carpe ridem

Knowing that the crowds would be out in force for the long holiday weekend, we endeavored to get an even earlier start to our MTB ride on Sunday, getting our wheels on the Park City bike path at 8:15 a.m., half an hour earlier than the week before.  The temperature was quite pleasant, although definitely warmer than it had been the last weekend; throughout the morning, it would stay fairly cool although the wind picked up on the last leg of the ride.


Heading up the switchbacks formerly known as My Nemesis

We started out without seeing too many people - surprisingly, not even many dog-walkers in the cooler, earlier time - but that changed as the morning wore on and by 10:30 a.m. (the magic hour), there were lots of people out and about.  There were some very strong trail runners out there but most of the MTBers we saw seemed to be pretty new at it, and some were not very good at trail etiquette.  Despite playing dodge 'em with the other riders, we had a really nice ride.  My legs weren't as energetic as they had felt on our last ride and I struggled a little on the middle riser of the three steps in the Staircase.  But I did feel like I kept up with H a little better and he, for his part, thought he had a very good ride.

Coyote Country

There are new signs put up in the middle of Round Valley, warning people that coyotes have claimed territory there.  We saw scat that we were pretty sure was coyote but didn't see any of the actual critters.  I would love to see some out there - we're big enough that they probably wouldn't bother us - the last time we've seen any in the wild was out at Antelope Island years ago.  It's to be expected that they would move in and set up shop in the Round Valley hills:  there are tons of rabbits, potguts and other small and delicious critters out there, just perfect for coyote snacks.