Utah Trip Update #1

Saturday morning I flew into Salt Lake City and headed straight to Park City. This first portion of my trip was to visit long time friend Matt Krop.  The area that has one of finest reputations of endless single track in the US. Matt was one of my first riding partners in Harrisonburg in 1990, also my teammate in 1998 when we won 24 Hours of Moab. We were to meet up a Jans Mountain Experts, an all around bike/ski shop that sends out a 100+ bike  rentals a day, fortunately I was able to snag the last medium mountain bike available.

The Armstrong Trail

The smooth and gentle rolling climbs at Park City provided a great opportunity for Matt and I to catch up and find out what has been happening in our lives for the past several years. The "Armstong Trail", which is a single directional trial for bikes, was our trail choice to ascend 1700' to the Mid Mountain Trail.  We saw more folks on this trail (even with it being one way) than I usually see on the busist day at our local trails back in the "Burg". The mid mountain trail and the evelation line of 9000' would be our high point of the day, which was probably a good decision for my body which had left Harrisonburg at 3:45am that morning.

The majority of afternoon was spent riding the continuous smooth, dry and flowing trails on the mountain resort.  With the desire to hit some old school trails I knew I was with the right guide.  Matt has been building trails in the Park City region since the mid 90's, his trail knowledge guided us to steep, rooty, tight and loose descents which made me feel right at home. This portion of our ride trigger us both to have flash backs of racing in the early 90's in WV; places like the Black Bear course in Charleston.

Sunday, day two of my trip, was spent catching up with Matt's family prior to his departure to work. As late morning rolled around, I gave into my desire to find some high, more remote elevation riding. I headed back to Jan's to get another 4 hour rental (great thing about Park City you can do a 4 hour rental and ride this entire time on single track).  I ascended the Armstrong trail again and continued my ascent towards the Wasatch Ridge on the the Pine Cone Ridge Trail, this trail increased in grade and traffic due to being multi directional (yes, there is traffic on these trails).

Looking deep into one of the many Canyons before topping out just below 10000'

I finally hit the ridge after 1.5 hours of climbing, the views toward the back country at 9600' was exactly what my soul needed. From here I choose several less traveled trails with my hopes of making it to Jupiter Peak.  This Peak was were my body first experience floating in 3' powder, surfing on my snowboard behind my buddy Matt.  Without Matt this time and being solo I was a little more cautious on my descent, even so I still flatted  the tube equiped rental giving me the feeling I was going to get stranded in some foreign place.  After fixing the flat and descending some more trails the views reminded me that I was safe from getting lost.

The riding in Park City was fun but I must admit my desire for moreremote single track was never satisfied. I know this place can provide, I just need more time!

More to come - Thomas