going glenwild

While I was out tromping around at Alta, H met up with a buddy from work for a MTB ride in Park City.  Darren is a really good MTBer so I was more than happy to bow out, knowing that there was no way I could keep up with those guys.  They drove through Parleys Canyon to Park City, parking at a trailhead behind the Park City Brewery to get onto the Glenwild Trails.  It has been years and years since H and I have ridden at Glenwild and all I could recall is that the trails seemed rocky and there was a lot of climbing.

Darren on the trail 

After their ride, H reported that while he didn't find the trails too rocky, they definitely did a lot of climbing: 1,700 feet right from the start, up a wash and then switchbacking up and over a ridge, with a total of 2,200 feet climbed by the end of the 17-ish mile ride.  For comparison, the 16+ mile ride we regularly do at Round Valley has only 1,300 feet of climbing. 

The guys were evenly matched on the climbs but H was a little more cautious than Darren on the descents.  Caution aside, H still managed to overcook a turn on one descent, and then hit the brakes a little too hard, launching himself over the handlebars and into a sagebrush bush.  His MTB was unscathed and he only got some cuts, bumps and bruises, so all ended well enough.