates for the 12 Hours Of Sundance this weekend, I went for a long ride at Deer Valley Resort instead. I wanted to do the 12 Hours Of Sundance badly but I couldn't find anybody to do it with, there were some teammates were looking for somebody to be in their 4 man team(coed) to race in it and I volunteered but they said they found somebody else. 12 Hours Of Sundance is an endurance race in Sundance Resort that goes from 7 in the morning 'til 7 at night, you can do it Solo, 2 man, 3 man, or 4 man teams. Like if we were to do it four man, we would each do it 3 hours. I would do it if I were riding it 3 hours though and it sounded fun. It is kind of hard to make a team when you way down in the middle of nowhere in Ephraim. I also tried to get in a team with some guys in Ephraim who were also planning to do it but they called it off, they would have enough guys anyway if they they went.

Anyways, I rode all around Deer Valley for 3 hours and it was extremely fun. My mom dropped me off at the Deer Valley Base(by Snowpark Lodge) and started climbing up the Tour de Homes Trail to Silver Lake. From Silver Lake I continued climbing up another 1,300 vertical feet along Team Big Bear Trail way up to the top. After that I descended way down on G.S. Trees, Twist & Shout, Deer Crest trails. When I got down back to base, I decided to ride some more! Party on! Went down the Outlook and Spin Cycle trails all the way down to the Jordanelle Gondola Base(by the freeway). Then climbed up the Pipeline trail for another 45 minutes to the Snowpark Lodge. 2 hours and 45 minutes total. 21 miles total. It was a beautiful fall day with leaves already barely changing colors. Awesome ride with enough climbing.