Emigration Canyon

Made my first ride up Emigration Canyon yesterday. There was so much construction last summer that I never made the attempt (and I was sure I would never have made it.) Nowhere near as bad as I expected. It's actually pretty moderate. Rode a total of 25.98 miles in 1 hour 58 minutes. It's a really nice ride and now that I've been shown a relatively easy way to get there that doesn't involve killing myself trying to climb up 8th south, I"ll be riding it more often.

Funny thing happened, though, that kind of put it all into perspective. I'm cruising up near the top of Little Mountain doing what I think is pretty good time and I get passed. By an old shirtless guy on a mountain bike with panniers and tennis shoes on.

I chickened out a little bit on the way down and rode my brakes probably more than I needed to. One problem is, of course, that it was my first decent and I don't know the road. Another is I think I've decided that I hate my bars. They're ergonomic and I'm not sure I like the feel in the drops. It may be an adjustment issue or I may just like regular drops better. I'll try making some adjustments first, but I may find myself in the market for new bars.

I definitely need a new saddle. The Bontrager Race Lite that I have on there is just leaving me, how should I say, with too little feeling after long rides. After the century on Saturday I was really numb (I thought during the ride that it was primarily the cold, but the rides since have proven that it's the saddle). Even after two hours in the saddle yesterday, I'm not comfortable. Could be, again, an adjustment issue, but I switched to the old Specialized saddle that I got with the bike for now.

Anyway, not sure how much I'll ride today, as I need to go home right after work and clean like mad for my father's pending visit. He's supposed to be here tomorrow. It's his first visit to Salt Lake, and the first visit by anyone from my family (except my brother and his family) ever...but that's a whole other post...