I can’t believe I’ve been doing triathlons for 5 years and never ridden the Alpine loop before- one of the best and “famousest” rides in Utah. With 3,880 feet of elevation gain, it’s a tough climb, but coming down the other side at 50 MPH is a riot!

I have been to North Bend many times, and every time I have wanted to climb to the top of Mt. Si, but it has never worked out. Finally, on Christmas Day, I just decided to do it. I learned pretty quickly that, with over 3,000 feet of elevation gain, this is more of a hike than a run! But well worth it, the top has an amazing view all the way to Seattle and the Puget Sound.

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If you’re a runner, join me and my psychotic running buddies in our quest to keep trail 51 on Mount Timpanogos open through the winter! If you want to join us, meet at the trail head at 8:30 on Saturday mornings. It’s about 7 miles of beautiful single track, with an 1800 foot elevation gain. The air is clear, the views are amazing, and the company is good!

If you can’t make it on Saturday’s, try this run during your normal running time, I bet you’ll be hooked too. If enough of us do it, we can keep the trail open all winter long.

They say it’s the biggest bicycle race in the nation, some people say in the world… I don’t know, but there was about 10,000 racers there, it was an amazing event. Loved it. I did the 66.7 mile leg, which is a good distance. Especially for me, I’m used to 12-24 mile races in sprint and olympic distance triathlons, so this was a longer race than I’ve done.

Came 28th out of 1,500, I’m happy with that!

On maybe the last warm weather day of the year we squeezed in this 66 mile route. Gary Henderson, Ryan Gardner, Jeff Gardner, and me. Follows the Utah Half Ironman Course from Provo Center Street to Lincoln Beach. Great ride, lots of open track with little traffic, not much elevation gain, and fantastic scenery. Pics below.

Life is good!

The new Pioneer Crossing road in Lehi is fantastic. It has a bike lane all the way from American Fork to Redwood Road, then you can head north on Redwood as far as you want to go in a nice wide shoulder. We fit this ride in just before the weather hit. Part of my training for the Tour De Tucson on November 20th, “America’s Largest Perimeter Cycling Event,” 9,000 people! Going to be fun.

This is a sweet 11 mile run. Amazing views, a great single track, clean mountain air… the only bummer is the rocky descent down Battle Creek Canyon is too steep to run in places, otherwise this is a great track.

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http://www.facebook.com/pages/HCG-EZ-Drops/

For my local running friends, this is a great track. You can start at the Church on the corner of 1600 N Orem and 1030 West. It’s slightly uphill the first 3 miles, to the Wordperfect buildings, then downhill most of the way back.

Today I did four 4 minute intervals in the middle of the run, then jogged it out.

No, an LSD run is not drug induced.