ADVENTURE SPORTS BY WINA STURGEON 9/25/07
ANNUAL JOSIE JOHNSON RIDE SATURDAY, 29thThe course for the 2007 annual Josie Johnson ride is the same as last year: from Sugarhouse Park, off 21st South and 13th East, to Mill Hollow Park, just short of the steep slog up the road leading to the Cottonwood Canyons. It's a 10:30 start.
Get there early for what truly is a good time, a joining of unity among the bicycle community. Come even if you don't do the ride, just to share the vibe. The focus is no longer solely on Josie, who was killed while on her bike four years ago, but on all bike victims of vehicle homicide. There were eight Utah bike fatalities in 2006, three thus far in 2006. It was the bike community's outrage about Josie's death that finally made bike safety a big issue in Utah, so everyone who rides owes her some thanks.
SNOWBASIN'S UPHILL/DOWNHILL
If you don't feel like riding, how about running?
The Snowbasin annual Uphill/Downhill race starts at 9:00 a.m. Saturday, with two races: both start in the Plaza and run all the way up the mountain to the Needles Lodge (top of Needles gondola), 2,310 feet of vertical. The shorter race stops at the top, where runners can take time out to sit by the fireplace or out under heat lamps on the patio, drinking a well-earned brew. Those with big ones can do the longer race, where they turn around at the top and run back down.
Entry fee is $20 for pre-registration, $30 for day of race. Call (801) 620-1000 to register. The 'Basin will have its usual prize drawings, with a season pass as one of the goodies.
JEFF HARRISON'S HORNED RECORD
Hooray! Bought a tag and got a huge elk! A record-setting rack! That's probably what orthopedic surgeon Jeff Harrison was thinking when he got the trophy animal. But then reality bit.
Jeff's horse was set to drag the elk four miles back to the trailhead, but the slope on which the elk fell was too steep and slippery. So Jeff went all the way home to Ogden to get what he needed to dress out the 350 pound trophy animal. It took most of the night to do the bloody hard work, then more work to hoist sections of the elk meat into the trees so bears wouldn't get it while he carried some to his car. it took three four-mile trips to pack it all out. He walked more than 20 miles. The record-setting head is at a taxidermist, and will go on a wall (despite wife Melisa's objections). The many pounds of elk meat is at a commercial freezer, and that's another bite of reality.
Jeff plaintively asks readers, "Anybody out there want some record elk meat?"
SNOWBOARDING IN THE OLYMPICS? HA!
Snowboarders caved, and let the Olympics make them respectable. Now it's skateboarders' turn to decide if they will ride for da man.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) wants action sports, because the Olympics is losing the huge youth market to the X Games. That's why BMX was added for the 2008 Games. But many skateboarders, like snowboarders when the same decision was forced upon them, say 'no' to such mainstream respectability.
The question is: who would be the governing body, which all Olympic sports must have, for skateboarding? USA Cycling, which covers road and mountain bike racing, has volunteered. After all, both boards and bikes have wheels.
Since skateboarding has little to no organization, Olympic inclusion, under USA Cycling, will probably happen by default.
SNOWBIRD GETS EIGHT INCHES
They're grinning at Snowbird; Alta too. The layering process has started!
The 'Bird reports that the weekend's storm covered the mountain with white, and left eight inches of fluff at the top of Mineral Basin. Alta got even more.
The first snows usually melt into the ground and freeze, making a solid base for the snow from the next storm. It usually takes about three storms and a long cold front to build up something that snowriders can actually ride. With an early season cold snap, it's on the way. Meanwhile, down at the base, Octoberfest will continue until October 5, whether or not it dumps a blizzard's worth of snow.
DISCOVERY TEAM DISBANDS
It shows what drugs have done to cycling more than anything else, Landis included. The team that dominated the Tour de France, winning eight times in nine years, is disbanding
over lack of a sponsor.
It was known as the United States Postal Service team when Lance Armstrong rode for them, winning an unbelievable seven times. Then it was renamed the Discovery Channel team.
Discovery has been looking for a sponsor since last February, when the Discovery Channel said it would not renew its contract with the Tour de France star team. When no sponsor was found, the riders had no choice but to dissolve the team. Individual riders like Utah's Tour contender Levi Leipheimer, are still looking to sign up with a new team.