One thing I noticed  a couple weeks ago when I went for a short 4 mile run on the BST above Farmington was that after taking a full month off to rest my injured ankle, I was OUT OF SHAPE. Actually, its scary how fast I had lost my lungs, legs, and overall endurance – not that I had much to begin with. My ankle is feeling a lot better, but I don’t want to chance reinjuring it. So, in hopes of keeping my overall fitness going, I jumped on my mountain bike today to head for the hills.

I made it about a mile from my house when I realized I had forgotten my water.  Turned back, got it, started again. I had thought about driving to Farmington Pond and starting from there – saving my legs the 2.5 street miles to get there, but was too lazy to load my bike up in the car.  So – streets it was. The climb up Farmington Canyon Road was slow and hard.  Man, I’m out of shape. I was happy that I didn’t really have to stop at all, but I creeped along pretty slow as I climbed about 1,300 ft. straight with out stopping from the turn off onto E 600 N (from W 600 N), up to N 100 E, and from there up the Canyon Road proper. The steepest sections are the pavement climb up to the first switchback.  After that the dirt road is harder to ride on, but not as steep – so it was a bit easier going.  I didn’t make it too far up – only about 2.5 miles up the canyon. This made me wish that I hadn’t started at my house and had instead parked at the Pond.  Oh well.

On the way down I quickly realized that my brakes were busted.  I had adjusted them before leaving, but apparently didn’t do it right.  That made for an interesting, and sometimes terrifying descent. They worked, but not well.  When I hit the left turn off for the Bonneville Shoreline Trail, I decided to get a little actual trail miles on.  I grew up mountain biking on the trails of Galbraith Mt. in Bellingham, WA – some of the best trails in the world. The BST is a bit of a let down.  And, getting run off the BST multiple times by 4-wheelers and motorcycles was not great. At Steed Creek, I hung a right and hit a short section of actual single track, then hit the streets and made my way home.

15.2 miles in 1:43, average speed 8.8 mph, max speed 32.9 mph, 1,693 ft. elevation.

Oh – and my ankle doesn’t feel aggravated.  Phew!  My legs are a different story.