Day Trip

Late last week I decided that the weekend was going to be my best shot of getting to St. George for a day trip. Ya see, the Desert Rampage was on Sat. and there was a Grit 50 pre-ride set-up for Sunday. I made the decision that I was going to drive down early Sunday morning, ride some dirt with some pals, and return home Sunday night. Long day, but it was worth it!

Left just after 5:00 a.m and arrived in St. George at 9:00 a.m. No stops, just drove straight through. The pre-ride was starting at 10 so I parked at the Green Valley loop and changed got my camelback filled etc. @evilbanks met me there along with DTanner. I was pretty happy to be riding in short sleeves and shorts for the first time since last year. The weather was perfect, 65 mostly sunny. I got to ride some trails that I have never ridden before and a few of my old favs from when I lived down there.

Here is a sweet video I found of the Zen Trail, one of the new trails we rode. It was technical but fun.

Zen Trail from shelby meinkey on Vimeo.


We rode several trails for a total of about 35 miles. Definately worth the trip down. We rode, Red Bluff, Zen, Poppy and to the top of Stucki Springs. Rode down Stucki (great downhill) and back up Poppy to the car. The long climb out Stucki was a bitch. It was long and it was hot. We made it though, all in all a great day trip and I was definately happy I made the drive down. I must say, I'm lookin forward to Spring. But for now, its nuking snow outside and theres a few feet of snow Im gonna ski this week. Yep, I said a few feet, like 3-4.

Vintage "Evilbanks" as per grizzlyadam

one of our stops early in the day

Banks cruisin in style

Top of the long Stucki Springs climb

Ya know, Dug might just be right with this one! There is absolutely nothing that I could possibly add to his extremely thorough review of Diet Coke. I mean, I hate the taste of regular diet coke and have always opted for Coke Zero or the original Coke. I have recently stopped at the local Chevron and mix half Coke with half DC w/Lime. Yum. Yes, I just typed Yum. Anyways, I bought a 12 pack and tried it straight up today and the results were still Yum. Now, this doesn't mean I will discard my other soft drink choices but this is definately something that will be added to the mix.

On anther note, we hit up Scotties again Friday morning early for some recycled powder. I say recycled because it had been ski'd out heavier than we all had thought, plus the wind was blowing from the opposite direction that the avy forecast said it was. There was still really nice snow up top in the bowl and in the trees to the west of the main Scotties shot. Still a great morning. Only downside was, I left my poles behind. The wind knocked over my skis and my poles in the parking lot. I put my skis in the back then pulled my soaking wet undershirt off because I was freezing, then the wind kicked up again so I threw on another shirt and made a b-line to the car leaving my trusty old bent poles behind. Heard a rumor that someone may have picked them up but we have yet to be reunited. Hopefully the poles they picked up are indeed mine, if not I guess I have an excuse to get some new ones.

VD

No, not THAT kind of VD, Valentines Day! The weather in these parts has been a little bit on the warm side. Warm for us up here in Northern Utah, not warm for those of my readers down south in Arizona. Its still cold for you. Anyways, the temp has been nearing 60 for the last few days so I decided to try to take advantage. On Monday instead of going for sushi with the sales team after our meeting I brought my bike and decided to go for a ride. Besides, there is only 1 other sales rep besides myself left and the thought of looking at him all lunch vs. going for a ride up Emigration Canyon well, you get the picture. Sorry Phil!

Our meetings usually get done fairly quickly and that would leave me about 2 hours before I needed to be back to my model. I left from my model in S. Salt Lake and headed North. The sun was out I was in knee warmers and arm warmers with a vest. No booties, no long sleeve jersey, no winter hat. Ahhhh, it was nice. I pedaled towards the Zoo a little unsure if I would head up Emigration or do a nice loop over towards Millcreek and head down 39th back to work. I opted to head up Emigration. Its a nice mellow canyon until you hit the switchback. I pedaled to just before the switchback and turned around. The ride back was into a nice headwind and the sun went away. It never got cold however and the entire ride was very enjoyable. Topped off the day at my parents for my dad's birthday. Yep, birthday on VD. Not very often is it nearly 60 in February in Salt Lake. Lots of people are gettin the spring itch. I know I am. But, theres another winter storm on our doorstep thats about to drop 12-18 inches of new snow. Brigham Young got one thing right, This is a pretty great state to call home.