Monthly Archive for September, 2008

I arose this last Saturday morning, as usual, before dawn. I gathered my gear, downed two packets of oatmeal, and headed out the door. Not longer after, I was piling in the car with Ryan and Randy to head up to American Fork Canyon.

We arrived at the trailhead of 252 just as the skies were opening up. After just a few minutes on the trail, the skies dumped a ridiculous amount of rain and hail on us. Not soon after, there were small rivers running down the two foot wide trail as we rode up, which were not only getting us really wet, but doing the good of cleaning out our tires and providing great traction. Ryan and I decided we were going to climb the majority of the first bit in 22/20, but the rains made that next to impossible. Before things got steep though, we really opened up a gap between us and Randy. I think I’m going to train hard over the winter and see if I can hang with some single speed action next year. Anyway…

We crossed the highway and continued 252 up to a parking lot, where we hitched on to trail 157. Some parts of the trail were more dry and some were very tacky. The tackiness was great for traction, but not so great in the amount of mud that was being flung into my eye. Not being able to see while bombing a rocky, rooty slice of singletrack gives one a certain uneasiness that can’t quite be understood until it is experienced. Regardless, the downhill was amazing.

I recall saying a few times during the descents that this was the type of singletrack I’ve been wanting to ride all summer. It was nothing short of amazing. Groomed in spots, gnarly in others, but fast nonetheless; I can’t imagine how much better it would be a day after a good rain. We passed some guys that we saw in the parking lot before we transfered to 157. I’ll never understand the mindset of people who want to drop the downhill first, only to climb out later. That’s so…anticlimactic. Ryan made some comments about how clean they were for having just rode in two inches of mud (read: they were going VERY slow) and we all chuckled as we headed back towards the trailhead.

You’ll see in the pictures that this was about as dirty as I’ve been in a LONG time. Cleaning the bike took much longer than usual and though the new drivetrain arrangements performed beautifully, the gunk did help me make one minor change to the bolts on my bash guard in order to avoid future muck-induced problems (not to mention further solidifying my desire to ride a single speed). Needless to say, I’m definitely going back to AF canyon for some more riding before things get too cold. The views were amazing, the riding legendary and the endorphin rush combined with a scenic drive down the canyon made for a hell of an ending to the best ride of the season.