It's officially Mountain Biking season!

That's right, I went out for the first ride of the season this morning (and it's about stinkin time!!!) The weather was so nice yesterday that I resolved to hit the trails first thing this morning. So, I pumped up my tires, lubed up the chain and derailleurs, filled up the camelpack, threw on some warm under clothes, just in case, and headed out to see how the Bonneville shoreline trail was shaping up!

Since this was my first foray into mountain biking for 2009, I decided to take the road up Traverse Mountain to Mike Weir Drive to catch the trailhead there. Much to my dismay the trail looked like this:

Yep, there was still snow out there. Undaunted (and since I had just peddled halfway up Traverse Mountain, I wasn't about to turn back for a little snow and mud) I struck out on the trail anyway. In many places the trail was fine and I was able to cruise along at a decent pace. In other places, it looked like this behind me:

I swear I had to peddle twice around in the mud to get as far as once around would normally propel me! It got exhausting, especially for the first day. And yes, those are coyote prints in the trail, they were all over the place along with a few small deer prints. I was hoping to be able to tell Griff I saw a mountain lion, but no such luck.

I got out to about the Temple:

And decided to turn around as the trail was only getting worse as I went further up. I guess that only makes sense. :-D

On the way back I got covered in mud, but it was so much fun! Almost like a mountain bike slip-n-slide in some muddy areas. Funny how mud is still fun even now! I got home just fine:

But had to throw my clothes in the wash immediately and hop right in the shower. Unfortunately, since I didn't have anyone with me to take this picture, you can't tell how muddy my legs are or how muddy the bike is. You can see some of the specks on the shirt, but I'd already wiped my face off at this point.

Next ride will be on the lower section above the Draper pool to see if it's a bit dried down there. It looked like it was, so I'll keep my fingers crossed! B-)