treadnorth: April 2012

Alison and I once again took advantage of being airline people and packed up our S and S coupler equipped Surly Long Haul Truckers, and took off for a two night trip to UT. We had two goals- to visit friends of our who live there, and to get out for some riding through beautiful scenery. We accomplished both. The first day out we rode from our friends house along the lower slopes of the Wasatch Front, which is still in town but comes with the great views of the mountains that you can't miss in SLC. It was a good way to get a ride in for the evening with the time we had. I thought the night may not go so great when I flatted after only 2 miles, and I discovered that my spare was actually patched 4 times already (I'm a bit too cheap with tubes, patching them way too many times), and had a hole in it that needed yet another patch, but I got it to work. I think I pay just as much for patch jobs as I would if I just bought more tubes. Huh. Toward the end of the ride I decided to get a few more miles in than our group planned on by riding up Millcreek Canyon, which I had ridden once or twice while living out there a few years back. I didn't expect to make it all the way up, as it is April after all and the road doesn't officially get opened all the way until June, but I thought I'd ride up as far as I could. Despite being a guy with a busted chest and bad heart/lung capacity, I love to climb big mountains and canyons on a bike; even a heavy touring bike.
I got about two-thirds of the way up before getting stopped by snow pack still covering the road. If only I could've had my Salsa Mukluk with to switch to, I'd have kept going. :)
But I thoroughly enjoyed the section of canyon I did get to take in. Living with these kinds of beautiful mountains one can take them for granted; when it takes a special trip to get to them, every mile is a great time.
The second day, we headed out to ride a stretch of road that I always intended to ride when living in Bountiful, but never did. Antelope Island is an obvious feature sitting out in the Great Salt Lake across from where we lived, and it contains some great scenery and biking, as well as hiking/running. Alison and I borrowed our friends vehicle to make the drive out and ride the park road.
We traveled south down the east side of the island taking in the desert/lake/mountain views, and enjoyed seeing many types of birds that hang out at the Lake, buffalo, and of course the namesake pronghorn antelope. The one living thing we didn't appreciate was the mighty gnat I haven't been swarmed as bad in MN as we were in UT, and that's saying something. They were only a bother on an isolated stretch of road though, so it didn't ruin the day by any means. I am still itching however.
The buffalo herd is pretty notable on the island, and we had to get a vehicle to agree to be a block for us to ride past a couple that weren't interested in grazing further than right next to the road. I'm used to riding with buffalo being from ND, but I don't get excited to get too close as I've been bluff-charged by large animals in the past. Bluffs are not good experiences, despite only being bluffs. I'll give the animals their space.
When we got back to our borrowed vehicle and had completed our out and back down the island, I decided I wanted to ride the causeway that lead back across the Lake too, so Alison met me on the other side with the vehicle. It was well worth the time. I lived right next to this place, and never saw the lake/island/mountain views from that angle. It's a very cool area to ride. Looking out across water and seeing mountains rising high actually reminded me a lot of Alaska, not the desert. Pretty cool.
That evening we grabbed some Mexican food and margaritas in Park City, and retired for a good sleep before getting back to the airport grind to get home, followed by the airport grind of working.
The coupler bikes did great, and I'm getting even more excited that we dropped the cash on them, because they are presenting us with riding opportunities we wouldn't otherwise have. We sure wouldn't be doing it as much if we didn't fly for a living, but we seem to have found a great little perk scenario here.
Our next coupler bike experience may come soon too. We are considering getting out at the end of May for a tour somewhere, as we have a little vacation time longer than a couple days. I'll be sure to include any details here if it materializes.

Bikes ready for bag handler/TSA abuse...