Self-Propelled Adventure

On the third day of our Utah vacation we decided to visit Bryce Canyon.  It’s a stunningly beautiful place as might be expected.  Some things that I noted were as follows.

▪   The jaw dropping scenery is very dense so don’t expect anything resembling solitude, or the sense of wilderness.

▪   You certainly don’t need more than a day at this park due to its size.  Most of the scenery is packed into a few trails.

▪   This park will make anyone seem like a pro photographer!

We hiked the Navajo, Peekaboo, and Queens Garden trails and would certainly recommend them.

We’ve finally seen some spring like weather here in Edmonton.  The snow, but more importantly, the ice is gone from the back roads, leaving chip seal and gravel.  As an added  bonus it’s mostly dry.

I’ve been riding the Surly Ogre lately since the roads are still a bit soft in places.  For tires I have some Schwalbe Marathon Mondial tires in 28×1.75″.  So far the combination has been perfect for the range roads.  They are fast enough but at the same time they don’t jump all over the place when the gravel gets chunky.  In soft conditions they float much better than my cycle-cross tires of course.

For the rest of spring it’s going to be all about putting in the miles on both the bike and some running to make sure I’m ready for more intense activities in the mountains when they are not snow bound.  I also plan to get at least one overnight bike packing trip in.  Lastly, there are several paved roads in the mountain parks that do not open to car traffic until some time in May, perfect for cycling when everything else is still snow bound, so I’ll be looking to ride a couple of those.