Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Skyline Drive
I went for a ride up Skylline Drive in Bountiful this last Sunday. The leaves were turning, and it was very pretty. There were a whole lot of people, driving up in anything they could drive, 3-wheelers, 4-wheelers, trucks, motorcycles, cars, mini-vans. Whatever. Everyone was up there, and everyone was taking pictures. I made a panoramic. Here are I guess is a small version. If you want a bigger one I could email a copy..
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Riding a Motorcycle...
I think it is fair to say that riding a motorcycle is one of the best things in my life. When I was younger all I saw were the cliches. Big fat guys on ridiculous Harley Davidsons. My brother David and early memories of my father were touchstones to biking, but they never inspired in me the desire to take it up. Later I had friends with four wheelers, and I rode those a couple times, but my dad steadfastly refused to get one when I asked. That might have developed into a love of bikes. But in the end it was about thrift.
I'm a cheap guy. I just don't like spending money. I save the great majority of whatever I earn, because to me money is security. Saved money means that in that rainy day (now) I can pay my rent while I try to build my house. Building the house myself all out of my savings is another cost saving measure.
So, when I realized I could get 75 miles to the gallon on a motorcycle instead of a lowly 30 in my car, I bought one and learned how to ride it. I was 31 years old.
It was after that I started to get stupid and rhapsodic about bikes. Maybe not rhapsodic, but it wasn't really about gas mileage anymore. Now I've got a different bike, a dual sport (although a big fat one) which means its street legal and can go in the dirt (a little), and I realize that a big factor in how I feel is how much I ride. There are moments of wonder on the back of a bike that I've just never had in a car. Granted, I've never really driven an awe inspiring car, but even a dumb little economy bike can do that to me. I remember riding my old bike through the early fall evening away from the Rice Eccles Stadium after my shift chaperoning prom the year before last. There was a breeze, and the changing leaves where shivering against each other. There was just enough chill to make wearing a jacket feel right. The sun was setting, and the light was coming in rays through the shadows. And I felt alright. It would have been different in my car. Jeremy Clarkson of Top Gear has referred to my model of car as "a misery box".
Anyway, I went on three or four long rides last week, that had a salubrious effect on my mood. I haven't been on one this week and it is telling. Anyway, here are some of the rides that I mapped out with Google.
09-13-12
Started at my place in the Aves and went up to Virginia St, down past the law school, up around the stadium and up Emigration Canyon. The Canyon was beautiful. I went over Little Mountain without stopping at the summit, down past the reservoir and up toward the East Canyon summit. This is a twisty road. On a bike with a lower center of gravity it would be tremendous fun, but even on my bike it is good. You can get pretty sideways. At the top I stopped for a moment and looked down to the valley. I've been there before.
Then I went down the other side, which is if anything more twisty. It isn't quick with KLR brakes. So, a guy in an SUV that he obviously though was made by Ferrari, spent the majority of the way down half way up my colon. Not so fun. But he got the clue and backed up after he tried to take a corner to quickly and almost lost it. I thought I'd missed the turn off for Jeremy Ranch Rd, but kept on.
I was listening to the end of "Night Probe!" by Clive Cussler. It was another of those Dirk Manly novels. I always call him Dirk Manly in my head, even though its Dirk Pitt. That was a flub by Jen Hancey when we first watched Sahara together.
I was a bit nervous on the dirt on Jeremy Ranch Rd. I just don't have that much dirt experience, (read, I'd been on the dirt twice on this bike, and it went poorly the first time), so I took it easy. It was fine though. There wasn't any challenge to it. It was just a regular dirt road. After the dirt I ended up in Summit Park I guess. The Jeremy Ranch area. I stopped at the gas station before getting on I-80 so I could finish off the audio book and start another. Dirk found an old secret treaty that ceded Canada to America. As this book was written in the 80's we we've been living in "The United States of Canada". Never knew it. After Dirk Manly I began "The World is Flat," by Thomas Freidman, as I rode down I-80 and home.
From I-80 there isn't much to say about the ride. Except 70mph near the mouth of the canyon seems too fast, but it is the speed you have to go unless you want to risk getting flattened by semi trucks coming up behind you. In case you couldn't tell I don't feel the need to ride too quickly.
09-13-12
This was a fun one. Started at my place in the Aves, and went from I-15 to the 201 down to the last Magna exit. From there I swung past my lot but didn't stop. I got on the Old Bingham Highway, and headed south toward Herriman. I turned right into Butterfield Canyon and went past the Burro Ranch place. Butterfield Canyon is very cool. Really twisty. After the road starts its climb it goes up the side of the mountain and the views are pretty spectacular. There are a few blind corners that are kind of scary. It is one lane and there is traffic moving both ways, so you never know if there's going to be a truck coming head on when you get around the bend. Also there is a lot of rock fall, so you have to keep an eye where your tires are, because you're moving pretty slowly, and one of them can make it messy. The fact is that if I went down on this bike I'm pretty sure I couldn't lift it by myself. So I don't want to do that. At all.
Anyway the pavement ends at the summit. The views both toward the Salt Lake Valley and Tooele are beautiful. There's a little parking lot where I left the bike. I walked up the mountain toward the peak where you can look down into the copper mine. I went up there once before with Mike Forsberg, and Mykel and Brent Dougherty. It got dark before we made it more than half way up, and we had to turn back. I made it to exactly the same spot and ran into a truck parked across the road with a big stop sign hanging on it. The guy in the truck said they were grading the road above and I couldn't continue on. That was a bit of a bummer. I went back to the bike and started down the other side.
The Tooele side isn't paved, although it looked like it had been graded at some point relatively recently. The grading left loose soil and there were some pretty steep grade curves, so cornering was a little nervous. After the steep section with the switchbacking the pavement starts again. There are tons of camp and picnic grounds off the road, and a couple times I saw teenagers looking nervous and getting into cars. Sex or drugs. I didn't hear any rock and roll. So I felt secure they were there for one or both of the other two. I wasn't so into the idea of being on the road with them if it was the drugs.
Eventually I came across cows. Quite a few cows. Someone was running them in the canyon, and a big black bull with stubby but sharp looking horns was eyeing me funny. I was just waiting for him to come after me. My bike is red, and I felt confident he was one of those special bulls who wasn't colorblind, and had been raised like me to believe that as a bull he was supposed to be enraged by the color. The bigger problem was the fat girl cow that I didn't see in the middle of the road peeing leisurely until I was close enough that stopping wasn't easy. But stop I did. There were two women trying to stop traffic, and my instinct was that they were wives of ranchers testily scolding people for using the canyon. I rode by pretending I didn't see the woman grabbing at me and gesturing me off the road toward their trucks. After I was a few hundred yards down I started to worry that they were having car trouble and just wanted help, and I felt almost guilty enough to go back and ask if they were ok. I salved my conscience, because four cars went up the road while I was feeling guilty, in one of which was a very friendly looking older couple.
Out of the canyon, rather than going into Tooele turned right and went up the longest straightest road in Utah. It must go for six or seven miles straight as an arrow through Erda. Eventually, however, it runs out of pavement without any street signs. It didn't look promising so I turned around and went west to the highway that runs north through Stansbury Park and Lake Pointe. From there I got on I-80 east around the point, then got off at Saltaire. I rode up the frontage road until the airport gets in the way. It's a cool road. It goes from pavement to slabby concrete. When the lake is higher it there are salt fens by the road, and a million bugs in the air. With the lake as low as it is right now, (low, low, low, with it seems like miles of stinky beach at Saltaire) it is just grass and weeds. You go too fast on that road. The freeway is right next to you, so you have the tendency to match the traffic. You shouldn't, but you do.
After that there's nothing interesting. Back on I-80 to 5th south, and home.
09-14-12
I decided to go home for the weekend. I was going to go up Emigration over Little Mountain around the reservoir and through Morgan, but it was too late in the day. So I started at my place went up to the Capitol, down Victory Ln. I got on I-15 north and went as far as Farmington. There I got off and got some gas. Then up went up Highway 89 to I-84 up the canyon. There I came out at Mountain Green, to which I'd never been. I took Trappers Loop up over the mountain to Huntsville, past Snow Basin. I'd never been up there before. It was really beautiful. The road was a fun drive, and I'd have loved it except for the brother of the guy from Little Mountain a couple days before, driving his Ferrari SUV. This one was towing a boat. I couldn't believe the speed this guy was going, and how close he was getting to me. I was five or ten miles over the speeds on the corner speed signs, and this guy seemed like he wanted nothing more than to drive over me on his way to glory. Crazy. I was looking for a place to pull off and let him pass but I hit Huntsville first.
From there I turned right on 1st South and went up highway 39. It wasn't very picturesque. Nor was it a particularly fun road to ride. The only remarkable thing was that there were approximately 1,000,000 church campgrounds, all of which were hosting youth groups that night. It was really kind of weird.
It started getting really cold. Really cold. And the sun was as good as set since I was deep in the mountain. Eventually I hit the Ant Flat Rd turn off. It was not bad. It was a little washboardy, but you could drive any regular car over it without trouble if you took it relatively slow. It was pretty. Not as pretty as the road between Avon and Liberty, which you could see a few miles up the mountain. But it was pretty still. I was nervous looking at it on the map, because it was the longest stretch of dirt I'd done, almost 15 miles, but it was fine. I saw some cows, and some sheep. A couple of them were black. That was about it.
On the far side of the Ant Flat Rd I emerged into Blacksmith Fork Canyon. It was fantastic. The funnest canyon I've ever run. The curves are perfect for the lazy quick that I do on the KLR. I enjoyed it thoroughly. There were port-a-potties at intervals down the road. I didn't find out until later that they were running the Top of Utah Marathon down the canyon the next day.
Anyway, the rest of the ride home was... whatever. It was twilight when I went through Blacksmith Fork, dark the last couple miles home. That's all.
I'm a cheap guy. I just don't like spending money. I save the great majority of whatever I earn, because to me money is security. Saved money means that in that rainy day (now) I can pay my rent while I try to build my house. Building the house myself all out of my savings is another cost saving measure.
So, when I realized I could get 75 miles to the gallon on a motorcycle instead of a lowly 30 in my car, I bought one and learned how to ride it. I was 31 years old.
It was after that I started to get stupid and rhapsodic about bikes. Maybe not rhapsodic, but it wasn't really about gas mileage anymore. Now I've got a different bike, a dual sport (although a big fat one) which means its street legal and can go in the dirt (a little), and I realize that a big factor in how I feel is how much I ride. There are moments of wonder on the back of a bike that I've just never had in a car. Granted, I've never really driven an awe inspiring car, but even a dumb little economy bike can do that to me. I remember riding my old bike through the early fall evening away from the Rice Eccles Stadium after my shift chaperoning prom the year before last. There was a breeze, and the changing leaves where shivering against each other. There was just enough chill to make wearing a jacket feel right. The sun was setting, and the light was coming in rays through the shadows. And I felt alright. It would have been different in my car. Jeremy Clarkson of Top Gear has referred to my model of car as "a misery box".
Anyway, I went on three or four long rides last week, that had a salubrious effect on my mood. I haven't been on one this week and it is telling. Anyway, here are some of the rides that I mapped out with Google.
09-13-12
Started at my place in the Aves and went up to Virginia St, down past the law school, up around the stadium and up Emigration Canyon. The Canyon was beautiful. I went over Little Mountain without stopping at the summit, down past the reservoir and up toward the East Canyon summit. This is a twisty road. On a bike with a lower center of gravity it would be tremendous fun, but even on my bike it is good. You can get pretty sideways. At the top I stopped for a moment and looked down to the valley. I've been there before.
Then I went down the other side, which is if anything more twisty. It isn't quick with KLR brakes. So, a guy in an SUV that he obviously though was made by Ferrari, spent the majority of the way down half way up my colon. Not so fun. But he got the clue and backed up after he tried to take a corner to quickly and almost lost it. I thought I'd missed the turn off for Jeremy Ranch Rd, but kept on.
I was listening to the end of "Night Probe!" by Clive Cussler. It was another of those Dirk Manly novels. I always call him Dirk Manly in my head, even though its Dirk Pitt. That was a flub by Jen Hancey when we first watched Sahara together.
I was a bit nervous on the dirt on Jeremy Ranch Rd. I just don't have that much dirt experience, (read, I'd been on the dirt twice on this bike, and it went poorly the first time), so I took it easy. It was fine though. There wasn't any challenge to it. It was just a regular dirt road. After the dirt I ended up in Summit Park I guess. The Jeremy Ranch area. I stopped at the gas station before getting on I-80 so I could finish off the audio book and start another. Dirk found an old secret treaty that ceded Canada to America. As this book was written in the 80's we we've been living in "The United States of Canada". Never knew it. After Dirk Manly I began "The World is Flat," by Thomas Freidman, as I rode down I-80 and home.
From I-80 there isn't much to say about the ride. Except 70mph near the mouth of the canyon seems too fast, but it is the speed you have to go unless you want to risk getting flattened by semi trucks coming up behind you. In case you couldn't tell I don't feel the need to ride too quickly.
09-13-12
This was a fun one. Started at my place in the Aves, and went from I-15 to the 201 down to the last Magna exit. From there I swung past my lot but didn't stop. I got on the Old Bingham Highway, and headed south toward Herriman. I turned right into Butterfield Canyon and went past the Burro Ranch place. Butterfield Canyon is very cool. Really twisty. After the road starts its climb it goes up the side of the mountain and the views are pretty spectacular. There are a few blind corners that are kind of scary. It is one lane and there is traffic moving both ways, so you never know if there's going to be a truck coming head on when you get around the bend. Also there is a lot of rock fall, so you have to keep an eye where your tires are, because you're moving pretty slowly, and one of them can make it messy. The fact is that if I went down on this bike I'm pretty sure I couldn't lift it by myself. So I don't want to do that. At all.
Anyway the pavement ends at the summit. The views both toward the Salt Lake Valley and Tooele are beautiful. There's a little parking lot where I left the bike. I walked up the mountain toward the peak where you can look down into the copper mine. I went up there once before with Mike Forsberg, and Mykel and Brent Dougherty. It got dark before we made it more than half way up, and we had to turn back. I made it to exactly the same spot and ran into a truck parked across the road with a big stop sign hanging on it. The guy in the truck said they were grading the road above and I couldn't continue on. That was a bit of a bummer. I went back to the bike and started down the other side.
The Tooele side isn't paved, although it looked like it had been graded at some point relatively recently. The grading left loose soil and there were some pretty steep grade curves, so cornering was a little nervous. After the steep section with the switchbacking the pavement starts again. There are tons of camp and picnic grounds off the road, and a couple times I saw teenagers looking nervous and getting into cars. Sex or drugs. I didn't hear any rock and roll. So I felt secure they were there for one or both of the other two. I wasn't so into the idea of being on the road with them if it was the drugs.
Eventually I came across cows. Quite a few cows. Someone was running them in the canyon, and a big black bull with stubby but sharp looking horns was eyeing me funny. I was just waiting for him to come after me. My bike is red, and I felt confident he was one of those special bulls who wasn't colorblind, and had been raised like me to believe that as a bull he was supposed to be enraged by the color. The bigger problem was the fat girl cow that I didn't see in the middle of the road peeing leisurely until I was close enough that stopping wasn't easy. But stop I did. There were two women trying to stop traffic, and my instinct was that they were wives of ranchers testily scolding people for using the canyon. I rode by pretending I didn't see the woman grabbing at me and gesturing me off the road toward their trucks. After I was a few hundred yards down I started to worry that they were having car trouble and just wanted help, and I felt almost guilty enough to go back and ask if they were ok. I salved my conscience, because four cars went up the road while I was feeling guilty, in one of which was a very friendly looking older couple.
Out of the canyon, rather than going into Tooele turned right and went up the longest straightest road in Utah. It must go for six or seven miles straight as an arrow through Erda. Eventually, however, it runs out of pavement without any street signs. It didn't look promising so I turned around and went west to the highway that runs north through Stansbury Park and Lake Pointe. From there I got on I-80 east around the point, then got off at Saltaire. I rode up the frontage road until the airport gets in the way. It's a cool road. It goes from pavement to slabby concrete. When the lake is higher it there are salt fens by the road, and a million bugs in the air. With the lake as low as it is right now, (low, low, low, with it seems like miles of stinky beach at Saltaire) it is just grass and weeds. You go too fast on that road. The freeway is right next to you, so you have the tendency to match the traffic. You shouldn't, but you do.
After that there's nothing interesting. Back on I-80 to 5th south, and home.
09-14-12
I decided to go home for the weekend. I was going to go up Emigration over Little Mountain around the reservoir and through Morgan, but it was too late in the day. So I started at my place went up to the Capitol, down Victory Ln. I got on I-15 north and went as far as Farmington. There I got off and got some gas. Then up went up Highway 89 to I-84 up the canyon. There I came out at Mountain Green, to which I'd never been. I took Trappers Loop up over the mountain to Huntsville, past Snow Basin. I'd never been up there before. It was really beautiful. The road was a fun drive, and I'd have loved it except for the brother of the guy from Little Mountain a couple days before, driving his Ferrari SUV. This one was towing a boat. I couldn't believe the speed this guy was going, and how close he was getting to me. I was five or ten miles over the speeds on the corner speed signs, and this guy seemed like he wanted nothing more than to drive over me on his way to glory. Crazy. I was looking for a place to pull off and let him pass but I hit Huntsville first.
From there I turned right on 1st South and went up highway 39. It wasn't very picturesque. Nor was it a particularly fun road to ride. The only remarkable thing was that there were approximately 1,000,000 church campgrounds, all of which were hosting youth groups that night. It was really kind of weird.
It started getting really cold. Really cold. And the sun was as good as set since I was deep in the mountain. Eventually I hit the Ant Flat Rd turn off. It was not bad. It was a little washboardy, but you could drive any regular car over it without trouble if you took it relatively slow. It was pretty. Not as pretty as the road between Avon and Liberty, which you could see a few miles up the mountain. But it was pretty still. I was nervous looking at it on the map, because it was the longest stretch of dirt I'd done, almost 15 miles, but it was fine. I saw some cows, and some sheep. A couple of them were black. That was about it.
On the far side of the Ant Flat Rd I emerged into Blacksmith Fork Canyon. It was fantastic. The funnest canyon I've ever run. The curves are perfect for the lazy quick that I do on the KLR. I enjoyed it thoroughly. There were port-a-potties at intervals down the road. I didn't find out until later that they were running the Top of Utah Marathon down the canyon the next day.
Anyway, the rest of the ride home was... whatever. It was twilight when I went through Blacksmith Fork, dark the last couple miles home. That's all.
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Remembered Another One...
Bookstore Clerk, 24ish - I worked at the USU Bookstore in the basement of the Student Center. It was fun. We moved big piles of text books around, and helped people find their books when they came at the beginning of the semester. I think I got like $7 an hour. That might be a job I could do again.
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