So, Dirk had a day off over the 4th so we headed up to the Crest trail. Since it was an odd numbered day, we avoided Mill Creek and went down to the Mill D trailhead. This was my first time on this somewhat technical downhill trail, but that didn’t keep me from trying to bomb it the whole way. I had 3 pretty gnarly crashes, one in to a substantial aspen tree. My ribs are feeling good enough now that I think they are just bruised, hopefully not cracked. Dirk put this video together from his GoPro Hero helmet cam. Good job Dirk. I’ll be ready for another in 2-3 weeks.

So, for my May mountain bike ride I went for an early morning excursion with Dirk, Casey, and Cam up Little Cottonwood Canyon. We got off early and had enough cars to shuttle it twice for extra downhill goodness. The small uphill we did up to the ruins actually was nice. I used to look for any way I could to shuttle a ride, but now that I ride daily to work, I don’t mind some nice climbs now and again. The video is Cam jumping over Dirk on one of the side trails. Not quite Nitro Circus level, but still awesome in it’s own lame kind of way.

Here is the trailhead, looking up at the canyon where the trail starts. It was about 40 degrees, cows were grazing, and it looked like the start of a great ride.

Here is the same spot, after we finished. It only took about 2 hours to ride the 10 mile loop.

This is the climb at the start of the ride. It’s about a mile, steep and rocky. It almost killed me. I ride a recumbent to work every day, but there was a whole new muscle group at work here. This made the rest of the ride, including the snow, seem easy. When we reached the saddle, a light sprinkle started to fall, it was actually kind of refreshing.

Then the heavy clouds and snow rolled in. It just got worse from here. I can’t believe how narrow the trail is. It is only about a foot wide and you don’t ever dare get up too much speed since there are quite a few rocks embedded in the trail. It’s a pretty technical ride, just because there isn’t a lot of room to maneuver and the rocks surprise you along the way. It would have actually been a lot of fun to hang out and enjoy the views of the Great Salt Lake if we weren’t in a hurry to get back to a dry car.

You might think we had a bad case of explosive diarrhea, but that was just the mud.

The super-v was properly inaugurated on it’s first ride. My GT was a hardtail, and I can say I definitely liked the full suspension. It did well for a 10 year old bike. Hopefully this is the first of many rides we go on together. Oh, and thanks Sam for not calling it off, even though we knew we were in for nasty weather.

So last week I visited the good folks at GAC in Portland for a press check of a catalog and magazine that featured some of my photos for Stampin’ Up. It was a good experience to see first hand the limitations and possible adjustments of an image on press. I was just as impressed with the city of Portland itself though. My favorite was this trike outside of Powell’s book store. I can’t even imagine taking my kid through downtown Portland on his trike, still I admire the parent that is patient and crazy enough to do it. I think you could only pull it off in a biker friendly city like Portland. I wouldn’t mind living there myself, being a bike commuter. Anyone have a good photo job for me in Portland?

I’ve been thinking that it would be nice to have a 4 seater bike trailer so I could take all of the kids on a bike ride. Maybe something like this would be better. Why just have 4 seats when you could safely and comfortably take 8-10 kids? By my calculations, we could have 6 more kids and still be set. Thanks Failblog!

So, I have been bike commuting to work for the past three years, and I thought it might be a good idea to share some of the stuff I’ve figured out and maybe encourage more people to do the same. Once I have a few posts, I’ll probably put together a page with all the bike commuting info together, but for now, this will have to do.

Bike commuting in Utah might seem like something you can’t do year round. That is simply not true. I’ve been riding 3-5 days a week for the last three years and it really hasn’t been that bad. Most days it is extremely relaxing and a great workout. Sure, there have been some cold, wet days, but I have also driven to work on the days when the snow is more that a few inches deep. Really, there aren’t many days in the year when the snow isn’t plowed or the rain isn’t sporadic. Most of the time I can just make sure it’s not going to snow/rain during my half hour commute by checking the weather site. I can check what is going to be happening each hour of the day, and if I check it in the morning, it is usually pretty accurate. Anyway, as long as the downpour happens outside of my commute, everything is good.

That is where the bike cover comes in. On days when I think it will rain or snow, I slip this cover on the trike.

The cover is made out of a lightweight, water repelling rip-stop nylon, and when it’s rolled up, it is about the size of a large burrito. It weighs next-to-nothing too, so it stays in my panniers most of the winter. I just kind of roughly measured the trike and came up with the simplest possible pattern and sewed it together. There is a shock cord from an old tent pole sewn in to the bottom of the cover with a cord lock to tighten it up around the trike. So far the cover hasn’t blown off, and it gets pretty windy some days. If it’s really blowing hard I will slip the edge of the cover under a wheel to weigh it down a little. It has even snowed 4-5 inches on top of the cover and it hasn’t collapsed. It is really nice to be able to shake off the rain or snow and ride home on a dry seat.

Anyway, there you go. Speaking of riding in the snow, that is one of the best reasons to ride a recumbent trike. I rode a mountain bike for two years, and snow days were always pretty sketchy. I took a few spills and even broke a finger and my pinky toe once. The three wheels on the ground make a super stable ride on the ice. I have to try pretty hard to get it to fishtail for a little fun. Icebike.org has a lot more info about riding your bike in the snow and cold.

Why else do I ride the trike? First of all, it’s like riding a lawn chair, but you are low enough to the ground that the wind resistance is similar to riding an aero-tuck on a road bike. The comfy seat makes it so I am never saddle sore. On a mountain bike, I am usually so sore by Thursday, that it would take a lot to get on the bike and ride. Now I will ride the trike all five work days and still go for a joyride on the weekend. I also like that my chin is up and I can see what is coming a lot easier than when I am hunched over on my mountain bike. I actually feel safer on the trike because I am always looking ahead. Even if I am slightly less visible to other cars, (because of the height of the trike) I never take my eyes off of what’s coming. I even get a lot more space when cars pass me, I would guess because the trike seems wider than a regular bike and because of the novelty of it all.

Well, there you have it. Hop on a bike, get to work, and lose some weight while your at it.

It was relatively warm today (40º F) so we took the kids for a ride on the Jordan River Parkway trail. This is a great place to spend some time in the fall, winter and spring when there is still snow and mud in the higher elevations. Here’s some video footage of the ride. If you haven’t ever seen a recumbent bike, you are probably wondering what is going on. I ride a Terra Trike Tour which is a three wheeled recumbent bike. It’s actually very easy to operate the camera while riding because you don’t have to balance and ride at the same time. The trike is great for riding with the kids because it puts you at their level. Also, when they are riding their bikes, you can start and stop and ride as slow as they do with their training wheels. Mostly I use my recumbent to commute to work. A nice, comfortable, reclined seat means that I can ride every day without getting saddle sore. I average 4 days a week riding to work and I love it.