reversal

We got up and out early Sunday morning, despite slightly fatigued legs from the Alta/Snowbird hike the day before, and got to the Round Valley trails around 8 a.m., the thought being that we would both avoid the crowds and get a decent ride in before the weather changed.  A cold front was due in the afternoon, with winds forecasted to pick up around 10 a.m.; we hoped there would be rain to help the plethora of wildfires that had sprung up (most human-caused, grrrr) nearby.

As luck (or our timing) would have it, there were very few people on the trails, right up until the witching hour of 10:30 a.m.  Even better, the people we did see - most with dogs, taking advantage of the cooler temperatures - had very good trail etiquette.  It's more fun when everyone follows the rules!

Coming up Rambler to Rademan Ridge

To mix things up a bit, H suggested that we ride reverse on a couple of trails: we'd go UP Rusty Shovel, which we'd only ever ridden down; and we'd do DOWN Tin Man and Happy Gilmor, which we'd only ever ridden up.  I was apprehensive about climbing Rusty Shovel since it's a fairly long climb that seems steep at the top, but I've never shied away from hike-a-bike. 

To my surprise, Rusty Shovel was a lot of fun to ride up!  And I rode a lot more of it than I thought it would, including the last few switchbacks towards the top.  It's not a particularly rocky trail, and for me that makes all the difference in my confidence.  The same cannot be said for doing Tin Man/Happy Gilmor downhill - both H and I found it more fun to climb, in large part because of all the chunks.  Lesson learned: we like to climb.

We split up for the last bit of our ride, with me beelining back to the truck via Round Valley Express and Matt's Flat with tired legs, and with H climbing Rambler and PorcUClimb and then racing a strong female MTBer down Down Dog.  We got back to SLC just in time for the cold front to arrive and after liberating poor Milton, sat in the garage while the thunder and lightning crashed dramatically over the Wasatch range.  No need to run the lawn sprinklers that night!

Ride stats:  16.88 miles; 1:55 hours; 8.8 m.p.h. average speed