Ride over Suncrest

I’m no longer a wannabe roadie, I moved out of that class earlier today when I conquered the Suncrest Loop ride — now I guess I’m in the newb category. Hard-core cyclists take the road from Highland over Suncrest and down into Draper during lunch. But for me, this is a tough climb.

The route I picked out was 23.5 miles with a total climb of 2123 ft, most of the climb heading up the mountain, where the peak was at the 8-mile point. I left just after 7:30 in the morning, so it was nice and cool. I had attempted Suncrest several weeks ago during the heat of the day but had to turn around because of near heat-exhaustion.

It was a pretty grueling climb, with several long 10% grade pulls. However, I didn’t stop and I didn’t get passed by any other cyclists, so I felt pretty good about my performance. I even managed to snap a self-portrait around mile 7. It is a beautiful ride up, looking back onto Utah Valley.

The ride down the other side of Suncrest was fast. Way fast. Scary fast. I was on the brakes during much of the descent, but still hit 50mph. At that point I was simply holding onto my bike for dear life. However, I made it down the mountain without incident.

Then I had to come back around the point of the mountain and up into Highland. During this part of the ride, I met a brutal headwind that I had to fight against all the way to Cabela’s, but it was smooth sailing on the road back into Highland.

I pulled back into my driveway at about 9:30AM and had to get ready for soccer practice. Gotta love Saturdays! Here is a chart of my elevation, speed, and distance: