After the Barnes Park race, there was really only one thing to do-ride some more. Thomas does a lot of mountain bike riding on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail and related trail networks just north of Salt Lake City. A year or so ago, I wrote a couple of blog posts on some rides that we did there. Thomas wanted to show me a newer trail near Ensign Peak. I have included a link below to the rides in the area. None of the routes matches ours exactly, but the Ensign Peak Loop generally matches the middle part of our ride.
Thirty years or so have passed since mountain bikes became relatively ubiquitous, and in that time, people have gotten a lot better at building mountain bike specific trails. The new trail starts just north of Ensign Peak and descends along its west side through a long series of switchbacks terminating just north and west of the Utah Capitol. Most of the trail probably falls into a high intermediate range with a handful of expert sections.
The engineering quality of the trail and its numerous switchbacks is outstanding. It is insanely fun to ride. Thomas tells me that he seldom sees other riders on the trail. The reason for that is probably fairly obvious. It is a tough climb to the top. We ran into some last minute mechanical issues with Thomas' mountain bike so as plan B, he rode his Surly fat bike. Even on the fattie, he rode better and faster than me.
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