It was time for another group ride. Ryan Madsen, Micah Flowers, Eric & I all met up at Macey's at 7:30 last night and began our ride. We planned to go up and over the point of the mountain into Highland, then up and over the Alpine Loop. So we headed down 13th East to start the trip.

Wow. That is a cool road that goes up and over the mountain! And I noticed tons of hiking trails along it! I really want to check them out more. As we neared the top I would look over my left shoulder and had an awesome view of the Salt Lake Valley. I can understand why people are building up there. The road isn't that steep either, so I doubt winters are a problem. And it's 5 lanes wide! It's huge!

Then we started coming down into Highland. Same thing, this time of "Happy Valley." We made our way down into Highland, and towards the canyon. By this time it was completely dark. We got to the entrance only to find it was a fee area. D'oh! Only Ryan knew ahead of time. So we scrounged around, paid up, and headed up.

One thing happened as we got higher and higher, it got colder and colder! I did go buy new gloves before we started the ride, but they weren't doing enough. We got to the top, and started back down. Let me tell you, it's a good thing the speed limit was 20. I was leading, and we'd start a turn, and I would be thinking it should be over, but it kept going, doing a 180. Going down though was the funnest part. That's where the twisties are, even if they are slow. One nice thing about going at night is the oncoming traffic was light. That made things much better. Daytime and warmth would have been great though.

We finally got down past Sundance to Provo Canyon. Stopped for a quick break, and decided to try to find a 24 hour waffle house. So we cruised down the canyon, and on to 8th north. Down that to State, then north. What is wrong with Happy Valley! Doesn't anyone go to a Dee's or Denny's at 10 pm on a Friday night? We seriously didn't see a singe one. So we trucked it up to Sandy and went to Denny's off 106th South. Got some hot chocolate, and called it a night.

A flippin cold night...