ski like a girl's "lazy" ride

As we head up on the Flight of the Canyons gondola with our bikes safely ensconced in their very own gondola, I start to question our mode of transportation. And yes, each bike is in it's own gondola. 2 people + 2 bikes = 3 gondolas. I was feeling a little guilty. Not about the excessive gondola usage. They're empty and they are going up the hill with or without us. No I was feeling guilty about being on the gondola. Mountain biking to me is about the ups and downs. And I'm better at the up than the down. Much better. Shouldn't we be riding our bikes up the hill? Okay, I know it's not a hill it's a mountain! I have a retention problem. Didn't I learn anything yesterday?

When we got to the Red Pine Lodge we took yet another lift to get higher up the mountain. More guilt for me. We started out on the Red Pine loop and got lost. Well not really lost we just couldn't find the Mid-Mountain Trail and end up back at the day lodge. The plan was to take Red Pine to Mid-Mountain. Eventually we worked it out and found the trail. We decided to take Mid-Mountain Trail to Park City. An awesome ride that is tougher than I thought but worth it. 1,900 calorie burn, not bad for a "lazy" ride. Be prepared with adequate snacks and water. Once you get on the trail at The Canyons there is no exit until Park City. Here is a nice description of the trail:

Mid-Mountain Trail

Also known as the "Eight Thousand Foot Trail," the Mid Mountain Trail is an awesome single track ride. It rocks up and down at the 8000-foot level from Park City Mountain Resort to The Canyons Resort. This 8000-foot portion of the trail is 11.3 miles long. Add the climb up the Spiro Trail, and the 4 mile descent on The Canyons' lift road, and it's 18.8 miles point-to-point, 22 if you loop back into Park City along the road. Altitude change is 1400 feet, but with the up-and-down on the Mid Mountain Trail, total climbing will be close to 3000. This is a big ride.

My newest goal for 2010 is to run the Mid-Mountain trail. Here is a link to this year's Mid Mountain Marathon, September, 12, 2009.

Welcome to the Mid Mountain Marathon. This stunningly scenic almost level single track trail is at 8,000′ and traverses Deer Valley, Park City Mountain Resort, The Colony and The Canyons. There are spectacular vistas, enchanted forests and glowing aspens.

Time & Place:
8:00 AM start at Silver Lake Lodge at Deer Valley Resort. Awards at 1:00 PM at The Forum at The Canyons.

Course & Distance:
26.2 miles on single track trail from Silver Lake Lodge at Deer Valley Resort to The Forum at The Canyons.

Keep training and have a fun summer! Ski season will be here sooner than you think. Share any summer training ideas you have in the comments. I'd love to here from you.
xoxo,
ski girl

Road trip PDX to Park City

It was a long drive. A very, very, very, very long drive. I learned something about myself yesterday. My uninterrupted, road trip, drive time limit is 7 hours. Exactly 7 hours. After that I am not a happy camper. I get twitchy, tired, and angry. Unfortunately for me and my traveling companion, 7 hours was the exact point that I took over the driving. While I pumped it up to the Black Eyed Peas at a ear splitting volume. Robert watch an episode of Rome on the mini DVD player. He had to press the headphones to his ears with both hands to block out my Fergalicious song styling. I only sing the Fergie parts cuz I'm a girl and I sound just like her! Seriously, I do.

Idaho
I have some personal road trip dietary rules and one of them is no fast food. Ever! I'm a true joy to travel with. Hour 9 of the trip and the break down begins. I want ice cream! Chocolate ice cream. Haagan Dazs chocolate ice cream. And as far as I can surmise from my perusal of many a fine Idaho road side establishment, THEY DON'T HAVE HAAGAN DAZS IN IDAHO! So I rethink my commitment to clean eating and end up at Jack in the Box. As you can tell from the picture Jack uses real ice cream in his shakes. Unfortunately for us, after a 25 minute wait in the drive thru line we find out that Jack has no shakes and we are stuck in the line. It all works out for the best. Really! No shake means, no rule breaking. And this would have broken three.

1. no fast food
2. no eating after 8 pm
3. no carbs 3 hours before bedtime (at this point in the journey I didn't realize it would be 5 hours before that would happen!)
   

So you see I'm a much better person because of this experience. Really! Okay, I know I'm a bit of a freak but I embrace it.


Utah
What's the difference between an Elk and a Moose any way?
2 am and we arrive at The Canyons. Having spent a fabulous spring break skiing here this year we find our condo The Westgate Resort and Spa easily. The adventure begins in the hunt for the Moose Lodge parking area. It's like parking at a Disney Resort. Multiple levels, all themed but without the guy in the costume directing traffic. With a moose, bear, elk, bison mural at each parking spot. Letting you know that you are safe and secure and in the right spot. 2:15 am and we are still looking for moose, we only find elk. Or at least we think it's elk. Who really knows what it is? This is the closest thing to big game hunting veggie me is ever going to get. And I can't find the Moose! We then take a moment for a semi heated discussion on what the check in guy meant by "take a sharp right turn".

We leave the Elk parking area and turn into another gated structure. This parking area doesn't offer the sweet Disneyfied security of animal murals. Instead it's more of an Alice falling down the rabbit hole/sleep deprived/Twilight zone experience. The walls are lined with doors, little doors, that seem to be getting smaller as we drive deeper into the structure. Each turn we make gets tighter and tighter. Finally we squeeze the car thru a tiny passageway only to end up back the entrance. No Moose in sight.

We then decide that an Elk is as close to a Moose as we are going to get and head back to the first parking lot. (According to the mostly accurate and ever helpful folks at Wikipedi moose and elk are one and the same. Depending on your local. North America = Moose and Europe = Elk. We are in Park City, Utah, North America so that must make the Elk parking lot the Moose parking lot, right????) It's a good thing I'm not dependant on my hunting skills for survival cuz we know how that would turn out. Of course this choice puts us in the wrong lodge once we enter the building. Multiple elevator trips in two buildings to find the unit. 3 am and finally some much needed sleep!

xoxo,
-ski girl
p.s. I'm not exactly sure where my car is but my mountain bike is locked to it. Motivation to begin the hunt again!