After an 9-year absence, I’ve been bit by the bug again and am planning to ride the Crusher in the Tushars in July ‘22. Unfortunately the past 8 years have included massive stress, so I’m 40 pounds overweight and have probably lost half my cycling power. So I have already started training, and I’ve just built out a gravel bike. With that, I’m keen on finding some good, long gravel rides at lower elevation in the Northern Utah area. Given my conditioning, I definitely need to start out flat, so rides like Farmington to Bountiful via Skyline, or up and over Butterfield into Tooele aren’t an option right yet.
So… suggestions for good, relatively level gravel rides on the longer side (20 miles or more) within an hour of Salt Lake City or Ogden?
There are shorter gravel rides, like the flatter loop around Antelope or the East side trail from Fielding Garr Ranch to the southern tip of Antelope, but I’m looking for options I can ride where I can just put my head down and churn the cranks for an extended period, easpecially late fall and early spring. Looking forward to your suggestions!
And yes, I’m planning on visiting the STG area monthly for a long weekend. I need options more north for the other three weekends.
I can think of a few to get us started:
- Delle: the Wild Horse does a nice 35 mile loop out to the west and back, lightly trafficked. Some elevation gain but I can prob grind away at it.
- Plenty of flat gravel out by Simpson Springs on the Pony Express Trail—anything west of Five Mile Pass (bonus: the West Desert is often snow-free during winter)
- East side of Promontory Point (road dead ends just around the southern tip), although there is occasional heavy truck traffic.
