07/20/15 - Biking Jackson Hole, WY

Grand Teton

To see the GoPro video of the trip click here:  Adventure 2015: Episode 10: Jackson Hole

I have longed to visit Jackson Hole for a long time.  The reputation of the ski resort here is legendary.  Upon cresting Tahoe Pass I got my first glimpse and I was excited!  Before I could drive down into town, however, I noticed there were some trails that started at the top of the pass built specifically for mountain biking.  I jumped on my bike and started up the Blacks Canyon trail and was immediately pleased by the slope and the total lack of loose rocks!  A couple miles in I turned on to the Lithium

Random Geyser near Old Faithful

trail which was restricted to downhill bike traffic only.  The guide described this trail as having a really gnarly and technical ridge with high consequences for falling.  This sounded to me like exactly the trail I needed to test myself on!  The Lithium trail did not disappoint.  I was able to ride through all the technical sections without any issues and there were even a few small gap jumps built in to the straightaways.  My stoke level was high!  The ridge section was so steep, and my legs were so tired from all the climbing I had done in the last few days I had to take a break before I ventured in to the "jump zone."  The zone, I discovered, is full of big gap jumps, rock drops, and even one large bridge.  I was not expecting such devotion to trail building out in the middle of the forest.  The Lithium trail was almost as well built as the trails at Northstar resort!  In the jump zone I had to scout a couple drops and take a few tries at some of the jumps.  One of the jumps, however, was big enough that even on my second

Lower Yellowstone Falls

attempt I didn't think I had enough speed so I just bypassed it.  After reaching the bottom I began the long climb back up the Old Pass Trail.  As I was riding I saw a trail veer off labeled "Powerline Jump Trail."  I couldn't just pass this by so I turned in.  The entrance to the trail is a long ride down a fallen tree trunk.  I managed to balance down it clean on my first attempt, which I have historically struggled to do.  As I went down the jump trail I was taking things relatively easy since I hadn't seen any of the features before.  I managed to nearly crash on the landing of one jump, then roll my bike right in to the gap of the next one.  I endo'd, but thankfully didn't hurt myself.  The trail was so fun, and so short, that I rode back up and did it again.  My second time through was much cleaner and much more fun.  Later that day I met up with an old friend I hadn't seen since high school.  George has lived in Jackson for ten years and since he was already planning on going for a ride that afternoon I joined him.  We rode on the Cash Creek trail system which was a joy for my worked legs.  There was not any extended climbing, just some short ups followed by short, fun descents.  I managed to clip my handlebars on a tree trunk and endo pretty hard, and then took a corner too wide and lay my bike down, but all in all, had a great time.  George let me take a very welcome and much needed shower before we went out on the town.  We started at a restaurant called Locals, which was jam packed on a Friday night.  It reminded me of the Red Lion in the middle of the winter!  Afterward we went next door to a Jackson staple, the Million Dollar Cowboy.  I love this place.  I

Lower Yellowstone Falls

need to come back with a lady on my arm because there is a big dance floor and live country music!  Since I didn't have a lady, and I was too tired to try and find one, we just hung out and caught up on the years.  The next day I headed up in to the Grand Teton National Park and did some hiking.  The Tetons remind me somewhat of Chamonix so I was missing Bucky, my climbing partner from last summer.  I did go on a few hikes, but the whole time looked longingly at the jagged peaks which were, for the time, inaccessible.  I will certainly come back here some day to attempt the Grand Traverse route.  The next day I headed up into Yellowstone, another place I had never visited before.  I have to say, despite the crowds, Yellowstone is awesome.  All the hot springs, and geysers, and waterfalls, and bubbling mud pools, and steam rising everywhere!  This place is out of a fairy tale!  Lower Yellowstone falls was especially striking.  I was standing there taking some pictures when all of the sudden the sun came out from behind a cloud and lit up a rainbow in the mist from the falls.  Gorgeous!  I had to start over taking all my pictures!  I am back in Jackson now, wrapping up the last of my journey.  Tomorrow I plan to be back in Vail, and back to a (somewhat) normal life.  It has been a remarkable journey.  I am very glad that I decided to stay stateside and explore all the national wonders that are so near to home!  Good one America.

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

07/16/15 - Biking Southern Idaho

Sunset in Eastern Oregon

To see the GoPro video of the trip click here:  Adventure 2015: Episode 9: Southern Idaho

I abbreviated my trip in San Francisco, but I didn't want to head straight back to Colorado through areas I had already visited.  I decided to take a northern route up through Oregon and into Idaho.  I was not disappointed.  I arrived in Boise and immediately like the feel of the city.  It is a very small city, but it has enough space on the roads that I was practically the only one on the highway in to town.  If you know how much I hate traffic, you know this was a very welcome relief!  I headed through the city up to a trailhead which was much closer to town than I would have expected.  Boise ends very abruptly at the foothills and they are full of trails!  I camped out that night next to some kids that had come up to the overlook to admire the city lights and make out.  The next morning I hit

Overlooking Boise

the trails.  I noticed that they were very sandy, which made it difficult to climb.  The descent down the 8th Street Motorcycle trail, however, was really fun.  It was full of bermed corners, fast straight-aways and little whoopdy jumps.  I spent one more night here before driving to Sun Valley.  The first thing I noticed about Sun Valley is that there are hardly any trees!  The hills and mountains, if they get snow, would be like thousands of acres of the Back Bowls at Vail!  I might just have to come back in the winter and see.  Since I got to the valley fairly early in the morning I decided to hit up a trail a little down valley from the ski areas.  It was called Cold Creek and the trails were just finished being rebuilt a couple weeks earlier after a wildfire had devastated the area.  The Cold Creek trails are great for beginner and intermediate bikers, but I found myself a little bored.  I headed further up valley and found a trail system called Adam's Gulch.  These trails were much more to my liking!  The climb up Adam's Gulch is pretty steep, but not terrible.  The descent is a pretty wild ride.  My hands started to ache a little towards the bottom (called the Pork Chop Section) because it is full of very tight switchbacks after short straightaways.  A biking guide I have says that no trip to Sun Valley is complete without a trip to the Bald Mountain trails.  They have two flow trails which make

up the entirety of their bike park so I didn't bother buying a lift ticket.  I figured I could ride the 5 mile Bald Mountain trail up to the top no problem.  What I didn't consider was that the trail climbs 3,300' in those five miles!  It was very steep and full of loose rock so I found myself walking in a couple areas and being generally exhausted by the time I arrived at the summit a couple hours later.  It reminded me a lot of a ride a few years ago from Camp Hale in Colorado up to Kokomo Pass, just inhumanely steep and loose.  Once at the summit I decided to do the flow trail rated as more difficult since I figured there would be bigger jumps and steeper lines.  I was dreadfully mistaken.  The Saddle Up trail is a series of tight bermed switchback after tight bermed switchback.  I think there were two straightaways of any note on the whole thing!  When I got to the top of the gondola I was frustrated, and then when I found that the only trail that you can take to leave the area was hikers only I was even more frustrated!  I downloaded the gondola knowing there was no way I was going to make the climb up to the top again so I called it a day.  I've heard that the Warm Springs trail from the summit is pretty fun, so maybe I will come back and try it out someday, but all in all, I was disappointed with the riding on Bald Mountain.  On a positive note, I was very excited to get to Jackson Hole, about four hours away.  I had never been to Jackson Hole and was excited to see if it lived up to its reputation!

The Sawtooth Range from the top of Bald Mountain

07/14/15 - Thoughts on Faith, Love, and Scripture

I have been reading a lot lately.  For those who know me personally they know that this really means A LOT.  Recently, however, my reading has been not of novels for pleasure, but of philosophy and theology for edification (I hope!).  I felt a strong desire today to get some of my thoughts out into the ether so that I don't fall into folly.  Hopefully these thoughts reflect the truth, but if not, I would be glad of reproof.

• The only acceptable answer, when asked by a loved one, to the question, "why do you love me?" is FAITH!  If you love is truly unconditional then you cannot have reasons for it.  If the reasons were to cease to exist then the love would also cease.  Therefore unconditional love is indefensible; it is incomprehensible.  There are no reasons, only faith, belief that the love is good and that it will continue.  To occur to a lover to put up a defense for his love is to admit that it is not absolute.  There are objections against the love, and from the objections proceeds the defense.  This is to say that a lover concedes he is not in love!  To defend your absolute love is to betray and deny it.  In another sense, how can we defend God? Or Christianity?  If He is truly so far above us that His totality in incomprehensible then to give reasons for why we believe is to deny His mystery.  Only through faith in the incomprehensible can we be victorious.  Faith is attack and victory, not defense.
• Christianity is therefore incomprehensible.  The fact that God loves us unconditionally cannot ever make sense.  It is unreasonable, indefensible, and yet it IS!  Therefore the only way to accept Christianity is through faith.  How can you defend the indefensible?  You cannot; it is absurd.  Faith is absurd, but it is also joy, peace, hope, and love.
• In this way Christianity is offensive.  Faith is so far above reason that men scoff.  This is too much.  They will to deceive themselves by reason and logic.  God exists, however, outside of this.  God exists in the realm of the impossible.  Not the very improbable, but the absolutely impossible.  Faith can only occur as a leap.  Only when one reaches the brink of the impossible, but then goes further.  Leaps into the void of impossibility and has faith that God will catch him there!  The practical, or sensuous man, if he ever reaches the brink, will turn away and say, "there is no reason for this.  This is impossible.  I resign myself to the brink and will go no further."
• To withhold judgement about Christ is nonsense, it is a delusion.  Christ does not leave us room to do so.  He says, "thou shalt believe,"  in His divinity, in the forgiveness of sins, in the resurrection.  To withhold judgement is to treat Christ as a matter of indifference, but the matter that Christ (God) preached to mankind signifies that "thou shalt" have an opinion on the matter.  This decision, that He exists or has existed, or not, is the decision for the whole of existence.  It is a denial of the divinity of Christ when one denies that Christ has the right to require a person to haven an opinion.  In essence, no opinion is a negative opinion.  If a man says, "I will not affirm anything about Christ, either yes or no."  Then one can respond, "well then, do you have an opinion about whether you SHALL have an opinion on this or not?"  If the response is, "yes," then that man has trapped himself.  If the response is, "no," then Christ condemns him all the same for Christ requires that he shall have an opinion about Christianity and also about Christ, that no one shall presume to treat Christ as a mere curiosity.
• I don't believe that God is concerned with foul words, but with how individual words are used.  Words are a human invention, and so humans ascribe to them value.  I believe, in the tongues of angles, so to speak, in God's own language, there are no such things as foul words.  For humans, however, to say, "I f***ing love God!" is offensive only so much as it offends the English speaking listener who has been trained that the word f*** is offensive, but the sentiment is a holy one!  On the other hand, to say, "I have no opinion about Christ, he is a mere curiosity that has no bearing on my daily life."  Now that, I think, is offensive to God.  I am not saying that we should go about using what culture has judged to be foul words, because to give offense to others is wrong, but only that God cares not about the individual words, but how they are used.  In essence, the state of the heart.
• The way I have hitherto read the verse in James, "show me your faith without deeds and I will show you my faith by what I do," has had the negative effect on me that I do not have enough deeds to be saved!  For a life of faith can only be followed by a life of virtue.  In this mindset I have tried to live a more virtuous life, and failed, when I should have had more faith.  For even in failing to be virtuous, by faith I know that I am forgiven and can humbly accept that I am sinful and in every moment in need of God's grace.  But to live a life only of virtue, without faith, a man becomes prideful.  God's forgiveness is not necessary.  Then, if one falls into sin, or folly, they say, "I cannot forgive myself," or, "God can never forgive me!"  This is a stance of pride.  Self-love so great that I am too good of a person to behave in this way and thus despair.  But sin is not such a stumbling block to the faithful, for they know that the impossible is true.  That God loves them unconditionally regardless of deeds.  Thus virtue is not the opposite of sin, but faith is.  "Faith without deeds is dead."  This is a terrifying thought!  For when can I have done enough deeds to prove my faith is genuine?  But this is the incomprehensible, that even though I can never do enough deeds to prove my faith, I still carry on, believing that God loves me anyway, forgives me, and forgets my sin.  Only by living in faith can one live in humility before God, and thus can true virtue be realized.
• I suppose that it comes to this.  Is the Bible, as we know it, true?  Does it actually relate the words and deeds of Christ historically?  If this question is dismissed then you are essentially saying that God is unknowable and that the Bible is full of lies.  For the Bible, as with all holy scriptures, very simply claims to be God's revelation of who He is, at least as far as our finite minds can understand Him.  The existence of scriptures, if not only human lies, is to relate that God does want to be known.  And if God is omnipotent and wants to be known; then how could He not keep the truth about Himself intact?  I think it is impossible that God would spread His truth, mingled with lies, throughout all the scriptures that claim to be His revelation, then leave it to such finite and corruptible minds as ours to sift through the lies and find only truth.  I think that a god like this is a mad man who treats our lives as an experiment, or a plaything.  I want nothing to do with a god such as this.  No, if there is a God, and He wants to be known, then the TRUTH is out there, in ONE place, available to all for discovery.  Either this or there is no God, or only a god who does not want to be known; which, for all practical purposes, is the same thing.  A god who does not want to be known would have no personality and hold no stake in nature.  It would be, as some pagans believed, as if it just sneezed one day and the universe popped out.  Who cares?  So either there is no God, or the there is a God and the truth is out there for us to discover.  And this we MUST do.  So we must come to a conclusion about the veracity of all the scriptures.  As regards the Bible we must make a decision about whether or not Christ is a true representation.  If so, then we must make a decision about whether he is God, a liar, or a mad man.  I, for one, believe that Christ is God.  I can find no reason that the scriptures are lies, or that Christ is a liar.  I have found reasons to believe the Bible is an accurate representation of history.  I can find no reason to believe that God loves me, that He sent His son to die for me, that He raised Him from the dead in glory.  This I trust in faith, this is unreasonable, this is glorious!  I can find no reason to believe otherwise.

07/10/15 - Biking San Francisco, CA

To see the GoPro video of the trip click here:  Adventure 2015: Episode 8: San Francisco, CA

I have a friend named Kelly who lives in San Francisco.  Since I was only a few hours away and I hadn't seen her in a few years I had to make the trip.  Before I drove in to the city limits, and since Kelly was at work, I decided to try out some of the biking North of the city.  I chose to ride in the Tennessee Valley because there is a trail called Miwok that was supposed to have the most technical riding in Marin county.  I started off down a wide road and made it down to the Pacific Ocean.  I hadn't seen this ocean since I was in Costa Rica about three years ago so I made a point to go and dip my hand in the water to say hello!  I continued riding and found that although there are a multitude of singletrack trails in the area, most are closed to bikers.  I continued riding on the road and enjoying the beautiful scenery of the Pacific coast until I joined up with the Miwok trail and got excited for some technical singletrack.  I was quickly disappointed, however, to find a very smooth trail.  I must have been on the wrong section of the Miwok.  In the meantime Kelly got off work so I headed toward San Francisco and got to drive across the Golden Gate Bridge.  San Francisco is a cool, if

confusing city.  Because it is so hilly I found myself winding around like a snake through its streets trying to find Kelly's apartment.  Once there Kelly and I made short time of catching up.  I was in

desperate need of a shower and Kelly was only too willing to oblige!  The next day I walked around the neighborhood for awhile until I was hungry for lunch.  Upon getting to my car I found that I had a parking ticket!  Apparently I had the bad fortune to park in a place where it was illegal only between noon and two on the second Wednesday of the month, between noon and two on the second Wednesday of the month!  That night Kelly wanted to take me to a pub where they had a trivia night.  I am a huge fan of trivia pub nights!  Since it was only the two of us we qualified for "small team" consideration and I thought our chances were good.  Of all the categories we were most apprehensive for the music round.  Of all the rounds, however, that was the only one we managed to score perfectly!  It probably had to do with the quiz master's fortuitous selection of mostly 90's rock, which was right up my alley.  The next day I was feeling lazy so I turned on the TV and discovered a show called The Wire.  Kelly had all of the episodes and I did nothing the rest of the day but watch all of season one.  It is a really addictive show.

That night Kelly's boyfriend Paul got home from a business trip in Virginia and didn't have to work the next day.  Paul and I went for a ride just a little bit North of where I had ridden a few days before.  Although the trails were not any more technical, there was a lot more singletrack so I was happy.  After parting ways with Paul I headed North up highway 1 to Punta Reyes.  I hiked about a mile down to the shore and took a nice swim in the ocean.  The water was certainly cold, but a little less cold than I was expecting so I was pleased.  After sitting on the beach and listening to the waves for awhile I hit the road again.  My plan was to head to Annadel State Park near Santa Rosa and ride some of the trails there.  When I got to the park, however, I found all the campsites full for the weekend.  Since I was already planning on cutting my trip short and turning around here I decided to just head all the way back to Lake Tahoe.  I stopped to fill up with gas, and seeing the inside of the station closed, went to relieve my bladder behind the station.  When I got back to my car there was a police officer there checking out my licence plate and demanding to see my ID!

"What were you doing behind the building?"  he asked.

"Going to the bathroom," I replied.

"Why didn't you ask the attendant to let you in the bathroom?  He's still inside."

"He was counting the cash, they are closed, and I didn't want to bother him."

"Is marijuana legal in Colorado?" He asked while looking at my plates.

"Yes."

"Do you have any marijuana in your car?"

"No."

"Anything illegal?"

"No."

"Anything illegal behind the station?"

"No."

All the while he is checking my ID with dispatch to make sure I didn't have a warrant or anything.  He started to ask my about my criminal history and kept asking over and over if I had anything illegal in my car.  Once dispatch told him I was clean he looked at me slant-eyed and asked where I was heading.

"Lake Tahoe," I said.

"From Colorado?" He asked incredulously.

"I am heading there from San Francisco."

Finally he let me go, giving me suspicious glances all the while and heading behind the station to look for "anything illegal."  I don't like cops.  I spent the night in Lake Tahoe and debated whether to head straight back home or head North up to Idaho and explore the areas around Boise.  Since I have come so far, I reasoned, I had better go to Idaho!

07/06/15 - Biking North Lake Tahoe

Marlette Lake (left) and Lake Tahoe (right)

To see the GoPro video of the trails click here:  Adventure 2015: Episode 7: North Lake Tahoe

I can honestly say that Lake Tahoe has been my favorite place to ride so far on this journey.  There are so many trails, and they are all high quality.  The North side of Lake Tahoe was no exception.  The Flume trail is widely known, and despite its intermediate ranking I had to give it a go.  I have to say that the Flume trail itself was pretty boring.  The views, however, were excellent.  I rode to the Flume trail from Tahoe Meadows on the Tahoe Rim Trail and all of that was some excellent and fun trail riding.  The next stop was Northstar California ski resort.  I knew they had a bike park and I really wanted to give it a try as well as explore another of Vail Resorts' properties.  After getting shut down by a couple days of rain I woke up to blue skies on the 5th.  Rather than ride up to the

Sand Harbor, NV from the Tahoe Rim Trail

summit and maybe get to sample a couple of the trails I decided to buy a lift pass for $52 (no discount, by the way, for Vail Resorts employees, lame).  The purchase of the lift pass was well worth it.  I was able to ride all the double black and black trails and some of the blue trails.  There were so many excellent descents I managed to use up all of the battery on my GoPro for the first time this trip.  Unfortunately some of the best trails I rode came after the battery died, but I think I got some good footage none-the-less.  My favorite trails there are Sticks and Stones, Gypsy, and Boondocks.  Sticks and Stones and Boondocks are full of rock drops, jumps, super techy sections, and super smooth berms.  Gypsy is full of jumps and wooden bridges and ramps to drops that got my adrenaline pumping.  Unfortunately my GoPro battery had died before I rode Boondocks or Gypsy.  I managed to wreck myself pretty hard once (also no footage), and less hard a bunch of other times.  Thanks to Drew Barber for loaning me some Kali knee pads so I didn't destroy my legs too much!  I am most definitely planning on going back to Lake Tahoe some day, and riding at Northstar again is high on my list of to-do's!  I finished up my time at

Nearly ripped my nose off at Northstar

Lake Tahoe by meeting up with a friend from Vail (Kim aka Thunder Bunny aka Honey Badger) who is hiking the Pacific Crest Trail and just so happened to be arriving in Lake Tahoe on the 6th.  Since I was wrecked by all my crashes at Northstar, and she had hiked 1,200 miles in the last few months we decided to make it a beach day.  We jumped off the dock a couple of times in Emerald Bay (beautiful) and finished the day by watching the sunset from Regan Beach (more beautiful) and falling asleep under the stars (my heart is breaking from all the beauty!)

Sun over the sand at Regan Beach

Sunset from Regan Beach (thanks to Kim for the photo!)

07/01/15 - Biking Yosemite and South Lake Tahoe

Yosemite Falls

Check out the video of the week here: Adventure 2015: Episode 6: South Lake Tahoe
As I mentioned in my last post, Lake Tahoe is just super.  But before I get to that I have to, briefly, address Yosemite.  Yosemite is beautiful, and I'm sure if I had been intent on backpacking and buying a bear proof food tin, I would have had a different experience.  I did drive all the way through the park from East to West and then down South to the heart of the Yosemite Valley.  Upon arriving in the main valley I was greeted by stop and go traffic and people scurrying around like ants.  I stopped to grab a few blurry pictures and got the heck out of there.  I drove North for about three hours before spotting a sign for a campsite and stopping for the night.  After sleeping in my car on the side of the road for the last week I wasn't going to take any chances about not finding a site as I got closer to Lake Tahoe.  After spending a few days just enjoying the woods, reading, and generally recharging my batteries, I continued on to Kirkwood.  I was interested in stopping in Kirkwood only because it is owned by Vail and I would like to ski here when/if it ever gets snow again.  Not knowing anything about the biking here I was not impressed to see a sign bragging about 12 miles of singletrack trails.  I quickly rode all twelve of those miles along with some climbing up the service roads in between.  Nothing spectacular for my first ever biking in California.

Kirkwood

 I continued on to South Lake Tahoe.  My first thought as I rolled in to town was, "oh, poop."  South Lake Tahoe is weird.  The state line between Nevada and California passes right through the middle of it and looking into the Nevada side is like looking in to a miniature Las Vegas.  If you don't know my feelings about Las Vegas let me tell you now, it stinks.  Literally and figuratively.  So seeing a bunch of neon lights atop casinos made me immediately uncomfortable.  I turned around and headed back to the California side.  Checking my very handy Singletracks.com phone app I found a trailhead nearby.  Thinking I would just camp there for the night I struck up a conversation with a gentleman who was loading his bike on to his car.  He worked for the local trail organization and they had just finished building a new jump and a couple new bermed corners on one of the trails in the zone and he thought I just might have enough daylight left to ride it.  Thanking him I geared up and headed out.  The ride up is on a very steep paved road.  It is not much fun.  The descent was totally worth it.  I started on the Armstrong connector trail and was pleased by all the fun technical

Star Lake

sections spaced well between some super fast flowy sections.  I joined with the Corral trail where I was expecting the one jump and a few berms and was surprised to find a whole series of table jump lines and lots of perfectly built berms!  Unfortunately the light had nearly disappeared by this point, so the video is garbage, but the 10 mile trail was spectacular.  Encouraged by my find I woke up early the next morning and greeted the few people that were milling about the trailhead.  One was a guy named Matt and just so happened to be planning to ride the same trail as me.  We joined forces and set out to tackle Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, a ~20 mile loop.  Matt and I have virtually the same climbing speed.  You may have an idea how nice it is to find a complete stranger who climbs at nearly the exact speed as you, but if you don't, it is glorious.  The climb up had the perfect amount of technical sections, just enough to keep my brain engaged, and not so much that it got exhausting.  At the top we grabbed a snack and prepared for the descent.  I was super happy to have my new dropper seat post as we rode along the ridge for about five miles.  Being able to raise and lower my seat along with the undulations of the trail without stopping was super convenient.  As the descent began in earnest I was, once again, delighted to discover that Matt rode at nearly the same speed as me!  The descent was full of rocky

but rideable technical sections dispersed between super fast and flowy sections.  All in all I was exhilarated!  Matt and I are nearly perfect riding partners and plan to ride again in Downieville this weekend.  The next day I decided to do a ~40 mile loop that combines the Cold Creek, Star Lake, Tahoe Ridge, Van Sickle, TPT, and Powerline trails.  This trail was also super fun and scenic and rides through California and Nevada.  After working up quite a sweat, and noticing for the first time that my shins were caked in black dirt, I finally hit the beach and took a swim in Lake Tahoe.  The shallows of Lake Tahoe are really warm; surprisingly and delightfully warm.  After discovering this I decided to spend the whole next day on the beach and let my legs recover from the nearly 100 miles of trail riding I had done in the last three days.  From here I

am planning on biking some trails on the North side of the lake before I meet up with Matt again to ride the famous Downieville Downhill.

Olmsted Point, Yosemite National Park

06/22/15 - Biking Park City, UT

For the Youtube GoPro video of the Wasatch Crest Trail click here: Adventure 2015: Episode 4: Park City, UT
For the Youtube GoPro video of the lower Park City trails click here: Adventure 2015: Episode 5: PCMR, UT

After taking a few weeks off to both mend my dislocated clavicle and also serve as a counselor at a middle school Christian camp back in Colorado, I hit the road again.  My first impression of Park City was that it was very confusing.  I couldn't seem to find the base area and felt like the signage could be a little more clear.  It took a couple days, but I eventually got the hang of the layout.  My second impression of Park City was that it is very cramped.  I didn't realize just how small the Wasatch mountains are.  Deer Valley, Park City, Canyons, Brighton, Solitude, Alta, and Snowbird are right next to each other.  DV, PC, and Canyons practically share ski area boundaries!  Due to the cramped nature of the area I found only one fee based campsite on the opposite side of Guardsman Pass, and it was full!  Not to be deterred, I found a pull-off near the top of the pass, parked my car, and just slept in my car for the week.  Despite the camping situation, I was excited to start sampling the ~200 miles of singletrack in the area.  My first day I decided to tackle the Wasatch Crest Trail.  A 30 mile endeavor which I was slightly nervous about considering it would be my first ride after the dislocated clavicle.  The first mile went well, some minor soreness near the sternum, but nothing big, so I started to let the brakes go a little more.  The Wasatch Crest Trail is very pretty.  You can see down in to Park City and all the way to Salt Lake City at points. Salt Lake was much closer than I

expected!  I dropped off the crest and in to the Canyons resort where I met up with the Mid-Mountain Trail, which extends all the way from Canyons (and beyond!) to Deer Valley.  The trail crosses through the middle of the Canyons bike park, so I got to take one run down on the intermediate trail.  It was filled with mid-sized table jumps and was really fun.  I found myself a little to heavy on the brakes and not quite clearing some of the tables, but it was good to get the feel of air back under me again. I stopped for a quick snack and for some reason unbeknownst to me, my rear brake quit working!  I was debating riding all the way down in to town or just continuing on Mid-Mountain until I could met a trail that climbed back up to Guardsman Pass.  With the brake development I decided to ride into town, replace the brakes, buy a trail map, and then deal with the 10 mile climb.  I found a shop that had a rear brake in stock and went to get a more substantial lunch while I waited.  I got a call while at Subway from the bike shop and apparently at some point in time my top tube had cracked about half way around!  I can only assume this happened in Virgin.  I quickly decided that I would have them just finish the brake job and I could probably limp along for the next few rides before I bought a new bike.  New brake installed, tummy filled, trail map in hand, I began the climb.  The first three miles or so went well and I made it back up to the Mid-Mountain trail; then calamity.  I clipped a rock perfectly with my rear derailleur and snapped it in half.  I pulled off the derailleur, shortened the chain, and tried to continue for awhile with a make-shift single speed.  This proved ineffective since the chain kept either bouncing down and getting so much slack I couldn't pedal, or bouncing up and getting so taut I was worried the chain was going to snap.  Finally I just grit my teeth and started hiking.  It was a long seven mile hike pushing my bike along and I made it to my car at around 8pm!  I estimate that I left my car at about 10am that morning so it was quite a long day for my first day back on my bike after such a traumatic injury!  It just so happened that one of the local bike shops was sponsoring a free bike demo the very next day.  So, counting my lucky stars, I rode Specialized, Rocky Mountain, and Trek enduro style bicycles around the lower mountain trails and decided that I couldn't decide between them.  They were all excellent and all major upgrades over my beaten down Trek.  The trails I rode weren't much to write about.  I headed to the library the next day and did a considerable amount of online research on the various enduro style bikes and, after having demo'd so many the day before, as well as a Giant Reign in Moab, I decided just to buy the best deal.  I found a Giant Reign in Park City and a Trek Slash in Salt Lake that were both about $3k.  The Giant was a little more, but came with a dropper post.  I liked the Reign when I rode it in Moab, and I really didn't want to drive an hour a half round trip to Salt Lake so I just decided to buy the Giant.  My wallet was now $3,500 lighter and I was starting to feel a little down about the whole road trip idea.  After sleeping in my car on the side of the road for a week, coupled with the fact that my funds were dwindling much more rapidly than I had planned, I was starting to feel like scrapping the whole rest of the trip and just head home.  It was about a seven hour drive home, or an eleven hour drive to my next planned stop in Yosemite.  This also contributed to my lack of enthusiasm for continuing on.  I called a couple of friends to vent my frustrations and feelings and they inspired me enough to get me off my butt and on my way to Yosemite.  The road trip continues.  Of all the fifty miles or so of trails I rode in the Park City area they were all fun, but all very smooth and mellow.  I can't say I am itching to get back there and explore more, but it was worth the trip.  I am now in Lake Tahoe and very happy that I decided to continue on.  Lake Tahoe is SUT (or really, really, super excellent for those other than Frosty)!  Trip report to continue in a few days from here!

05/30/15 - Biking Virgin, UT

To see the video of the trip click here: Adventure 2015: Episode 3, Virgin, UT
Or to see Drew's (better) video click here: Virgin Rampage

Looking toward Zion NP from campsite

When I left Green River I was feeling pretty good about my freeride capabilities.  I had done the biggest drops ever in my life, hadn't gotten injured, and had a ton of fun!  My bike needed some new parts and pieces, but I knew it wouldn't be much.  So I loaded up the car and headed out.  I stopped for gas and grub along the way and noticed my bike was leaning on the roof rack ridiculously.  Like at a 45° angle.  Upon inspection I noticed that my Thule crossbar had rusted out and snapped in half!  I shifted the bike mount over to span the break, moved my bike over to the other mount, and prayed that it would hold the rest of the way to Virgin.  With yet another item on the shopping list, and a long delay, I ended up in Virgin.  The next day Drew and I headed to Zion Cycles in nearby Springdale.  It was a tiny little shop and I was worried that they would not have all the parts I needed.  Despite the size, however, we had hit the jackpot.  I replaced my three broken spokes, got a new rear derailleur shifter, new cables and housing, and a new crossbar for the roof rack!  With my bike once again in working order we headed to the old Red Bull Rampage site to scope some lines and maybe do a little bit of riding.  After hiking around the site for about two hours my confidence in my freeride abilities dwindled substantially.  I would guess that 80% of the terrain there was totally unrideable for me.  Drew and I rode down the easiest route, but only from about half way up.  The

Old Red Bull Rampage site

jumps and drops and gaps of this place are seriously intimidating.  I have been watching the Rampage competitions for years, but watching this stuff on TV does nothing to impress the true scale on the viewer.  The pros make it look so effortless that the 20' drop over a 10' gap onto a 5' wide, two bike length landing looks rideable for mere mortals.  As daunted as I felt, and with minor healing wounds from Green River, I decided to spend the next few days doing some small jumps, but mostly just reading.  Once my body felt closer to 100% I decided to start to try to conquer some of the less intimidating features.  We found some super fun spine and jump lines that I warmed up on and started to get in the groove again.  I noticed that I just have no stomach for gaps.  I can only bring myself to do a 6' gap, max.  Drew had lined up some sizeable ones, especially one in nearby Gershon that crossed a road.  One day he had finally screwed up the courage enough to give it a go.  He parked his car right in the middle of the gap and hiked up to the top.  After a couple run-ins to gauge speed he was ready to go.  He started dropping in, he speed looked good, but about 20' from the lip he lost his nerve and hit the brakes.  Unfortunately, 20' was not quite long enough to stop.  His front wheel went off the lip and he nearly tumbled the 15' down to the road below, but managed to hold on!  After he took a few

minutes to regroup he hiked back up to the top.  Resolved this time, Drew took off the lip, soared about 20' through the air, over his truck, and landed perfectly on the far side!  Initially Drew was thinking he might give the jump a few tries, but after the one successful attempt, adrenaline pumping, relief mounting, he decided one was enough!  Back at the Rampage site we found a couple new lines that we could ride and had a ton of fun.  The more I explored the area, and the more pro lines we found, the more respect and sheer awe I am of what the pros are riding.  It absolutely blew my mind more than once.  The biggest drop I managed to do was about 15' and had a perfect landing, wide and without any gap to clear.  Feeling now like we had scouted all the lines we were going to be able to actually ride we got to the "serious" work of filming.  Drew is a videographer.  He is always thinking about the light and camera angles to try and make the best video possible.  Prior to this trip I had just strapped my GoPro to my helmet mount and rode off.  But after watching Drew's footage from Green River I knew I needed to step up my game.  I traded Drew some pain killers for his GoPro chesty mount and a unicorn helmet mount that sat out in front of my face and looked backward.  The unicorn mount was really awkward and

distracting.  The minor weight of the GoPro felt abnormally heavy on my head sitting 18" in front of my face.  But I gave it a try on one line and liked the footage.  I loved the chesty mount though.  Even a standard helmet mount feels awkwardly heavy, but the chesty has no such drawback.  There was one hip jump that Drew and I had hit quite a few times.  I felt really comfortable on it, and I started getting more air than I ever had before.  After filming the jump with the chesty, tripod, and pole mounts I decided to give the unicorn mount a try.  On my first attempt I landed very heavy on the front wheel, but managed to ride away.  I knew I could do better and I also wanted to whip my bike a little.  The second attempt seemed like it was going much like the first.  I knew I was going to land heavy on my front wheel again, but I thought I was going to ride away.  I was wrong.  After my front wheel hit I immediately went over the handlebars and straight toward the ground.  Having endo'd hundreds of times in my life I have learned how to land without hurting myself, but the unicorn mount caused me concern.  Idiotically enough, I tried to modify my crash landing procedure by going more to the side than straight over in order not to snap the mount.  My right shoulder slammed into the ground hard.  Way too hard.  I rolled through on to my feet and started trying to walk it off.  The pain in my right shoulder and clavicle region was only getting worse.  I felt

along the clavicle, hoping it wasn't broken.  To my intense relief, everything felt connected.  I continued to walk, feeling relieved that I wasn't seriously injured.  As the pain mounted, however, I started to move my right arm around and the sickening feeling of bone rubbing on bone was apparent.  My right clavicle had dislocated from my sternum and every time I moved my arm it would slide and rotate around.  Since I had done this exact thing to my left clavicle in high school I knew three things.  First, it was going to be excruciatingly painful.  Second, there was no surgery, so there was no reason to go to the hospital.  Third, I was going to be shelved for about a month.  Drew had run back to the car for a minute so I laid on the ground and waited for him to come back.  As soon as he saw me he knew something was wrong.  I was lying on the ground about 20' away from my bike.  I quickly told him what had happened and that I needed a sling.  He grabbed my bike for me, we walked back to the

campsite.  Drew generously gave me a couple of the painkillers I had traded to him just a few days before.  The pain was so bad that I couldn't breath properly.  The thought raced through my mind that I might have punctured a lung.  I knew that was one of the dangers of a dislocated collarbone.  Since I had also punctured a lung before I knew that the only cure was rest and that a hospital visit was still not necessary.  Of course I was gambling a lot here that there were no other internal injuries, but since I don't have health insurance, I decided to risk it.  Luckily the market in La Verkin had a sling so we didn't have to drive all the way to Hurricane.  As the painkillers started to take effect I was able to breath more normally and my worries about severe internal injuries started to subside.  Luckily I caught the crash on video!  After a day of nothing but sitting and reading and healing, Drew and I took a drive through Zion National Park.  The park is dramatic and beautiful.  We also saw, and got really close to, a herd of big horn sheep.  The next day I was feeling well enough to do a bit of hiking.  We jumped on the canyon shuttle and explored the Narrows, Weeping Rock, and the Emerald Pools.  The more we explored the more disappointed I became.  My original plan was to spend the next week rock climbing in this canyon with my friend Andy.  That dream will have to happen another time.  After another day of sitting around and reading I decided that my arm had healed enough that I would be able to make the 8 hour drive back to Vail.  Drew and I parted ways, hopefully to meet up again somewhere in Washington or British Columbia later this summer.  I was heading back to Vail for a week of rest and healing before spending a week as a counselor at a middle school Christian camp.

05/15/15 - Biking Green River, Utah

You can check out the Youtube video of the trip here:  Adventure 2015: Episode 2: Green River, UT or see Drew Barber's much more professional video here:  GreenRiverFreeride

After leaving Moab I headed to #GreenRiver and met up with Drew Barber to try our hands at some downhill freeriding.  Neither Drew nor I have any real experience with this style of riding so the first day involved a lot of crashes and a lot of real slow lines.  The more comfortable we got the bigger the lines we tried and the faster we rode.  For Drew, this meant some really sick, clean lines.  For me this meant a couple sick, clean lines, but mostly this meant a lot of really big crashes!  For so long the only big drops

I have done have had pretty flat landings.  This even resulted in me having to buy a new fork in Moab!  The habit I have of really bunny hopping and keeping my bike flat in the air was a big problem on these big drops with nice, steep landings.  I took a couple really hard spills on my butt, but nothing too painful at first.  I have to say, I was a little nervous about how the new #Rockshox #Lyric fork I bought in Moab was going to handle everything.  I have to say, though, that it crushed everything I threw at it!  Every day we explored more of this outrageous zone and found more and more lines to try and ride.  I definitely improved on my jumps and big drops during the four days of riding.  One of our biggest goals of the stay was to attempt a rock drop that involved about a four foot gap jump on to the rock and then a twelve foot drop off the rock to a nice steep landing.  My first attempt I landed way on my bike tire and went straight down to my butt.  The second attempt I overcompensated and landed slightly on my front wheel, but not so much that I wasn't able to ride away.  Unfortunately, as I was riding away my weight was a little too far forward and my front tire dug in to the dirt a little and I started to drift to the right.  Of course the right side of the landing had a jumble of rocks that I headed straight for!  I smashed into the rocks which tore three spokes out of my front wheel and badly damaged my right knee.  Luckily I have been borrowing some knee pads from Drew or else my knee would be in much worse shape than it is!  I took the day off riding yesterday and just tried to recover. Drew, on the other hand, rocked everything all week.  I think that he only had one small lay down and otherwise stomped every drop and jump that we attempted. I really need to step up my game.

 Today we are driving down to #Virgin, #Utah for the next leg of the trip.  There is no part of my body right now that isn't at least a little banged up, but I don't think it is going to hold me back from starting to explore the #freeride mecca that is Virgin tomorrow!  I am hoping to redeem myself and start stomping everything too!  Shoutouts to #TrekBicycles, #Giro, #KaliProtectives, and #PearlIzumi, for all the gear that kept me safe and styling!

05/10/15 - Biking Moab, UT

For the Youtube video of the trip click here: Adventure 2015: Episode 1: Moab, Utah

After a long, very busy, and very successful winter it is time for another summer adventure!  This summer I have decided to focus on my mountain biking skills since last summer I focused on my climbing skills.  I am planning on driving to all the top mountain biking destinations in the Western US and exploring all the best trails this region has to offer!  The trip started off in a very familiar destination, Moab, UT.  I have been traveling to Moab twice a year for about 15 years now, and there are still new trails to explore!  This trip I checked three new trails off the list.  I rode the Pothole Arch, Rockstacker, and Jackson trails in the Amasa Back system, the Klonzo trail system, and the Mag 7 trail.  The Rockstacker and Jackson trails are super fun.  There are about two super technical sections on each that were some of the most challenging I have ever ridden.  Cleaning those on the first try left me very stoked for the rest of the week!

Pothole Arch

Jeremy at the Captain Ahab Overlook

 My friends Hailee, Jenn, and Kari arrived from Vail on Thursday night so the next day we started with a much more mellow ride at the Klonzo trail system.  The Klonzo system is a great place to take someone who is a beginner mountain biker.  There aren't any technical sections or steep climbs so it is a great area to build your confidence and get ready for some of the more difficult trails that Moab has to offer.  After Klonze we headed back to camp and awaited the arrival of Candice and Jeremy before we started the second ride of the day.  For our second ride we returned back to the Amasa Back trail system to ride the Hymasa and Captain Ahab trails, a group favorite.  With nasty looking rain clouds on the horizon we packed up our rain gear and rode out from camp.  About 3/4's of the way to the top Kari and Hailee decided to turn at the Lower Ahab cutoff while Jeremy and I continued on to the top.  The rain began right at about the same time we began our descent, but it was only a drizzle.  I think we had ridden down about 200 yards when Jeremy had one of the biggest endo's I have ever seen!  We sat down for about five minutes while he composed himself and then continued on; a little dazed and bruised, but otherwise intact.  We continued to descend while the rain continued to increase in intensity.  About 3/4's of the way down the lightning really started in earnest.  I spotted a little alcove and parked there while I waited for Jeremy to catch up.  We sat there protected from the rain and lightning and debated whether we should try to wait out the storm or just go for it.  Looking at the clouds it didn't seem to me like the storm was going to end any time soon so I told Jeremy we should probably just go for it.  The rest of the descent just got muddier and wetter and my confidence in the traction on the sandstone really began to waver.  I was still able to ride everything, but I approached all off camber sections with much more caution than usual.  Luckily we made it down to camp, soaking wet, but with no further incident.  The girls, however, were mildly panicked by how long it took us to make it back and were starting to make plans on organizing a search party!  The rest of the MMS crew arrived later that night and we made plans to ride the Mag 7 trail

Breaking my fork on the Mag 7

the next day.  The Mag 7 trail starts at the top of the Gemini Bridges road and connects seven singletrack trails along the NW rim of Moab and finishes with the Portal Trail down to the Colorado River.  The start of the Mag 7 is pretty mellow Moab singletrack.  Just some fun and flowy singletrack.  I saw a big toilet bowl drop and decided to break up the monotony and go for it.  Unfortunately I managed to break my fork on the landing of the drop and had to ride the rest of the trail without front suspension!  Once we got on to the Gold Bar trail the action really got started.  The Gold Bar 4x4 road and Gold Bar rim singletrack were chock full of super technical drops and climbs.  I absolutely loved every minute of it, even without front

suspension, but some of our group really had their hands full.  At this point we had been riding for about 16 miles and were about an hour behind schedule so we decided to split up into a fast and slow group so the fast group could get to the bottom and let the shuttle drivers know that we were all OK.  I stayed with the slower group, which I think helped me stay fresh for the uber technical Portal trail.  I had ridden the Portal trail once before but it was about seven years ago.  I had some vague impressions of walking a lot of the trail, but nothing specific.  Once we got on the Portal though, I just kept riding and riding and waiting for the part where

Gnarly Exposure on the Portal Trail

I was going to get super sketched out by the exposure and the technical challenge!  Once I got to the sign that says, "DISMOUNT NOW! DO NOT TRY TO RIDE OVER THIS ROCK!  RIDERS HAVE DIED HERE! 200 FOOT FALL!" I remembered that I was going to be walking for the next 100 yards or so.  But after going over the rock and looking at the trail I just climbed right back on the saddle and kept going!  Through the bottom section the exposure goes away but the trail gets much rockier.  I managed to ride the whole thing while only putting my foot down a couple times so I have either gotten a lot better at riding since my first attempt at the trail, or my head was just more in the game.  Either way, I absolutely love the Mag 7 trail and now want to do it every time I am in Moab!  I dropped my bike off at the #ChiliPepperBikeShop to see if they could rebuild my fork while the rest of the crew rode the Bar M loops.  The next day I rented a bike and we headed up to Porcupine Rim.  In all the years that we have been coming to Moab, somehow Jenn had never ridden

Porcupine Rim Start Group (Me, Hailee, Kari, Jenn)

Porcupine!  I am not sure exactly how that is possible, but today that was going to change!  Hailee was coming to exorcise some demons since the last time she rode this trail she ended up with a 4" gash on her shin.  The weather was very chilly and looked like it might rain so we bundled up and headed down the Upper singletrack section.  There is one really tech double switchback in this section that I have never rode cleanly on the first try, but today that changed!  I managed to clean the first switchback and, while I can't ride the second switchback clean, I managed to ride the drop afterwards on the

first try!  Jenn had somehow, I don't know how this is possible, but somehow had never gotten a flat tire on a trail before.  After riding a mile or two of Porcupine her front tire went flat!  After bagging her first ever flat tire I think Jenn really started to feel like a mountain biker.  She was riding all the drops and technical sections on the trail!  After riding another couple of miles she was charging so hard she got her second flat tire!  The rear one went flat this time, so another quick tube change and we made it the rest of the way down with no incidents and some really solid riding from everyone in the group.  Hailee rode past her demon rock with nary a flinch!  Somehow I managed to snap my rear derailleur cable, but I had gotten the damage waiver on the rental bike so I didn't have to worry about it.  After a successful day on Porcupine I headed to the bike shop to discover that they could not rebuild my fork, however they did have a brand new fork that they would sell to me for 40% off, which I had no other option but to accept.  So $750 later I now have a brand new fork on my once again fully functioning bike and I am headed to Green River, Utah to ride some natural dirt spines!  I have never really done this style of riding before so I am mostly excited, but a little bit nervous.  Next update to follow in about a week!