[jerms]

I will be in Park City for 4 days with a bunch of friends the first weekend in August. We are mostly oriented toward trail and light all-mountain riding, and not really into big features (gaps, drops more than a couple feet, etc), but technical trails are fine. We have ridden all over Oregon (Bend, Oakridge, Hood River), Washington (Bellingham, Snoqualmie), California (SF Bay Area, Tahoe, Mammoth), but this will be our first trip to Utah. We are looking for a solid 4 days of riding and I've spent a lot of time reading through past forum posts and thought I would put my plans up here to get feedback. Also, the house we're staying in is right downtown, so that makes it convenient to ride back to the house from a lot of these rides.

Day 1 (Friday):
Flying Dog Loop (counter-clockwise). My thought here is it is a bit shorter, will help to get us acclimated (we are all sea-level dwellers), and from the comments on the forum it sounds like weekdays are the days to ride Flying Dog due to trail traffic on the weekends.

Day 2 (Saturday):
Option 1: Wasatch Crest from Spiro trailhead. Climb Armstrong to Pinecone, ride Wasatch to Crest Connector to Ambush to Holly's then paved spin back to the house.
Option 2: Shuttle to Guardsman, ride Wasatch to Mid Mountain and take Mid Mountain back to Spiro, descend Spiro and ride back to the house. This option was meant to be less climbing than Option 1 in case after day 1 people don't feel like they have 3000-4000ft in them, but I'm finding it hard to tell online if this option would ACTUALLY have less climbing?

Day 3 (Sunday):
I would like to ride WoW, but I'm finding it difficult to figure out a nice 15-20 mile route in this area. I would really appreciate any help with this because I've heard WoW is a great trail.

Day 4 (Monday):
This is day 4 of riding, I expect some tired legs so I like the idea of a more compact trail system where people can bail back to the house/cars if they get tired. I'm trying to put together a nice route that includes Jenni's/Tommy's/Three Candles/Mojave/etc... If anyone has recommendations that would be great. We are also happy to shuttle to the top of Guardsman if that has the potential of giving us some more miles and saving our legs from one of the climbs.

I appreciate any feedback and/or recommendations. Are there any great trails/routes that I'm just completely missing here?

Thanks!

 

[Padlz]

All the rides you planned are fun ones. Just a couple of considerations:

The CCW climb up Flying Dog is pretty sun exposed so if the weather is hot, it will be a toasty and probably unpleasant climb. If you hit it early in the morning, it won't be much of an issue, but it's not a climb I like to do in the middle of the day when it's 80+ degrees out. If that's the choice, then I'd recommend just dealing with the extra altitude at PCMR proper where there are more trees and the temps are cooler. (With that said, the clockwise climb up Flying dog is much more shaded, but the clockwise descent is much less fun.)

For the Crest, both of your options are good ones. If the altitude doesn't seem to be bothering you, then ride the loop (it's closer to your higher climbing estimate of 4000 ft). To me it's the most rewarding way to do the crest. If the altitude is an issue, doing the shuttle and coming back via Mid-mountain is definitely less climbing (up and down for stretches rather than one big uphill), but will still provide plenty of pedaling by the time you get back to Spiro.

I've never done WOW, but I have friends who have done it and liked it, but none have said it's a must do mostlybecause of the out and back nature of it.

The only glaring thing I see missing from your list is that I would recommend at least a couple of laps at Deer Valley. It sounds like your group would really enjoy any of the green or blue flow runs (Holy Roller, Tidal Wave, Naildriver, etc.). They're a blast. You don't have to a full lift day... You can climb up to them via Tour de Suds, Boulder or Team Big Bear then make your way over to Road to Ruby for the final climb (take a look at Trailforks for more detail).

In terms of your Day 4 plans, I would just add that another option rather than shuttling is to buy a single lift ride and take Payday (to the top of Jenni's) or Crescent (drops you near the top of Mojave) if the group is in leg saving mode by then.

Feel free to PM me for more details... and enjoy your trip!

 

[KThaxton]

In addition, you can use the free bus system if you would like to avoid any of the pavement rides back to the house (i.e. day 2 option 1).

 

[jerms]

In addition, you can use the free bus system if you would like to avoid any of the pavement rides back to the house (i.e. day 2 option 1).

I saw that, but I don't think the bus could handle 6 or 7 of us at once?

 

[KThaxton]

Yes, they can. Think of a typical city bus. They have bike racks on the front, plus you can take your bikes inside and just hold on to them. I know they started to make some with bike racks on the inside as well. I'm not sure if they've converted all the buses over to that however.

It's interesting if you hop on a typical bus ride that goes up to Deer Valley, a regular City Bus full of mountain bikers hanging onto their bikes.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[BmanInTheD]

If you ride up in Deer Valley, don't miss Corvair, Payroll, T&G, Moosebones, etc over there. Harder to get to but more fun and usually in better condition than the usual blown out trails in Park City. Also, don't miss WoW. I did it last summer with a guide and shuttle. We started in Deer Valley and rode over to it and down and then rode some of the stuff at the bottom for a great ride. WoW is a blast that offers several different types of landscape as you descend and just seems to go on forever.
https://www.strava.com/activities/1158678185

 

[MSU Alum]

Just in case you haven't seen the online map:
Mountain Trails Foundation - Map

 

[jerms]

Thanks everyone, great feedback so far. That's awesome about the bus system, I can't imagine what would happen if I tried to take my bike on a bus here in SF Bay Area! :nono:

 

[lkgeo]

I saw that, but I don't think the bus could handle 6 or 7 of us at once?

A couple of the main bike-friendly bus routes are now limited to 6 bikes per bus. Not sure about the cross-town buses--they have a front rack and I'm not sure if they allow bikes in the buses.

 

[jerms]

Thanks again everyone who provided some advice, I just returned to California after a great 4 days of riding in Park City. Ended up getting 5 rides in 4 days, here's what we ended up doing:

Day 1: Flying Dog loop counter-clockwise. This was a GREAT acclimation ride for us sea-level dwellers which challenged us but didn't kill us. The downhill is fantastic!

Day 2: Shuttled to Guardsman and did Wasatch across to connector then down to mid-mountain and back across to Spiro which we descended. This was a great day! (trailforks elevation estimate for this ride was way off)

Day 3:
Ride 1 - Shuttled WOW trail. This is really a special trail, what a great downhill!
Ride 2 - On the way back from WOW, parked up at Guardsman and rode pinecone down to mid-mountain, then across to John's which we descended along with Sweeney's switchbacks.
Day 4: Rode Lost Prospector (this trail is underrated, super fun!) out to Round Valley and did a big counter-clockwise loop. Perfect last day ride.

Thanks again!

 

[bradmtb]

Sounds like a great trip! I'm taking my wife in two weeks for her 50th to PC. What are the average ride times and total ascent of the rides you posted? It looks like DV lifts will be closed for the season when we arrive on Sept. 19th, so I'm trying to come up with 4 days of riding. 1st timers from NoCal. We both like all terrain types. Thanks.

 

[MSU Alum]

Sounds like a great trip! I'm taking my wife in two weeks for her 50th to PC. What are the average ride times and total ascent of the rides you posted? It looks like DV lifts will be closed for the season when we arrive on Sept. 19th, so I'm trying to come up with 4 days of riding. 1st timers from NoCal. We both like all terrain types. Thanks.

Here's a map of the trails: Mountain Trails Foundation - Map
As a starter, given the altitude difference, you could bike Round Valley. A nice place to park would be off of US 40, west on Silver Summit to the North Round Valley parking lot. Porta Potty at start. Happy Gilmore to TM should get you going, then just explore. Mouse over trails for names.

Here's another source of info: Park City Area Bike Trails

 

[BmanInTheD]

Thanks again everyone who provided some advice, I just returned to California after a great 4 days of riding in Park City. Ended up getting 5 rides in 4 days, here's what we ended up doing:

Day 1: Flying Dog loop counter-clockwise. This was a GREAT acclimation ride for us sea-level dwellers which challenged us but didn't kill us. The downhill is fantastic!

Day 2: Shuttled to Guardsman and did Wasatch across to connector then down to mid-mountain and back across to Spiro which we descended. This was a great day! (trailforks elevation estimate for this ride was way off)

Day 3:
Ride 1 - Shuttled WOW trail. This is really a special trail, what a great downhill!
Ride 2 - On the way back from WOW, parked up at Guardsman and rode pinecone down to mid-mountain, then across to John's which we descended along with Sweeney's switchbacks.
Day 4: Rode Lost Prospector (this trail is underrated, super fun!) out to Round Valley and did a big counter-clockwise loop. Perfect last day ride.

Thanks again!

I recommend to everyone the WOW Trail. It's a truly awesome downhill experience that just goes and goes, through 3 or 4 different types of terrain. Glad you enjoyed it, I think the Wasatch Crest is a little overrated. There's definitely some good singletrack up there, and the views are glorious, but there's an awful lot of "meh" up there.

 

[bradmtb]

Thanks MSU!

 

[bradmtb]

WOW is now on the list!