San Rafael Swell big bike ride in June 2009

My buddy Al has a family camping trip that occurs each year in June. A few months before the trip, he invited me to tag along. We would be going down with other family members on Friday, in their sleeping quarters, and ride on Saturday in the Swell. After a few discussions, he opened up this trip to more people. I invited 6 or more folks to come with. In the end, after plan changes in Al's family, as well as other friends schedules changing, it ended up being Al, myself and Marcus going down in Al's motorhome.

The trip started with Al showing up with the coach on Friday morning, and leaving it at our house. I gave him a ride to work that morning, and after work, returned to home, and loaded up my gear. Marcus showed up with his trailer, which we put on the back of the coach, and loaded the bikes. He an I met Al in Provo, and we were off, like a 'herd of turtles', as my dad would say.

We had a fairly uneventful trip down to the swell, stopping in Price for food, motorhome/trailer lighting parts, and some gas. The only exciting thing to happen on the way down was the constantly back seat driving that occurred, mainly by yours truly. It turns out that Al cant drive the motorhome in a straight line, but insteads takes an approach of constantly jiggling the wheel as he drive. Either that, or it was so windy he could barely keep the coach on the road. I choose to believe the former.

Once in the Swell, we followed our maps in the dark to the camp spot that Al picked out on google earth. We are, of course, computer geeks. Having selected a suitable habitat for the next foreseeable future, we approached it in the dark, and dirt, with trailer in tow, and motorhome trying its best to climb and dip in the barely there road we had chosen. With flashlights being used from the inside of the coach to augment the coach's lighting, we ended up finding our spot, even without the gps indicators our cell phones no longer had, since we had long lost signals once we climbed out of the valley from Green River to the Swell.

The spot that he had found was great. A secluded little valley with small hills of rock surrounding us, we were cozy and protected from the monsters that lurk in the dark. One of these monsters in the night was similar in noise to a bird, but probably a lot larger in stature, though we never really saw it. Its incessant chirping went on into the night, the only sound that broke up the silence that camping outdoors typically offers. With no TVs, no cell phones, no kids, we were left to our own to sleep and rest up for the next day's adventures.






We woke up Saturday morning, and cooked up some Dutch Oven bfast.



After getting geared up and cleaning up the minimal mess we made outside the coach, we got our bikes ready and took off. We were camped off of exit 131, and near dirt roads, headed to Swazeys cabin. We headed over to the freeway and went under the freeway. We stopped at some indian drawings on the side of a cliff.



The morning ride was all done up north, and the goal was to hit Devils Racetrack.
We went road down a trail we call Kent's Landing, on the way to Fix It Pass, down the wash, and up Devils Racetrack, then back to camp.



At the coach, we revitalized our gas and bodies. We had some lunch, sat on the couches in the coach and relaxed a bit. It was a nice break. Once ready to go again, we went down cut roads and washes, using our intuition and maps to find our way to the start of Red trail. PArt way through Red trail, we hit the cut-off to 5 Miles of Hell. Here we took a few pictures to prove we were there, and then we walked in a bit of 5MOH.





We decided to ride in a bit. We did maybe 1/2 mile in, and then went back out, having left 1 of our 3 outside the entrance. Once all back together, we continued on Red trail. Got our butts kicked, but got out alive and only missing a kill switch and a bent clutch lever. We took Blue back to the cut roads, and headed back to camp. It was a long day, and we were tired, and satisfied.


After riding in the Swell, we returned to our camp. We were beat. We took off our gear, and loaded up the bikes onto the trailer. After securing all our gear into the camper, we headed out. It was late in the afternoon, and we were close to dinner time. Price was too far away for dinner for one in our party, and we decided to go into Green River to satisfy the need. We headed to Ray's. Once in Ray's, we didnt see a place to sit down, for our party of 3, except for scattered seats at the bar. Feeling that the wait would be too long, we decided to try Ben's next door. No one was there, which should have clued us in to something... Suffice it to say we didnt have a great eating experience, but we did get filled.

So, now, its late, after 8pm, maybe closer to 9pm. We head out into the night, headed back to our homes. We were cruising along, when I heard a new noise in the engine. I am not a mechanic, but i do have a keen sense of hearing and smelling. Often to my dismay, I sense things as they change in these two senses. I speak up that i hear something in the engine that sounds a bit off. We stop talking and listen. Sure enough, belts sound like they are making different noises than they normally do. As we listen to the symphony of cacophonies being issued from the old motorhome engine, it gets louder and louder, more shrill even. One of our party mentions that his car did the same thing, and when he sped up, it would seat the belt better, and cease the noise. As we kept driving, speeding up a bit, the noise soon ceased. Almost immediately after that, we heard a couple loud thumps within the engine compartment, hitting the lid between us and it. It was as if some creature was trying to get out. As soon as we heard the thump, the temperature gauge decided to get active, and see how far to the right it could swing, and how fast it could reach a new position of reporting. This was when the driver realized that we needed to stop, and stop now! This is not an easy feat for any motorhome, and our old coach was no different. We slowed down, tried to pull off the road the best we could, and came to a disappointed halt to our trip home. Stranded along the side of the road, we were 20+ miles outside Price.

The three of us work with computers for a living, and riding is our hobby. Fixing mechanical engines is not something we are adept at. We, nonetheless, set about digging in to see what happened, how to fix it, and weigh our alternatives. It was about 10:30 on a Saturday night, in the middle of nowhere, with only 1 cell phone that was active. 3 computer geeks trying to fix an engine with no spare parts. Luckily we had some help from other people that we could call and gain more knowledge from. 1 vehicle stopped to assist us, and was able to tell us that for the next mile and a half, there was no better place to pull over. We felt that we would not make the trip of a mile and a half, even limping along with the missing belts. We called a tow truck. Almost 2 hours later, we were finally on our way to Price. We were deposited in the Walmart parking lot, knowing that from there, we could get to parts stores in the morning to get the pieces we needed.

It was at this point that we learned from the tow truck driver that Price was going to be excperiencing a city wide power outage most of the morning. This was going to affect most businesses, as they had decided to not even open at all on that day. The next morning, the driver of the motorhome took off to look at the stores, and 2 advertised that they would not be open. 1 didnt advertise either way. He decided to call in a favor from a friend from Spanish Fork. After a couple calls to parts stores, he got a list of products we would be needing, and had his friend go get them. The friend then drove out to us to install them. Once in Price, we realized that a few of the items would not work, and we needed different items. So, some of us set out with the newly arrived mode of transportation to hunt down a parts store. Luckily, one had just opened, and had power. So, its now after noon on Sunday. And a parts store is open, and within walking distance. We swapped some product with others we thought would work and tried them out. After doing this a couple times, we finally got all the parts we needed, got them installed, and fired up the motorhome. Viola! Success! After 15+ hours of worry and planning and discussions, we actually had a movable vehicle with us and our gear on our way. We returned to the road and headed home. Its around 2 or 3 in the afternoon now, and we have missed most of any of our morning Sunday activities. We were happy to be on the road again.






As we traveled home, we talked about all the other things that could have gone wrong. We were happy to have been blessed with just the 3 guys with this failure. What if the driver had been going with his wife and kids? What if, what if, what if...

We were grateful to have cell phones, and people to research information the internet. We were grateful that 1 family stopped to see if we needed help, and was able to assist us in making a vital decision. We were grateful that we could park in Walmart lot until we could get it working again. We were grateful for good friends that could swing by stores and get parts and deliver them to us, 2 hours from their home, and that they would do that in the middle of their weekend. We were grateful we brought tools and had the brains to use them, somewhat, to solve the problem. We were grateful for a store to be finally opened and provide us the needed parts to fix the engine.

We are grateful for a great weekend of riding, and a safe resolution to a catastrophic engine failure. We are grateful to be home, safe and sound with a great story to tell, and an awesome adventure that ended in all smiling.

2009 April Spring Break

This week was our spring break and bi annual trip as a family. We were going to goto Bryce, but the kids said that they wanted to go camping and dirt biking instead. So we planned a trip to 5 mile pass. We have a favorite camping area to stay at.
The area is near trees, nearby tailings with large hills to climb, and near a flat area where the little kids can have a great time riding.
For this trip, we borrowed a motorhome from my friend Al. He was very gracious in allowing us to use this toy. We treated it as our own. Sunday before we went out to camp, we picked up the large vehicle from Al's home, and brought it to our house. It was nice to have it at our house to load and pack at our leisure. Monday was a warm day, and we were able to load some things into the motorhome. Tuesday and Wednesday were terrible weather days. In between rain storms, we would run out to the motorhome and load it up with items. Some of the items we loaded into the storage of the motorhome, instead of the back of the truck, because of the rain and possible snow. I laugh at that last description, because there was no possible snow by Tuesday night, it was actual snow. We were unable to load up the motorcycle trailer, because it was going to rain and then snow. Instead of heading out Wednesday afternoon, in the insane snow storm that dumped 6 inches on us, we just stayed at home, with everything loaded in its various places in the motorhome and motorcycle trailer. Instead of spending the night out at 5mile pass, and possibly getting more snow, we stayed home, and planned on going the next day.
That night (Wednesday night), it snowed even more. Before we were able to leave, I got on top of the motor home and removed the 6 inches of snow on the roof. More snow was removed a second time from the back of the truck. The wood that we had picked up on Monday for the fire, had been rained on and snowed on a few times, making it useless for the fire. This was unloaded and stored on the driveway. The sun was up, the weather was getting better, the snow had stopped, and we hoped for a large enough window to get finished packed and get out to the camping area. The weather seemed to be cooperating with us so far. We got loaded up and headed out around noon. We stopped by the gas station and loaded up the LP and gas, which ran about $130. There was still snow everywhere we could see, and yet we were loaded up to go dirt biking in the desert.
Once we got out to 5mile pass, we setup our camp area as much as we needed too, with the fear that it might still snow or even rain that night. Much of the camping supplies were left in storage in its various locations. The kids bikes were unloaded and they were allowed to start riding. They ride a bit, then play in the trees, build some forts and 'houses' within the trees, they climb the nearby hills, they simply have a blast out there. Thursday was a bit cold, and most of us hung out dressed up warmly, and tried to play. Some of us went inside for most of the day. The night was cold, but the lure of a fire drew most folks out into the cold to do the mezmorized dance nearby the fire. I, for one, love to make and enjoy the fire of camping.
The next day, it was a bit warmer, and we played a lot more. Dad's actually got out and did a couple big bike rides and had some fun. I learned that my shoulder is not up to 100% from before, as a hill I have bested before, got the best of me this time. After lifting the bike up a bunch of times, i was noticeably tired and affected physically. I was still able to ride better than I had hoped, but not as amazingly as I had hoped.
Saturday was a lot warmer than the previous days, which had some of us complaining already about the heat. It was mostly dry wherever we went, with small puddles of water in the lower places on trails. Rarely though were these encountered. When we got up higher, we did see a lot more water and mud. One trail even seemed like it was made up of a slick layer of goo with a river running thru it. We stopped for a bit and watched rock crawlers attempt to climb some serious rack walls. We had 2 big bike rides on Saturday. One of the tips even led us to two trails we have never ridden before. The area amazes me when we can find a new trail, after all the other trails we have ridden over and over before.
The first day, Treyson wanted to ride his bike. We rigged it up with the training wheels and the rope governor. We used a rope with a handle to attach to the back of his bike so that someone could run behind him and control his progress in the wrong direction, should such an event occur. At one point, Christy broke the rope, and we decided to try him out without parental control. We would go along with him on a flat area and tr to get him to ride a small pattern over and over. When got good enough for this, we 'd expand the area. At one point on Saturday, he ended up doing some 40 loops on a large area until he was so sore and tired, he couldn't ride anymore. He has improved so much over these last few days of riding. At one point, he wrecked, ending with himself under the bike, between the training wheels and the front wheel. He was crying and scratched up on the back, and thru the tears, answered the question 'do you want to go back, or do you want to keep riding?'. He wanted to keep going. So we did. He was so proud of his accomplishments.
Alyssa had a small wreck that tweeked her handle bars and broke a cable control for the throttle. We fixed it up, and she was out riding again soon. Kylie rode a lot as well, but looked like she was outgrowing her bike. We'll have to revisit this again sometime soon.
All in all we all had a great time. The motor home heated us up in the night. We ate outside all of our meals, as we love o do. We had fires each night and loved sitting around and talking. We looked at the stars and showed constellations and stories. The kids even told scary stories to each other.
Friday night, as I was sitting by the fire late at night, we saw a UFO. It was a bright blue light that seemed very close and lit up the entire camp area briefly. Looking up, and to the east, we saw a bright blue light travel across the sky and burn out quickly. As the excitement caught us, I exclaimed that I wanted to see more. A few minutes later, we were treated to another similar event, on the other side of the sky. We have no idea what it was, but enjoyed the experience.
After spending 3 full days and 2 full nights out there, we returned home late Saturday night. It was too late to unload, so we took some items in, and went to bed. Today, most of us just laid around after church, and chilled. It was a great trip with lots of fun had by all.

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Battlefield Utah 03-28-2009

Last weekend (March 28th), I was lucky enough to participate in a paintballing event called BattleField Utah. Its located on top of a mountain near Eagle Mountain. It hosted 150 players on 2 teams. Game started at 10am, and ran until 1pm, we had a break for lunch, then it started again an hour later and ran until 4pm. We entered the fieldd after registering and getting marked for a team with a colored tape on the arm. Once on the field, fully dressed and protected, we proceeded to our dead zone. There were refs on the field, and other players actually playing. Once at the dead zone, we had a tent where we could take off our masks, and regroup. When time was up, on 15 minutes intervals, the ref would allow us to respawn. Each time i was killed, which was fairly often, i would return to the dead zone and wait to reenter the game. Some times, I had gotten great shots off, actually killing off other players. Other times i ran too quickly to the front lines and simply was eliminated. Some times, i would go out with other folks and team up and take out the other team. I didnt keep track of the times that I was killed, or the kills that I had. What i did do was recognize that i had a blast, worked up quite a sweat, went thru a bit of co2 and paint. At the end of the day, I had a blast and would do it again. There were some really frustrating times when players on the other team seemed to be cocky and were doing and saying things that got my ire up. But, after all, we were out with guns trying to kill one another.
I do enjoy the speed, stealth and actions of paintballing. Being able to give and take hits that are not leathal, but feel the rush, is an amazing thing. The field was large and allowed 150 people to move around easily. Flags were in well placed locations, and not visible until upon them. I would do it again, and look forward to doing it again next year.

Team Building Exercise = Shooting Guns?

Wednesday, March 18th, my team at work and a couple other guys went out to west of Utah Lake and brought a ton of guns and shot up stuff for a couple hours in the afternoon. Michael has military training and a few guns to match that training. Dan has a share of guns himself. I think Scott even brough some of his own. I only had a 22 shotgun to contribute.

We all met up in Lehi, grabbed some lunch, and took off south of Saratoga Springs to find a place to shoot stuff. Surprisingly, there were already 4 groups of folks out there shooting, so we picked an area of the mountain that was secluded to set up.

We got a table setup, and spread out our weapons. Targets were setup, and we talked safety, and started shooting the small caliber weapons first. While shooting some of these, we heard a few stray ricoshets buzz past us. Kinda freaky sound, knowing that folks are around you shooting in your general direction. We honked out horns, hoping to get the message across. The strays seemed to cease for a period, and we continued setting up some targets for the higher powered weapons. While out in the field setting up stuff to shoot at, we started hearing some more strays come by. The hackles on the back of my neck were standing at attention and seiously forced me to take cover. Dan actually saw the bullet fly by, even with the pocket of air in the front breaking the sound barrier. I didnt see it, but felt enough to get a bit freaked out. We quickly dismantled our setup, and bolted from that area. No way we would be relaxed shooting stuff, with others shooting at us.

Once relocated, we setup some more targets and got to shooting stuff. All 5 of us took turns using different weapons and going through a bit of ammo. We had shotguns, various handguns, a few rifles, even an m4. It was all kinds of fun. Many things were hit, shattered, and so on. We found a ton of stuff laying around to shoot at, as well as had brought some of our own things to hit. I believe that we all had a good time, and most importantly, we were safe, and no one was hurt.

It was a great excursion and a lot of fun for all was had. Doing things with your coworkers outside the structure of work is always entertaining.

Below are some photos that we took of the event.

2009 Marv Jensen Spring Smash

In March each year, there are usualy a few rall tournaments. This year, there were 3 that we participated in. 3 Weeks in a row. It was fun, but tough.
This week, we had the Spring Smash tourney. I played at Marv Jensen for almost 6 years while working at ACS. So, this facility, above all others, feels like home for me. Which is good, since we spent at least 2 hours and sometimes as much as 5 hours, each night from Wednesday to Saturday. After a couple days, it seemed all we did at home was shower and change to come back to Marv Jensen again.
Alyssa, Kylie and Myself all played in this tournament. The girls ended up being in a combined division, and played a Round Robin format, even playing each other.

Alyssa has progressed a ton as a multi bounce player. She played all single bounce opponents, and held her own for quite a while. She would run around and get to balls that we would have thought down. She warmed up so seriously before each match, and practiced until she was ready to begin the games. During the games, her little legs kept pushing and pulling her all over the court. She got some incredible shots and played very well. While playing Kylie, she actually won 1 of the games, and lost 1 to Kylie. Before the tie-breaker was started, and after realizing it was after 9pm, we decided to call off the last game. Alyssa scored 1 more point than Kylie and was labeled the winner. What a night. 3 games were played by the girls, and all were way tired.

Kylie had trouble getting into the games, as she faced boys a lot older than herself, and didnt have the multi bounce to fall back on like Alyssa did. She did play well, and has improved so much. She can stand up against the boys, but gets a bit nervous and shys away from some of the shots, causing her to loose her cool and get her head out of the game. It was amazing to see some of the shots and gets that she was able to pull off. She enjoyed the tournament and realized that we all need to practice a bit more. We will be pitting the 2 girls against each other in our famliy games, and play them like real games witha ref and all.

I played alone on Thursday night, with none of the girls having a game that night. I played in C division. My first game, i was so off and so cold that I could only muster 4 points. My opponent was one I had played previously, in another tournament. I had beaten him in 1 game, and lost in 2 other games. The same thing happened this time. I truly thought i had him in the tie-breaker, as I had control of the game (I felt) for quite a while, but ended up loosing the momentum and lost the game. So, I was out of the regular tourney, and shunted into the Consolation round. My next game could have been Friday or Saturday. We went Friday to watch the girls play, so found out when my game would be. It was slated for Saturday at noon. If I won that game, I would play another game at 3pm on Saturday. We awoke Saturday, got all ready, took my powershot to get jazzed up for the game, got dressed, and make the trek up to Mark Jensen, to find out that my noon game was really just a 3pm game. Bummer. When I did get onto the court, I was ready to play, having watched 3 hours of play previously. I ended up winning the Consolation final in 2 games. I won a can of new racquetball's, yeah!

We love playing this sport. We love interacting with the community and love watching other players compete. Some of the games are intense, and we learn alot simply by watching others play. In the end, I hope that these activities brings our family together, and helps us stay active, learn to compete, gain skills that can be used in many other aspects of our lives.

2009 UVU rball tourney

I entered into the UVU tournament, after Preston and Mike asked me if i was gonna play. I was gonna take a week off, and not play, since I had played in the Luck of the Heights tournament the week prior, and am still playing in a tourney next week (Marv Jensen Spring Smash). But after getting asked by multiple people if I was playing, i decided to support the tourney. Plus, being in UVU, was closer than most tournaments.
My first game was Wednesday night. I was excited to play, but leery, because I was still sore from a workout previously. I worried it would hinder my play. But forged along anyway. My first game, I lost. I didnt play well at all. But after being warmed up, I played much better the second game, and won. Onto the 3rd game. This one, i musta flipped my 'play crappy mode' switch, and lost. I wish i could figure out the magic that allows me to play so well one game, and soo poorly the next game.
So, now that I lost my first game in C Division, I was in the consolation round. My next game was to be on Friday night, almost the same time as my daughters play. However, the way that the draw worked its way out, I didnt have to play on Friday, but again on Saturday morning.
Only Alyssa could come to my Saturday game, as the rest of the family was busy with other things. So, we went down there to UVU, Alyssa and I, and attempted to find a place to park. It happened to be at the same time as some 'Run' event sponsored by UVU, and parking was atrocious. It took my 20 minutes to find a place where I could actually park. We finally made our way to the courts, and I warmed up. I was able to bring in my wireless headphones this time, and listen to them as i warmed up. I havent done this for quite some time, and it was nice to not have wires inhibiting me again. So, I warmed up, got in some great shots, got a sweat going, got moving. I felt good. I started playing my first game, and scored 2 points, while my opponent went on to score 15 points, regardless of the flailing that I did in and around him. I just stunk it up. Shots that are money makers for me, would come up 10 feet short. Frustrating.
In the second game, I turned a new leaf. I did really well. Alyssa recorded the event, and while I was watching this second game, I actually heard some spectator say 'wow, where did he pull that shot out'. I assume this was reference to the obvious history of the first game shenanigans. I ended up winning that game. And onto the third game, where I was able to pull out a win. Now I had a chance to play for the final of the consolation round. I could be the winner of the loosers.
This next match was to start at noon. Just an hour away. My arm and shoulder were pretty sore, so I tended to my wounds, even found some ice nearby to put on them. This helped me feel better. I rested and got ready for the next game.
The opponent was someone I had played before, but didnt think I played well against. During the first game, I kept up for quite awhile, even leading for a bit. I was feeling good, but obviously not 100%. I kept in the game about half the points, before I started hurting pretty badly, and everything went downhill from there. I lost the first match, and during the second match, I couldn't have played any worse, had I stood outside the court and just watched.
3 games on Wednesday. 5 games on Saturday. I won 3 of the 8 games. I must win more games in order to win... haha.
I did have a great time. My shoulder and arm are not suffering today as much as I thought they would be. Maybe I'm getting stronger after all, but am not entirely strong enough yet. I will keep working on it, and trying to get better. I would like to get up into the B Division someday. Maybe next year? I need to have a goal to get better. I do play so that I can be in better shape, and believe that this is being accomplished. I also like the social aspect of the game, and have made incredible friendships thru my play. This game has also strengthened us as a family, as we all participate in games and practice. It puts my kids and me on an even playing field when we coach each other. The strength of character it is building in my daughters is incredible. They have confidence to play, socialize, and even take on responsibilities as coach, referee and judge in tournament matches. Its great to see how much they have grown in the past few years, and I believe that his sport, and our participation in it has been a positive influence on us in many ways.
We will continue to participate. Play. Train. And grow. Both as racquetball players and people.