Some things just never get old, and the Wasatch Crest is definitely one of them. Especially when the aspens are changing and the colors are going off. Carolyn joined me for a top-to-bottom lap, and rode her soon-to-be-sold bike right to its limits. And the gas station attendant even found the keys to our shuttle vehicle. Good karma and smiles all around.
Jesse, Glenn, Andy, Ashley, Zig, Alex, Ceci and myself all headed up to the City of Rocks and spent the weekend thrashing fingers and chasing shade. The City is basically my anti-style. The climbs are usually just under vertical, super tech, often friction dependent, and often runout. That combination generally leads to me getting my ass kicked, and this weekend was no different. Everyone had a kickass time hiking around the unique landscape looking for new stuff to climb. And Saturday night's fish tacos were sweet.
Pretty standard post-work Pile sesh with Andy. I did alright, and Andy cleaned up another of his projects. All in all, not a bad way to spend an afternoon.
I joined Toni and Misti for a ride today, just like I do all the time. Except this time we all went with the sole purpose of getting photos. The decision to session corners and features in front of the camera instead of just riding made today a great opportunity to experiment and learn. I'm not very good at bike photography yet, and I often come home to find that what I thought would be my best shots didn't work out for one reason or another. Having someone hit a line over and over helped me get a better handle on what works and what doesn't.
Back to American Fork for Andy and Myself. I started the day off by sending a route that I had never managed to get before, but the rest of the day not so productive for me. Andy, on the other hand, began the day by sending Isotoner Moaner (which was his project from last weekend) and continued to climb strong throughout the day.
Another dig day on Arcylon. The trail is really coming together and is definitely going to be the best freeride trail in the area when it's finished. If you have spent time digging, then I thank you. If you haven't helped dig, then show up. If you come out to ride when the trail opens, then you owe the diggers some trailhead beer at the very least.
I haven't been climbing in nearly a month, and Phunk has had a super chill summer to let some injuries heal, so we climbed like total crap today. Andy, on there other hand, has been hungry. We all went to American Fork and climbed a little but really just sat around and watched Andy work on Isotoner Moaner. After just a few tries today, he's super close to the send. My guess it that it'll go down the next time he comes here. Phunk and I are a good ways from being strong right now, so we're not sending shit in the near future.
After a week of being a lazy ass and decompressing from the trip, I finally got out of the house. I met up with the crew that was digging on Arcylon, and I'm really stoked to see that trail coming together. It's going to be the go-to freeride trail around here when it gets done.
I'm back home now, but on the way through Washington toward Utah, I stopped off at the farm for a couple days to chill a bit and learn some new skills. My little brother drove up from Washtucna and taught me how to weld. Much like cooking, welding is one of those skills that I've always meant to learn but never quite gotten around to. I guess I have to learn to cook now.
Last day at Whistler, and it did not disappoint. I took the camera down one A-Line run and got some shots of a few good hits. The photos aren't everything I hoped they would be as most of the jumps were in the shadows and there was super-bright penetrating light everywhere on the trail. I think I should have exposed for the dark stuff and just let all the rest blow out, but I decided to go the other way. Oh well.
