Utah MTB

Archive for the ‘Trail Running’ Category

I had been going to the gym the past week or so but today I decided to get out and take a trail run up at Big Springs on the 8k loop. I knew it was going to be sloppy but I didn’t expect the snow I hit, most was tracked down pretty good. It was a bit harder to get your traction on the uphill climbs and I did slip and slid around a little. Between the trees there were dry dusty spots and some pretty good mud to work around but this ended up being a very nice run. Jack and Sam went with me and got into the mud up to there ears, they chased around the trail like wild dogs on the hunt.

I only saw one small group of people on the trail with there two dogs and didn’t get any pics or video, don’t like to pack a camera while I trail run. This was not a place to be on a bike the mud would play hell on your moving parts and leave your bike broke in the shop for sure. Well with any luck I can get another ride in this week before the snow falls in the lower elevations.

P.S. I hate the gym!

There are as many variations of trail running as there are runners. Many individuals prefer running trails for daily training and exercise, while other trail runners spend weeks out in the backcountry. There is a growing number of people participating in solo backcountry trail running trips, which are a sort of ultra light backpacking.

For the past few months I have been trail running every other day and biking the rest of the days. If it is raining I will choose to run instead, this is less muddy than on the bike and I can stay warmer overall. What I have noticed is that my climbs on the bike have now become much easier, this is due to the extreme stress that the running puts on my leg muscles. I can actually feel my legs swell up with blood in the firs 15 min of any run.

I have been using the same trails that I ride on to run on and I notice that I run in the same path and manner I would use to ride in. Placing my feet right where I would put my bike tires and shifting on the trail so that I’m on the firm or hard pack not on the soft or loose. My fitness level has increased much more with the cross training than with the bike alone and I do get more out of it in less time getting to that high faster. Don’t get me wrong I love to mountain bike, but you can’t always hit the trail when the weather is bad or your bike is broken.

There is a lot more stress to the body doing this than when I’m riding a 6+ inch full suspension bike. When you get sore joints from the running then the bike is a welcome ride you can always get back to!

Bill Messick

I had originally gone out to take a ride and get some video of the fall colors but as I got to the trail head it started poring rain down. I sat in the car out at Big Springs for about 15 min before deciding not to ride, so I grabbed my running shoes out of the back and strapped them on. I don’t ride muddy wet trails, the rutting it causes simply damages the trails, but I love trail running in the rain. I like to mix things up a bit and trail running seems to do more for me physically in 1 hour than 3 hours on a bike. Plus it give my dog Sam a little break from the high speeds on the downhill.

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My bike had a few broken spokes so I took the rim in to be fixed and ran into Fox in the bike shop. He was buying tubes and a pump, hoping he contacts me and we get to go on another ride I like him. So I had to go on a trail run today, I went up to the ridge trail with Sam and took a run around it. The hills on this run really test you, on some of them I was down to a crawl or something like that. I managed to do the entire loop on foot in 1:47 min, that is like 20 min longer than if I was on a bike!

I didn’t take a camera with me on the run but I did take some video of my dizzy butt after, check it out.

Well they called and had my bike done, but by the time I finished up my work and got down there to pick it up the shop had closed. They close early on Wednesday for group rides, my mistake. So by the time I got over it and decided to take another trail run it was around 7:00 pm and getting late. I decided to go back to to Big Springs where I had done the Big Springs 8k and see how fast I could do it with Sam.

So I get there around 7:30 and hit the trail trying to beat my time of 72 min. This is a very hard climb right from the start and I knew I had to reserve my energy. So pacing myself with iPod playing some good tunes I hit the trail with Sam leading the way. I hit the top at about 34 min and was on my way down now, down is better but this is where you need to keep a steady foot fall as to not break something like your self.

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Put my bike in the shop so they could fix a few things before I take it out for some more abuse on the trail. So I took Jack and Sam and went to Lambert Park for a trail run, Jack did good for an old man and Sam chased the dear and met other dogs and people.

Did a loop down Spring to middle and across to poppy and over to Corkscrew then down Wildcat and back up High Bench to Spring to the car.

It was a nice run, I’m sore from it today and hoping to get my ride back so I don’t have to run anymore. Not that I really mind it! Well looks like I will have use of a new camera so let’s see how the photos and video turn out. It is smaller than my big cam and uses a hard drive instead of tapes or memory card.

Other than that I have been busy building websites for people and have more in the background waiting there turn, till next time.

Ok Dillion, Bubby and I did this race and we all finished, I took 3rd place in my category at about 58 min and was only about 12 min in front of Dillion. Bubby took the last place on this one but he finished and that is all that matters. Check out the video for more fun!

Trail Run July 18th

 The race begins at Big Springs State Park which is on the right about 3 miles up the South Fork (Turn up at Vivan Park) of Provo Canyon.

The race starts on the dirt road a couple of hundred meters above the highest pavilion. It proceeds down the dirt road and up the dirt road towards a huge open field which it proceeds up the middle of and hits a connecting trail that breaks off to the right and goes by the Pole Haven trail intersection before dropping in to a large meadow and proceeding to the actual “Big Springs” area before dropping down a series singletrack back to the finish area in a grass field near one of the lower pavilions.

Check out the website at: http://srcevents.com/cascadia/index.php