Altitude Adapation Outing

Yesterday I went out for a quick ride to get used to the altitude.  Here in SLC we are 1,500m so you can start to feel a difference in air density.

My brother in law very kindly loaned me one of his bikes (yes, he has the desease as well), a Specialized hard tail.  I put on my VCSenlis uniform and headed for the canyon.  I set out while it was still fresh in the morning and headed for the American Fork Canyon.  On the way up the first section is asphalt and I was pushing hard because I wanted to keep up with the quickest of the road bikers (there were A LOT of bikers going up the canyon on Saturday!!) so I really got my heart rate up.  Once I got to the turnoff into the trail I took it a little easier.

On the way to the Canyon ... a couple of kms of main road.

The entrance of the Canyon ... might as well say "Welcome to Paradise"

A stretch of road with a gentle slope allowed time for a quick picture ...

Brand new asphalt = fast downhill!

I climbed for 2:00hr for a total elevation gain of 800m and then bombed down in 35mins!

Cheers,

Fred