why yes, i will ride 3+ hours uphill for a beer

Last year around this time, we did a long MTB ride on the rail trail from Echo Reservoir to Park City and back again.  It was on my list to do again this summer: although it isn't a difficult ride from a technical standpoint, the challenge is the distance.  I am not the cyclist H is and never ride much more than twenty miles at a go, so 54.4 miles would be a long day in the saddle.  When we looked back at last year's post, we were reminded that we got to Squatter's over an hour before beer was allowed to be served.  We didn't intend to make that mistake this time and reorganized our schedule accordingly.  We left the house at 7 a.m., driving through Parleys Canyon and continuing east on I-80 past Park City.

We didn't see any of these

We were on the rail trail around 8 a.m. and although it was still cool, it was noticeably warmer than last year.  I had remembered how cold I was before and this time brought a pair of hand-warmers that I stuffed into my long-fingered biking gloves.  As we pedaled past the reservoir, my fingertips still got cold but it never got so bad that I had to stop to warm them up.  Things were quiet at that hour, a few fishermen on the reservoir; people just stirring in the campgrounds.  We got past the end of the reservoir and rode through farms, where the various critters either ignored us entirely when we called to them or looked at us with mild curiosity before getting back to grazing.

We did see these: sandhill cranes

Wildlife spotted:  hawks, eagles, pelicans, cottontail rabbits, goats, sheep, pigs, cows, horses, geese, alpacas, dogs, cats, sandhill cranes, squirrels, lots of songbirds, a frog and a cowboy who tipped his hat to us when we pulled off the rail trail to let him ride by as his horse eyed us suspiciously.

The low clouds stuck to the foothills for a while and it wasn't until we got to Wanship to start the climb to Park City.  "Climb" is a relative term: we were definitely going up but it was never steep since the rail trail used to be the Union Pacific railroad and trains can't do steep.  It was here that we started to see a few people - a trail runner and two or three cyclists, all heading down/east - but the trail was never very busy.

Hooray for beer!

We got to Squatter's a little after 11 a.m., making the inbound trip in only 3 hours and 15 minutes.  This time we didn't have to wait for beers so we split a pitcher of Full Suspension with our food (chips and salsa, veggie burger, fry bread and raspberry sauce).  We had stopped a couple of times en route for snacks as an anti-bonk plan but we were still hungry and the food went down fast.  As Squatter's filled up around us with brunchers, we finished up, reapplying sunscreen and hopping back on our MTBs by 12:30 p.m.

As before, the first part of the return trip flew by.  Since we were going at a steady (but not fast) pace, my legs were holding up fine; our backs and "sit-bones" were starting to get uncomfortable, however, because this was a long time in the saddle, even for H.  And I continued my recent trend of being kind of dumb: I was not drinking nearly enough water and got a bit dehydrated, which resulted in pretty painful cramps (no lasting damage done and completely remedied by the application of GatorAde on the ride home).

Done! Where's the beer?

By the time we got back to the truck, at about 2:45 p.m., I was ready to be done cycling and open a celebratory beer.  Because I feel like completing this ride is reason to celebrate.  It's not technical but it's long, and it's really fun to ride along with so much to look at.  We really like riding it and I suspect that this won't be the last time we do it.  And next time I'll drink more water.

This looks much steeper than it is - keep in mind it's

stretched out over 54+ miles, with not even 1,500 of elevation