Salt Lake City - good ride suggestions needed...

[mattiTWOROADS]

I'll be in Salt Lake City for the outdoor retailer's tradeshow and am thinking if it's worth it take the bike? I will be working one day at the show but have to stay the week to break down. Any ride suggestions would be greatly appreciated in helping me decide if it's worth it.

Hell, I know I could find something and any new ride is a great ride... but nonetheless...

cheers

by the way, I'm staying in downtown SLC and won't have a car, but that could change (again, if it's worth it).

[jim in pc]

If you ride MTB at all, you should rent a car and drive to Park City (30 minute drive). It is amazingly good singletrack with a ton of options. I have practically been living on the Mid-Mountain trail this summer, lots of ways to get up and down - Armstrong (up hill only), Jenni's, Spiro, Empire Link, Crescent Mine Grade, Tour de Suds (more double-track). Pinecone Ridge heads off Mid-Mountain up to Wasatch Crest and is awesome (a solid two hour climb). Flying Dog (across I80) is a great trail, too.

The road riding here is good, about a 7 maybe 8 out of 10, but the MTB is seriously 11/10, it's that good. I barely use my road bike at all anymore.

I'm not as familiar with road options directly from SLC. I know Emigration Canyon is good.

[Rick]

Relatively flat with rollers: Head around Oquirrh Mtns to the West. All the way around is ~ 100 miles. Or for a shorter ride just head South and get on the Mountain View Corridor

Long climbs: Emigration canyon and optionally onward to Big Mountain/East Canyon. If you go over to the other side make sure to save enough energy to get back home. Are you used to long steep mountain climbs at high altitude ?

Long beautiful Canyon climb: Big Cottonwood up to Brighton.

Short canyon climb near downtown: City creek canyon.

You can really ride just about anywhere in SLC as long as you are reasonably careful. It will get more pleasant as you get out of the city center and traffic.

[Johnny Rad]

Good suggestions already ... here's a site that briefly describes the rides. http://www.saltlakecycling.com/showride.php?rideID=1001" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Since you know Emigration, go for it and take Rick's advice to push over the top and onto Big Mtn (and maybe even onto East Canyon for a triple). The switchbacks give you a beautiful view down into the city below. You'll get full sun on Big Mtn, so be prepared.

You can't get lost trying City Creek since you'll be so close. It's mostly shady, so it can be a great reprieve from hotter days. Note that it's only open to bikes on ODD days. Take it easy bombing down City Creek because there's lots of hikers / walkers, especially on the top half where the road isn't much more than a glorified singletrack.

Millcreek is another canyon that can give you some shade. It gets progressively steeper the higher you go - with two super short sections that are >10-15% gradient. Be careful of cars on the narrow descent; it's essentially a lane and a half wide on the top half of the mountain so don't go wide on the numerous blind turns.

Big Cottonwood and Little Cottonwood are both great rides and offer up the toughest canyon rides in the SL Valley. Big Cottonwood is the longer of the two rides and Little Cottonwood is the steeper of the two.

Aside from City Creek (which is up behind the Capitol), the other canyons are essentially connected by Wasatch Blvd. If you don't venture up one of the canyons, Wasatch makes for a nice rolling ride on its own. Good shoulders and great views! My recommendation is stay out of downtown and don't ride west.

Grab a taxi so you can eat at Sea Salt (lunch and dinner) or The Paris Bistro (dinner only) ... highly recommended!