bruised and battered but unbowed

On Sunday we threw the MTBs in the truck and drove up to Snowbasin.  It's been ages since we've been up there - probably since we skied there in March 2010.  As we pulled into the parking lot, I realized that I'd forgotten how gorgeous it is up there.  It definitely wins the prize for being the best looking ski resort in the summer season, with the lush green trails running up to the cliffs high overhead, plus the lodges are so beautiful and well-kept that you feel like you're in a luxury hotel, not a ski lodge.  The temperature was perfect too: a balmy 71 under bright blue skies.

Idyllic spot for a MTB ride

Snowbasin has a lot going on the summertime: gondola rides and mid-mountain dining, disc golf, cookouts and free concerts, hiking and MTBing trails.  You don't have to pay to ride their trails (only if you want to take your bike up on the lift) and there's even a regularly scheduled shuttlebus to bring you back to the main lodge if you end up at the bottom of one trail, far down the access road.  We picked up a trail map and determined that the green trails would be best for me: lower Needles, Last Chance Trail and the Green Pond Loop, all winding up and down through the rolling hills beneath the peaks.

Foot down but upright, so call it a win

The trails here are awesome - which is not to say that I didn't struggle, because I did, on the switchbacks and on the hills where the trail surface was rocky.  I've learned that a big part of my problem is just going too slowly up (or down) the rocky bits and then just falling over, unable to get my feet uncleated in time.  I stopping counting the fall-overs after six and while I'm scratched up pretty good now and will have some spectacular bruises later, I didn't really get hurt.  Plus I'm sort of used to falling over now and am not afraid of it any more.  H had a couple of fall-overs too - going too slowly because he was waiting for me - and gouged his right shin pretty well.  After that I told him it was okay if he rode ahead at his own pace as long as he'd wait for me at the trail junctions.  (I have a whistle in case I fall and get hurt and need him to come back for me.)

Poor H's leg!

But let me get back to how awesome the Snowbasin singletrack is!  None of what we rode was ever too steep; much of the trail surface was lovely hard-pack which is a dream to ride on; and the views are phenomenal, both east over the rolling green hills and west to the cliffs towering over the ski resort.  H in particular did great, riding up and down and over absolutely everything ... except one bridge that was just pallets stapled together.  In all, we rode for 2 hours 40 minutes - well, that was my time, as H could have finished up 25 minutes sooner had he not been waiting for me.

View to the west 

After we got back to the truck and changed out of our dirty, sweaty, bloody MTBing clothes, we sauntered on over to the Snowbasin patio where there was a barbecue (bacon cheeseburger and pulled pork sandwich) and beer (Uinta Cutthroat pale ale) for purchase and consumption with a live band, Shades of Grey.  We sat under an umbrella, eating, drinking and listening, surrounded by tons of other like-minded folks out enjoying the day.  It was an outstanding finish to an outstanding day - and, coupled with our hike to White Pine Lake the day before, an outstanding weekend all the way around.  We just love it out here!

P.S.  While we listened to the band, we used H's phone to watch the last twenty minutes of the US v. Japan women's World Cup final.  What a heartbreaker!