SPRINGVILLE BST

Why do people put these signs up when they KNOW this is a trailhead?

I met up with Carson, Keith and Scott at 'The Buckets' in Springville to hit the BST heading North. It was surprisingly dry the whole way. Carson put a hurt on us by trying to keep up with him. Tried Keith's Single speed. I still don't see the point. Call me uneducated. My quads were burned today. I think they need a rest for the week until the Cholla Challenge Sat. Hope it works. Besides the weather forecast looks wet this week. Maybe I'll have to try Kite snowboarding! By the way, anyone got a big kite for sale-for real?

ARANTIX MILES: 2440

P90X, RESUSCITATION, MTB

So what do all these have in common? Nothing except what my last three days have been about.

I headed down to Las Vegas to a conference for an update on critical care and resuscitation. So what did I Learn? There's more of a push for 1:1 PRBC and Plasma transfusion in massive trauma....Ahh- never mind.

The key was I went down with Dale an ER colleague and CME buddy of mine who is also a P90X guru and coach. Conferences tend to be pretty sedentary but when I go with Dale we work out any off time we get. The deal this trip was we do a P90X session daily AND we go do some mountain biking every day as well (of course the meetings as well). This was one way to 'save' money by staying out of the Casinos as well.

I'll highlight the biking here since that was the highlight. We hit Bootleg Canyon on the first day which was as fun as ever. We cruised Mother, POW, Girl Scout and a few other trails I forgot the names of. It's incredible how extensive the trail system is and how well taken care of it is.

The weather was great and Dale did pretty good due to his Beachbody conditioning despite not having much MTB experience.

The next day we hit the Blue diamond/Cottonwood Valley area. I must say I am preferring this set of trails more and more over the Bootleg Canyon system.

We hit trails called Black Velvet and the long Landmine loop that took us through the cool little town of Blue Diamond. The trails were fast and packed. This is definitely the time to ride there since I am sure the summer temps would be unbearable.

For anyone heading to Las Vegas these are some great trails only 1/2 hr from the strip that are worth seeing.

ARANTIX MILES: 2420

WHY BE ON A TEAM?

Today I had a great 3 hour ride with my team and friends. No, not the fake sign anyone on facebook friends, but real live in-person biking friends. Before I joined the Mad Dog Race team I was a lonely 'recreational' biker without a purpose. Joining the team changed everything. Just seeing and riding with higher levels of riders inspired me to reach to those hieghts. Interacting with health-concious people with the same or greater enthusiasm for the sport was refreshing. And like today, just having a group to go out with on a beautiful day to welcome Spring was fantastic. So if you are lonely and want to come out of your biking closet consider a team. The Mad Dog Race team has had a great surge in riders but there is room for more. Contact Keith if you are interested.

The ride: We met up on the Provo trail, headed up to Race course, Up Betty's to the Alter, back down Crank and Ireland and back up to the Alter via Roller coaster, down Frank's over to Dragon's back, up and back down the South BST over to Timpanogos Park up Race course to North BST and back. As the ride went on people dropped off slowly. I finally had enough and couldn't hang with Chris, KC and Tim (what monster riders they are!) and headed back. It was simply a good day with the team.

Now I'm headed down to Vegas for a conference. I hope to take the bike and hit Bootleg Canyon a few times.

ARANTIX MILE: 2380

NEW ARANTIX RACER

Lester is one of the guys at Delta 7 Sports instrumental in getting me on the ARANTIX. He has finally seen the light and decided to race! He showed up at the St George race having lost over 10 lbs while spinning and training indoors through the winter months. This race was originally a challenge among the higher ups in the company. From what I understand there was a lot of "talk" of who was going to beat whom. Kris and Jay were no shows. What happened guys?

So anyway, Lester showed up on his brand new ARANTIX without having actually ridden it much on real dirt but he showed up! I was kind of excited as I wanted him to get a feel of a race on the bikes he reps. A new pro rider, Jeffrey Montague, also riding for Delta 7 Sports showed up. I'll have more on him on another blog.

What I need to note is that Lester has never raced before nor from what I understand really been pushed on a mountain bike. It's these kinds of people I really love introducing the sport to. Sometimes it seems intimidating to go on bumpy trails especially when you call it a race. But, in my perspective its just another ride but with a few other people. You make it as intense and competitive as you want.

So Lester headed off somewhat timidly at the start which is OK for ones first race. I was excited to see how he did. So I waited.... and waited.... and waited near the finish wanting to get a picture of him as he raced by. I got worried and finally gave up thinking maybe I missed him and headed back to the finish line. I found him later safe and sound. He had some "learning" issues about not taking water and mild asthma trouble. BUT he FINISHED! WAY TO GO LESTER!

I hope he can be an inspiration to the other no-shows at Delta 7!

I'm looking forward to Lester's next race. AND hopefully he'll have the new Delta 7 sports race Jersey and shorts on! Stay tuned.......

ARANTIX MILES: 2370

THE ALTER

I got up to The Alter yesterday evening. It didn't look like too many had ventured up that high yet but it wasn't bad. All of it was ridable but the last 100 ft was squishy. I returned down Dragon's back. It was a good ride. And NO! The Arantix did not get jammed full of mud!

ONE LAST FLING

Now winter can be over! What a beautiful couple of days to be burning fuel! As much as I don't care for motorized recreational equipment I have to admit snowmobiling is the one exception. The freedom, exhilaration and the workout can't be beat. Yes, workout. If you get off the trails and into the powder the amount of total body strength needed is incredible. I'm exhausted and sore after 1 1/2 days of riding. I figured this was my last "cross-training" with the snowmobile before I put it in storage. It was worth it. We covered nearly 100 miles and toured remote areas we could never see otherwise. Now back to the pedals.

St George ICUP

Well thinks sure started well today. The weather was much better than forcasted. My boys tore it up in their races. It sure makes a daddy's heart flutter when he sees his boys try so hard. And Dot did well in her first sport race coming in 5th place among the "youngster" crowd.

Jonny

Joey

My race started with a huge pack of 24 racers so I wasn't sure what to expect. I got out to a slow start not wanting to mix it up with the pack too much, but by the first few hills I made it to the front third. I was feeling good but was trying to hold back some not wanting to flame out like I have a bad habit of doing. But by the time we finished all the climbing I had passed Bob S and Darren C who have been my hard to reach targets all last year. I was hoping it was because of my improvement rather than their early season rusty legs. But as soon as I passed Darren my chain fell off. They passed me and I lost 3 spots. The second lap was scary since I couldn't catch back up with them and was feeling tired. I eased up for a couple of minutes, drank some Carborocket and went for it again. Then during the third lap I started seeing the group again and passed Bob again (he looked like he was hurting). Then I caught up with Darren and Tim W. I was feeling great! There was still the front group ahead but I was stoked to be where I was against these guys! I only had a mile to go! What could happen?

Pssssssssssssssssssss! I hit A sharp rock and the Stan's started spewing! I didn't worry too much at first since the Stan's had been reliable so far. But the hole did not seal and I had to stop. I used up two canisters of CO2 but the hole was to big. I had to start pushing (after I spent about 5 minutes screaming and cursing) I came across Dan a local St George racer I new and he gave me another canister and I put the tube in. I at least got to ride to the finish instead of walking. I finished third to last. I don't know where the two behind me were. I would have only finished 7th or 8th anyway but I do think that was the best I raced this early in the season. Usually I burn out on my last lap. I guess there's always the next race. And I hope it will be on the NEW ARANTIX!

ARANTIX MILES: 2380

TEMPLE TO DRY CREEK

So the temple was pretty cool. I got a special tour and there was hardly anyone there. No matter what your persuasion (religiously), it is worth getting a perspective on what your neighbors charish. The tour helped me see what make the LDS tick. I had toured the AF temple when I moved to Utah and was shell shocked. This experience was a bit different. A good neighbor took me and it was really neat to see his perspective. His pride and reverance for the place made me respect him and his beleifs. And I do beleive he respects where I'm at. Now only if I can take him up to Dry Creek.

Right after the temple tour I headed up for my personal spiritual release. Today I joined up with Bob on the U of U shoreline trail. This is where I started riding when I moved to Murray. I remembered those hills as gut busters! Well I had a reunion of sorts, today. It was really neat having a past yardstick to measure where I am at currently. There was nothing hard about the ride today! It was great. Or maybe I was just extremely out of shape back then?

I parted ways with Bob S and UtRider (who we joined on the trail) at Dry Creek. I wanted to try it but Bob was much wiser and felt it was still too muddy and headed back. I was able to ride most of the way until I got to the sharp left steep turn. It was pretty muddy, though. The above pic was the norm about 40% of the time with mud another 40%.

All in all a lifting day.

ARANTIX miles: 2360

TEMPLE ANYONE?

Notice the Draper temple in the background behind Jeff B. Anyone want to tour it with me tomorrow? I have a couple extra tickets. The local stake president is taking me. It should be interesting. Yes, we all need to be open minded. Be at my house at 7:45 if your coming :)

We hit CC today. It's nice and dry as other posts have noted. We got in about 1:50 before I hit some of it again for a while. Take advantage of it before the rain.

Going to head up north to ride with Stupidbike tomorrow at noon. Sounds like it should be good.

ARANTIX MILES : 2355

One person falls asleep:

The vehicle rolls.

She dislocates her hip

Her 19 year old daughter ruptures her spleen

Her 10 year old son breaks a wrist

Her 2 year old cuts up her pretty face

Her 8 month old granddaughter is ejected and run over- dead

NONE OF THEM WORE THEIR SEAT BELTS

Do you cry with them?

Do you shut down and do your job?

Do you get angry for the senseless choices adults make for their children?

Do you feel my frustration?