Emigration Canyon

Yesterday marked another first in my evolution as a cyclist:  I cycled with Mark to the top of Emigration Canyon.  This is considered one of Salt Lake's easier rides, and it really wasn't bad until we reached the last hill.  

It's about seven miles from our house to the mouth of the canyon, just above Hogle Zoo.  We ride up 3900 South to Wasatch Boulevard, then north, across the spaghetti bowl formed by the intersections of I-80, I-215 and Foothill Boulevard, then through a residential area to the mouth of the canyon.

The climb up the canyon is fairly gentle as we pass open fields, groves of trees, and stretches lined with homes of various vintages, sizes and imagined price tags.  We see butterflies flitting by and hear birds chirping.  It is a beautiful morning with little wind, a bit on the cool side.  As we rode, Mark comments that riding early in the morning is a good thing for many reasons - it's cooler, there is less canyon wind, it's quieter, there is less possibility of thunder storms, and we approach the ride with fresh legs and lungs.  We will try to keep up this practice.

I was managing the climb just fine, but was starting to get a little winded after about five miles into the canyon.  Mark assured me that we were approaching the summit; all we had ahead of us was a "little hill." Note the first hairpin turn in the above screen shot; that is the beginning of the "little hill."  It commenced at the first hairpin and ended where the red line stops.  As the screen shot below shows, the mouth of the canyon is approximately 5100 feet above sea level, and I'm guessing that the base of the last climb to the summit is at 5700'; the summit is at 6300'.  That means that we climbed half of the total elevation change in the last couple of miles.

I didn't swear at Mark, however, because he patiently and lovingly coached me all the way up the hill.  My legs were fine, even my breath was fine - relatively.  What wasn't fine was my tailbone grinding away on the saddle.  By the time I got to the top, my butt hurt so bad I could hardly get off the bike.  Paying my dues.  Mark assures me that the butt pain will subside ... eventually.

The view over Mountain Dell Reservoir to the southeast of the summit.