In lieu of the ability to run, my plan this summer has been to ride the bike up each of the big canyons here in the Salt Lake Valley (except Parley's/I-80). So far, I've ridden City Creek, Emigration, Millcreek and Big Cottonwood (and Red Butte, the Pluto of the bunch). That leaves Little Cottonwood. Having driven up this canyon a hundred times or more in my life, I am quite familiar with its steepness and I've watched other cyclists suffer heading up. Well, I decided yesterday afternoon to give it a shot. This was mostly out of fear because I had signed up for next week's Snowbird Hill Climb. I began at the bottom of the canyon, at the Orson Smith trailhead on the Sandy side. It was about a mile to the bottom of the canyon. From there, the first mile wasn't bad, the second mile wasn't bad. The third mile was awful. By this time (about 3:15 pm), the temp gauge on my bike computer read 110F. The air wasn't that hot, but it was windless, and I guess the computer was picking up the road temp -- it was getting ugly! Between miles 3 and 4, I approached Tanner's Flat, which I assure you is not flat. I ducked into the shade for a few minutes to hydrate and call my wife, tell her my final wishes, etc. Then back on the road. It wasn't so bad from there up to Snowbird and then on to Alta, but I bet it would have really hurt if I'd not stopped at mile 4. The cruise back down the Canyon wasn't too bad. It gave me time to see how truly bad some of the climbs are -- it's just unrelenting. Glad I did it though.
|