Bike to Suncrest

Before Joe left for his conference in Las Vegas, he arranged for us to go on a bike ride the following Saturday with some employees from the Trek Store. After some discussion, they decided that they wanted to ride up to Suncrest.

They said it was uphill and challenging, but that I could do it. I think if I had seen where we were going to go beforehand I probably would have said there was NO WAY I would make it up there.

So on Saturday we dropped the boys off at the Randalls house bright and early. Then we went to the Trek Store in American Fork. Turns out there were only going to be five of us riding (all the others chickened out). So we headed northward and upward.

After discussing it with Joe, we figure we started somewhere around 4575 feet in elevation. When we reached the Highland Highway we were probably at about 4800 feet. Then we headed up North Highland Boulevard. The road twists around a bit because you are basically climbing a mountain! Here is a picture looking back to the south (at about 5900 feet). Keep in mind, we started down there on the valley floor.

It was a pretty tough climb (at least for me). But I did it! It was just short of 10 miles to the Suncrest Development at the top, and we went all the way up to about 6,100 feet. So our total climb was about 1,525 feet.

Here is a picture of where Suncrest Drive meets Traverse Ridge Road. From here you can either turn around and head back to Utah County, or as the sign says you can go down the hill the other way and go to Draper!

Here's a photo of Salt Lake County.

The way back down the hill was a blast! My odometer says that our top speed was 42 miles per hour! What a rush! It took much less time to get down than it did to get up, let me tell you. We ended up taking longer than we normally would have because Joe stopped to help a lady with a flat tire (what a guy).

I think Joe and I are mostly ready for our upcoming bike tour this weekend in Heber City. I can't believe we are going to go over 60 miles! I'll be sure to post photos and commentary later on.