trails with friends

 Our friend Ted texted H to say that he'd gotten a new MTB - he'd been riding his gravel bike but realized that Park City has lots of different kinds of trails; plus he likes gear - and that he'd love to ride with us if we were going to be in the area.  We told him we'd meet him at the Quinn's Trailhead at Round Valley at 8:30 a.m. Saturday morning.  Despite northern Utah going through a heat event right now, it was super pleasant in Park City, cool even.  We were a little surprised to see so few cars in the parking lot - we scarcely saw anyone all morning - but weren't about to complain about it.  After duly admiring Ted's new wheels, we hit the trails.

I think Ted was a little apprehensive about riding with us after our longer than planned hike last time, so H kept that in mind.  We rode up to PorcUClimb (which I was pleased to only be climbing once) to do the P-Dog loop, then I suggested Matt's Flat to Round Valley Express so we could climb Rambler.  Amazingly, we didn't see a single other person the whole way up; even more amazingly, I stayed calm and rode this one short, steep, loose section that often gives me fits.  Fist pump!  From the top of the ride, we descended on Rusty Shovel, then climbed the three steep steps on Rambler.  To finish things out, we swooped through the sagebrush of the practice loop by the National Ability Center, some fun corners that make you feel like a MTB hero.

Ted invited us back to his place for a post-ride coffee/water/Gatorade and, to be honest, it was nice to be in some A/C for a change, instead of standing on hot asphalt.  Unfortunately, we had finished a little too early for beer - but H and I remedied that by stopping by Fishers Cyclery to get H's brakes worked on when we got back to the Salt Lake City side.  It was after noon by then, so we stopped by Grid City Beer Works to put some cash into the local economy.  Buy local/drink local!

We didn't take any pictures this time so here's one from H's ride on Falcon Flow: his bike is right on the edge of a cliff, so that's exciting for riding!