Franz and Anne » Cycling Saturday

It has been some time since we were able to do a Saturday ride with the Utah Velo Club. Last year we usually did those rides on the tandem because of the fast pace. This trip we only brought our single bikes so Anne was a bit nervous, but I was confident we would do fine.

The ride didn’t start until 9 am, which was a good thing since it was very cold on Friday and early Saturday morning still found the weather in the 30′s. But by the time the ride started it had warmed to the mid 40′s and the sun was shining, which made it feel even warmer.

About 15 others showed up and Anne was quick to notice there were no other women. The guys ranged in age from the 30′s up. Unlike most ACTC rides, the Utah Velo tends to ride fast and in a group. I did not know the route, so we had an incentive to keep up. Anne did great riding right in the pace line. The group would regroup about every 15-20 miles. We stayed connected for the first two re-groups. At each group we were taking off more clothes since the weather was warming up quite nicely. Then there was the only real climbing of the day and things tended to spread out. It was only the last 10 miles that we fell off the back of the main group, but by then we knew the rest of the route. We averaged 18 mph, which is probably the fastest Anne has ridden on her single bike for such a distance.

It was only noon and we were done with the ride, unlike many ACTC rides which seem to go well into the afternoon. We stopped for lunch at In-N-Out, which had just opened nearby. For some reason a hamburger always tastes great after a hard ride.

I wanted to do a bit more riding, so after returning home, I took off up the canyon. I first headed up the Alpine Road to Sundance. At Sundance, I took a side road inside the resort itself that I had never taken before. I only had my iPhone to take this photo.

Going back down the canyon, I was riding into a strong headwind. I figured that after I went down the road and across the canyon to climb up South Fork, I would have the same headwind. But I didn’t notice any headwind while going up, but I certainly felt a strong headwind going down. Once I was back down to the main highway, I headed back down the Provo River trail yet again felt a strong headwind. So I felt this headwind while traveling in 3 different directions, all going down hill. I figure that the wind was just blowing hard up all canyon and side canyons. Interesting.