First clean run of the 2012 season.

I've found a great run to the summit of View Benchmark starting at the valley floor from Draper. I have a page on mbpost for it HERE. The route starts at the Orson Smith trail head, climbs Corner Canyon Road where I follow a singletrack up to Suncrest. From the cutoff there is a two mile section of paved which climbs a bit, then the route starts at the end of Deer Ridge Road which Dean mentions on the View Benchmark page. The normal route from this point offers it's own challenges in some places, some flat sections, a short yet sustained climb on doubletrack, then the last portion from a mountain bikers standpoint is steep. A tough rutted old jeep track heads sound and climbs in excess of 12 degrees. Once hitting the ridge, the track climbs even more steeply up loose gravel and sand. The ridge mellows a bit for the final stretch, then climbs up again to the summit with the triangulation structure with loose gravel and sand. For much of 2011 I focused on this run as a great conditioner, as it offers 7 miles each way and a decent cumulative 2,000 feet of elevation gain. 2011 stats were 49 ascents using this route on my bike, 18 of which were "clean." When I refer to the term clean it basically means not dismounting the bike for any reason from starting at Orson to the summit. The exception to this is the mandatory dismount at the end of Deer Ridge Road to lift my bike over the chained gate blocking vehicular access. Cleaning the run in 2011 was challenging due to conditions on the route, especially where atv's coming from the Utah County side has torn up the sand and gravel portions on the upper ridge. Some of the time the tires on the bike would sink up to the rims on these portions, leaving no traction at all. Other conditions include mud on the route, where in some locations the clay mud is so horrible that it sticks to everything and is a major PITA to clean off, even with a pressure washer. Early on in the 2011 season I also attribute failing to clean the run due to not being in good enough shape - being fat and not enough cardio. Towards the end of the season things worked out ok though. This photo shows the second run up there in 2012. I rode one of my hard tail bikes up last week with my brother in law Ryan, and we cleaned most all the run except for mud on one of the crux portions. Today the entire run was cleaned! Fun, fun, fun. It was also the first time out on my Trance (the mountain bike) after it has sat in hibernation in my downstairs office at the house since November. Today's ride up there also served as a test for some new components I installed last year as well. Everything went great. This is an excellent run for those who want a good conditioner run on the bike! Plan on about 1 to 1.5 hours up, and 30 to 45 minutes down if you consider this one. Also - the last 10 minutes on the ascent is not for the faint of heart. You will be very near your VO2 max heart rate, if not hitting it on this portion. Check out this video to get an idea of this last section. Photo taken from the summit area looking north east at Lone Peak and Suncrest. 4-26-2012.