We made our (my) first serious foray into Big Cottonwood Canyon yesterday, cycling almost two-thirds of the way up the canyon, to Jordan Pines. The biggest challenge was the area pictured above (looking back down the canyon), the cutaway around the base of Storm Mountain, which. I've been playing around with Google Earth, and the following picture shows another view, the ascent up and around the base.
Other than that stretch, the grade isn't too bad. Next time, we'll go further. Who knows, perhaps I'll even make it to the top, which would be about another six miles from where we turned around. If not the next time, then the time after that.
Upon looking at the statistics from the ride, Mark pointed out that yesterday's overall elevation gain was actually greater than our ride on Sunday, which was surprising.
As I said to Mark yesterday, I'm looking forward to getting into better shape so that I'll be able to enjoy the scenery more, instead of focusing almost exclusively on just getting up the canyon. For now, however, I'm content to focus on the training, knowing that the other benefits will follow. This is why we are going to push ourselves this summer, so that we'll be able to really enjoy our cycling when we go to Europe in September.
Yesterday also marked another first: my first blood. It was stupid. We had pulled off into the parking area of a trail head. I was moving very slowly and turned too sharply. Before I knew it, I was on the ground. My pride was hurt more than I was, but it nevertheless marked a milestone. If this is the most serious injury I ever have on a bike (which I doubt), then I'll consider myself extremely fortunate.
When I showed Nathan - who has been here since Sunday evening - he merely smiled and commented to Mark that, after all the injuries he's had this spring (broken collarbone, sprained ankle, lacerations to arm and chest), he merely smiles when others complain about their injuries. Fair enough.
It's been nice having Nathan here, just to spend some relaxing down time and hang out. Mark's been off the last couple of days, so we were able to have a nice dinner on Sunday evening, then again last night. We need this time to bond as father and son - and speaking of bonding time, Nathan informed me that I am invited to accompany him and the other deacons in his ward on their four-day hike up King's Peak (the highest mountain in Utah, in the Uintas) next month. I've decided to accept, provided work obligations don't get in the way. It will provide a lot of nice time together, and I'm looking forward to it.
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