Fall Colors

With the storm that came in Tuesday/Wednesday Michelle & I realized that our opportunity for riding bikes in fall colors was limited - it was now or never.  So we juggled schedules (especially Michelle juggled her schedule) to make time for a couple of bike rides.

On Thursday we rode Big Springs Hollow.  On the first time up Michelle absolutely kicked my butt.  Apparently those spinning classes are really helping Michelle.  I was panting the whole way up and she beat me by a couple of minutes.  But I did finally make it the whole way without touching. The second lap I raised my seat and stayed with her better.  It was a definite reminder that I need to get in better shape.  But at the beginning of the summer I was staying in first gear and couldn't make it without several rests - so it was gratifying to see the improvement. On the 2nd lap we were running tight on time to get Krista & Scott to cross country - I think we made that 2nd lap in 40 minutes.

Big Springs was very pretty although a lot of the trees had already lost most of their leaves.

This is me just getting to the top on the first lap - I was about to die.  Michelle was just hanging out at the top waiting for me.  This was about the most out of breath I've ever been mountain biking.

A picture of a meadow on the way down.

Michelle riding through the leaves on the way down.  It was really fun to ride through the fallen leaves.

A picture of us sitting on the trail just enjoying being together.  Michelle especially loves this picture - I think she put it as her background on her computer.

 This was one of the rare trees that still had all of its leaves so we stopped for a picture.

 

 Brian riding through the leaves.

 

Then on Friday we rode the Bonneville Shoreline Trail that starts at Bridal Veil Falls.  The leaves on this were absolutely perfect.   This is an interesting trail because the first 1 1/2 miles is a really tough uphill that is rocky and steep - the last 1/4 mile is really steep - the rest isn't too bad.  Then it flattens out for 3 plus miles.  The trees were absolutely beautiful on the flat part.

Here's Michelle and I right where it flattens out.  You can see the amazing fall colors in the background.  Thanks to the guy from the other group of bikers for taking this picture for us.

 

This picture gives a small sense of how pretty the leaves were on the trail.  There was lots and lots of color.

 

Michelle riding with the mountain ablaze with color in the background.

This picture was taken in the same spot as the one of Michelle above but looking down the mountain - you can a touch of the Provo Canyon highway in the upper left.