Late Update: Mueller Park, Volleyball, Skate Skis and More

I'm looking forward to riding in Saint George this weekend, but my bike season is basically over. Now I'm thinking about the winter. This year, that means cross training instead of rollers and DVDs. With that in mind, I've canceled my Netflix subscription. I've also bought a "new" pair of used skate skis. I had hoped to buy a rando setup this year so I could join in the back country fun, but that turned out to be more expensive than I'm comfortable with right now. Maybe next year.

Since the first time I rode the Mueller Park trail, I've wanted a chance to ride it without the weekend crowds. So two weeks ago I took Wednesday off for a long ride. The plan was to ride the Bonneville Shoreline Trail from Dry Gulch in to Bountiful, then up North Canyon and down Mueller Park before turning around and riding back the way I came.

Everything went well for about four hours. The trails were great, the crowds were small, and weather was perfect. But as I was riding back into Salt Lake on the fire road that makes up a a portion of the BST, my left pedal started sticking. Then the bearings seized, which I didn't realize until I had pedaled the pedal right out of the crank. Fortunately, none of the threads on in the crank arm were stripped, but because the bearings in my pedal were completely shot, I had to walk to the top of the hill, then coast through the neighborhoods behind the capital and back home.

The broken pedal wasn't a big deal, but it was disappointing to have to retreat an hour from finishing the ride. And the singletrack back to Dry Gulch probably would have been more fun than coasting down a paved road. And I'm sure that the upper parts of the Mueller Park and North Canyon trails are snowed in by now, so I guess I'll have to wait till next year to complete the ride. Lame.

I haven't ridden a bike since my Mueller adventure. That Saturday the weather canceled my plans for a longish road ride, so instead I hiked a chunk of the BST in the snow. It was fun, but it made me sore enough to take most of the next week off, other than a few mellow runs in Liberty Park.

Last week I wound up in a volleyball tournament at the Salt Lake institute. My ward didn't field enough players for a team, so I wound up on a small team with some other players in the same situation. It turned out to be a sweet deal, because we ended up winning the tournament, much to my surprise (and everyone else's, I'm sure).

Since Claremont eliminated my team from the playoffs during my senior year in high school, I haven't played much volleyball at all. In fact, I don't think I've played at all in the last four years. But on Saturday I was surprised by how much I miss it. I was also surprised that I can still play well after so many years, and by how sore I can get after not having jumped or swung my arm for so long.

And now I think I'm caught up for the last two weeks. My "top-secret new bike," a Misfit diSSent single speed, has had problems with the frame, and thus remains a "top-secret assortment of parts in boxes." It's too bad, because I was really looking forward to riding it on the trails in Saint George. Instead, it looks like the Anthem gets the nod. Should be fun.