Flying dog backwards on saturday

bikepeddler josh had 12 guys meeting at glenwild to do flying dog and we convinced him to do it backwards as the last time we did this it was much funner....funner?...is that a word?

i get there and again for the second time in the same week i forget my shoes at home. damm!!! i am have to going to start sleep with my shoes on!!
i race home and back. originally i brought my single speed thinking we were doing just glenwild. after learning we were doing flyingdog and i was the only single speed on a recreational ride pace. i switched to the geared jet9 when i got home for the shoes as i knew we would be going slower uphills.

raced back and the group had left 10 minutes earlier. no problem, i hightailed it up the first short set of long switch backs and instantly pegged the heartrate at 185. those of you that know what i am talking about. no warm up, start with a climb and really hit it.
ran into the group at the top of the hill which surprised me, but they lost one guy already. seems like he was off the back and flatted, went back to the parking lot, but took a different route back, so i didn't pass him.

josh bike peddler.

we continued on down into the grassy meadows and then up to flyingdog. motormike(moondude) keep up a good pace as usual up the hill. we had many stops and regroups as some of the guys where hardcore "granny gear gang". no worries this was a casual ride and i was getting some interval with mike up front. tallsteve, ryan, josh and a few others where very close behind.


motormike
these tall guys really need to embrace the 29er thing. we had much discussion while riding and during stops. of course the 26er-29er thing came up and turned into subsequent jokes on the trail. "damm 29ers on the thight switchbacks" "darn little wheeled 26ers over rocks". really nobody held us back during the whole ride regardless of bike or fitness level. it was a fun day.

tallsteve
i had to comment on ryans mostly white kit, it was like following a refrigerator. he had on a backpack and kept pulling food out of it, then refueled mike with more water.

mister ryan(recently married)


there were two guys on lenz 29er bikes and they looked fun to ride. those frames really perform!!

after the summit, we all descended as a big happy howling, yelping and rawdy group. the trail is very flowy and rolling. there was very little traffic that day and we had a good rate of speed without too much intreruptions. of course we showed respect to riders climbing and pulled over, but it never seems to fail on this trail that some newby is offended one way or another by us coming down.
case in point. on a part of the trail that was no-less ten feet wide, we all still gave a wide birth to a middle-aged, 1990's bike riding uptight guy. he felt the need to rudely comment about some unhappiness. we were astounded....not only did all eleven of us pull over for him, he had nine feet of trail to pass with. in Southern cali where i came from, if after showing that much respect(which is rare) and then getting yelled at, he would have been regulated quite severely. here we just laughed at him.

we passed alex grant of monavie/cannodale coming up the hill also. so the fun continued, part of the group split to do a short DH/ jump trail and back up. i have done them and the one foot high jumps did not excite me so skipped them.

we met up back at the cars and then proceed to to grind on some yummy pizza at maxwells in park city. more shit talking and went home. ride time was close to when we rode single speeds(1:40), but the uphill was slower this time and the down faster.
i always enjoy this jem of a trail.


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29er Online!!!

http://www.29eronline.com/blog/

new site came to my attention. it reviews 29er parts and frames. they are from back east so it's refreshing to hear what they run into as far as grips and kudos for stuff.

so far its in the beginnings, but have already tested and reviewed the niner wfo9, niner rip9, mach pivot29 and turner sultan 29er separately and even some against each other. this is good for those wanting to buy and need to find direction. also for those that need dircet comparison to products they already own.

i can see good stuff coming from these guys in the future if they keep up this great work. it is a well layed out site, easy to navigate and interesting. more than just a personal blog, yet not a highly bias "paid to write" site either. we need more of this. good solid personal opinions directly influenced by local environment.

riders back east talk about wet roots and leaves being a problem. here in utah we just do see a lot of that. one is that we don't ride the trails when its wet. the trails dry very quickly. but as in the last weeks night ride, we did run into wet roots and leaves. it was a mess for my single speed!!! having to deal with that a lot would certainly color my choices for bike products.



down side to the site. it is a bit slow to load up. i have a uber fast connection and it didn't just blink up like most sites. thats it. can't find fault with good stuff!!


keep up the good work and i will check in often and so should you.