Zen Love

A few months ago I took a solo day trip to St. George to ride some trails that I would be racing on in a few weeks. I really needed some red dirt therapy. I couldn't find anyone to go with me so, I ventured out on my own. Contrary to what I was saying during the Grit 50 Epic "There is nothing Zen about Zen". This is true when your trying to race it. Its tough, technical and demanding. But, when you are all alone and seem to have the entire trail to yourself, it actually is quite Zen. Maybe thats what they had in mind when they named it. I was eerily all alone for the entire day.

I am just now sifting through the footage from that day due to a corrupted file that kept crashing my Imovie. Its fixed now. Enjoy this amateur video.



Since it snowed last night, and Im not able to take advantage of the fresh snow NOR get on my bike. I thought a video would make me feel better. It did, just a bit.

The Desert

I made a day trip to St. George this past Monday. I couldn't talk any of my pals to join me so I went solo. They missed out. The weather was fantastic, maybe even a little too warm but nonetheless it was great to get out and ride in shorts and short sleeves.  I wanted to do a little Grit recon so I parked at the Zen trailhead. This made sense so I could stop and refuel easily. It worked out pretty good. I tried to find the first part but I got lost and rode some of the trails but not sure in what order. I think I cut that part in half or so. After that, I moved on to Zen. Zen is such a cool trail. Its hard, super technical and pretty demanding both mentally and physically. There are parts of this trail that I walk and Im not ashamed. Its a tough trail. I finished up Zen, headed to the car to refuel before heading out Bear Claw to Stucki. Stucki Springs climb while not steep or particularly long, it just beats me down. Each time I have ridden it it has put me in a dark, dark place. I made it although it felt like a furnace out there. Would it kill em to plant some nice big shade trees out there along the course? Come on, throw me a bone here.

Top of Stucki looking at the climb up. No Shade!

Looking at the descent towards Santa Clara. Still no shade but its a downhill. 

I made it to the top and took in the view for a minute. Then took off down the decent. Its a pretty fun decent, not long enough in my opinion. I got to the gate and continued to get lost. I wasnt really sure where the trails connect but I thought I could figure it out. I rode along some dirt roads and stumbled upon Rim Reaper/Rim Rocks. I saw some pink ribbons out there but had no idea if they were for Grit or something else. I was starting to get short on time so I rode around out there then headed back towards the car. I cramped up a few miles from the car. Nothing severe, I was able to stretch for a minute to loosen it back up. It was hotter than I was expecting it to be and I think I wasnt drinking enough. All in all, I felt decent. Not as fit as I felt last year at this time but not bad considering I haven't been skiing much due to our awesome snowpack.

Top of Zen looking towards Stucki

this car had 3 dudes in it. Going to Disneyland!

Red bull was nice after Zen

Top of Zen looking towards Snow Canyon

Carborocket was on board 

Good day in the Desert

Great trip, even if I had to go by myself. Next time, someone should come with me. I have tons of video from the ride but Imovie decided to take a big shit on me so I haven't been able to do anything with it. Kinda bummed. Till next time,

Turkey Day Ride 2011

As things turned out I was able to carve a little time away in the morning for a ride. We had planned to meet at Lambert at 8:00 with Justin and Brannen. Tanner was gonna come but he showed at 10:00 and we were all done. He must have missed the memo? Or, maybe he was busy making pies or rolling out dough for some rolls. Banks couldn't make it because he was downtown or some bullshit. He said he was with us in spirit but I didn't feel it. The only spirit I felt was pure joy. Sorry evil but the joy shut you out.

It was a popular place for a ride as we saw many people out. Conditions were great. It wasn't cold and the trails were not muddy. Brannen has twins coming in February so, I probably won't see him again till next year. 6 boys! Holy crap!

Without further ado, here is the video. My battery died after about 5 minutes of rolling film. Bummer. Oh well, enough to put together a video. Hope your Thanksgiving was as good as ours!

Some "me" time!

Search engines should have fun with that one. Anyways, a week ago I cruised up to Park City to ride some single track before the snow covers the trails up until June. I couldn't talk anyone into playing hooky with me (even though its my day off) so I went up solo. I took alot of footage that day. The video doesn't do it justice though. The leaves were completely gone in some spots and totally radical in others. I broke the video into 2 sections. I couldn't edit it all into one. So without further delayed gratification, enjoy!