I wanted to go ahead and share a few links with all my followers so you can see some other sites that have a lot of information on them. I can't keep up with all of your demands, so maybe you can start filling these guys' inboxes with all your questions. It's tough having thousands of dedicated readers!

Utahmountainbiking.com is on of the best sites, as it includes pictures and downloadable files. Unfortunately, it's kinda outdated so you can't trust everything in it. And the directions are confusing.
Utah.com is also pretty good, but again it's kinda confusing. But there are a lot of trails that the other sites doesn't cover.

Those are probably the two best sites that I know of (excluding, of course, my own) and I hope you find some good stuff there. But again, the best way to truly discover trails is just to try them out on your own. More often than not, when you find a fun trail, there are hundreds more connected to it.

The Sundance area is one of the most amazing areas in the world. I don't know if there is a more beautiful place in the world. Probably not. I know I say that about every ride, but this area is incredible. The ride itself, not so much. I know there are a lot of fantastic rides, especially at the top of the Alpine Loop, but most of those require shuttling. This ride starts at the bottom and climbs up to that summit, so it's straight up and straight down.

Aspen Grove is found just a few miles past Sundance--it's impossible to miss. This trail starts in the parking lot just past the toll booth, so if there's someone manning the booth, just park on the street a little before and ride up into the parking lot. If you've climbed Timpagnogos before, this is the same starting point assuming you started on this side. The ride climbs up to the other starting point for the hike, about five miles or so up the road. Don't follow the signs for Timpanogos' summit-bikes aren't allowed, and the trail would be impossible on a bike. Instead, you'll ride up for a quarter mile or so, then take a right off the main trail and cross over a small footbridge. From there, it's up a few loose, rocky switchbacks before the grade lessons, at which point it's just a long climb to the top.

After a couple miles you'll see another fork, and you'll take a left. Going right will dump you right onto the road where there's a small turn off for people to take pictures. There are some really nice views at this point, but most of the ride is in dense forest. Towards the top it flattens out and speeds up just before you end up at the little circular parking lot at the top of the road. Elevation is 8000--a gain of 1200 for the ride. I didn't have a lot of energy for some reason, so maybe that's biasing my view, but I wasn't real impressed. The setting is incredible, but the views from the trail really aren't. It's rocky and slow going up, and bumpy and sketchy going down. The top half is actually pretty fun, but it gets rocky and slow pretty quick.

My wife and I live in a complex with a parking garage, which is nice in the summer and winter. Actually, it's not that nice because it's covered with concrete panels that leak lime water onto your cars and floods during heavy rain. But that's where we park. For over a year now, I've worried that I was going to drive into the garage with my bike on top of my car.

Well, I just did it. And it was the most horrible sound I ever heard. Amazingly, the bike's fine. The car, however, took a beating and will be getting fixed next week. We have insurance so we're just paying the deductible, but I still wouldn't recommend it to anyone. I might post pictures of my car so you can see why you should avoid this. Just thought I'd keep all my loyal followers updated. You guys rock.

If you're anything like me, the only time you've been to Squaw Peak was after a successful date with a cute girl. But believe it or not, there are other fun things to do up there as well. This is one of the most beautiful areas in Utah County, and the biking and hiking is incredible. Most of what I'll describe is for the downhill section, but there's also info for those without a shuttle.

Head up the canyon and take a right a couple miles down the road. Follow the road up a few miles until it forks, and take the left road. Right takes you to the make-out spot, which actually would be a good starting point as there is a trail that begins there and heads to where we're going to park. And on your way up the road, you'll pass that little archery/shooting range on your left that I mentioned on the Nunn's Park ride. The road quickly turns into a dirt road with a few ruts and bumps, but my Saab handled it fine. And chances are that your car will be a lot higher than that Saab. You'll pass a few campgrounds, and eventually the scenery opens up and you'll drive along a beautiful meadow with small streams and ponds. The road crests for a little bit before it starts to head back down, and you'll park at the top here.

Trail starts on the right side of the road, and climbs for a quarter mile or so until you reach a beautiful spot that overlooks Rock Canyon and the back of Squaw Peak. You'll find a trail on your left that heads down the mountain--I started to take this figuring it was a loop or something, but it's strictly downhill to Orem. So if you want to shuttle, this is a great trail because it starts really high and ends in Orem. If you don't want to shuttle, start at the make-out place and just ride up. I typically don't like rides that go straight up and down, but this would be worth it with the scenery. I tried a little trail that went off the left side at the crest, but it was pretty lame and ended on the road about a mile down. There might be some good loops up here, but I don't know where they are and I haven't seen any information on it.

On a side note, if you get the urge to pass a dark green, late-model minivan on the way down, don't do it. It just might be an undercover cop.

I wanted to depart from my usual format and say a few quick words about Sram's awesome Hammerschmidt. I don't think this gets enough credit today. In my opinion, it's the most innovate accessory of the last five or ten years. It's expensive, and it has a few drawbacks, but after using one for a year and a half, I will never be able to ride a bike without it.

Pros:

• Clearance, clearance, clearance.
• Instant (and I mean instant) shifting, so you don't have to plan ahead. No more bent gears or thrashing sounds as you struggle up a steep incline in your highest gear. Often, I won't even tough my back gears because I just go back and forth on the Hammerschmidt. Traditional shifting's just too slow!
  
• Easy maintenance

Cons:

• Expensive
• Heavier than a traditional set up (although not by much, and if you're not racing, who cares?)
• Slight drag on the overdrive (higher gear). This isn't a problem for me because I only use the higher gear going down, so a little drag won't kill me.
  

Obviously, this isn't for everyone. But it's for most. If you race xcountry, don't buy it, but if you don't race and like to ride all over the mountain (enduro, trail biking, all-mountain, etc) there isn't a better set up. If you're on the edge, just get it--I promise you won't regret it. I think that too often we focus on weight and efficiency when we aren't in a racing setting. Who cares if my bike's a couple pounds heavier? I'm not in a race, and I still make it up all the climbs. And I have a lot more fun going down and don't need to worry about catching my crankset on a log or bending a rim. Just buy it.

This is an awesome ride. I first rode this a couple weeks ago because I hadn't been on it for a few years. I'd only ridden it once, and I hadn't come away very impressed. Since then I've ridden it a few more times and have had some incredible rides in this area. I say this about every ride, but this is now one of my favorite trails in the area, and the best part is that there's always more to discover.

A lot of people refer to this area as the Provo Racetrack or something. But you're riding around the foothills of Timpanogos, so I think this makes more sense. This is a neat area, with tons of trails that intersect and lead to other areas. I'm not even going to try and explain which one to take--they really are too many. A lot of these trails head into Orem, so I just followed the ones that took me further up the mountain. But the great thing about this ride is that there's something for everyone.

Start just past the mouth of the canyon in Canyon View Park. I parked on the upper lot by the big building. Follow the gravel road up about half a mile until it turns into single track. There's lots of ways to get to this single track, and once you're one it, start heading up. Again, there's lots of different ways up and some might take you down, but just dink around until you get up to the gravel road about six hundred feet above your car. It's nice, smooth single track that gets pretty steep in places. It's a hard climb for most people, and you might have to walk at the very time where it meets the road. The road winds around the mountain and (I imagine) goes into Orem. I followed it to the ridge and looked out over Orem and Provo, then turned around and continued up the mountain on a small turn off across the road from where you came up. You'll see it--there's only one. Depending on where you arrived at the road, it'll be to your right or left.

This is where it gets fun--you lose sight of you busy road below you and you're all alone with your thoughts. It's just beautiful--lots of short, pokey bushes and small trees with a couple small, steep climbs. Again, the trail keeps forking, so choose a path that will take you further into the mountains. I ended (the first time, and what the map shows) at a large clearing with a small cairn. From here, there are four trails that head out in different directions. I've taken three, and they're all fantastic. Two (including the one you came up on) head back down and eventually meet up. The others go deeper into the mountains. Spend some time exploring--you can't take a wrong turn. I branched off earlier on another ride and kept riding up and up until I reached the top of that trails. It's about two thousand feet above the parking lot, and the ride down is just incredible. I got there after a lot of backtracking from trails that started to head down into Orem. From the top of that trail I took another route that lead me back to the cairn, so I assume that the forth trail in that clearing takes you onto the Great Western Trail and onto the top of Mt. Baldy. That would be a long long long ride.

Sorry I can't give good instructions, but I hope my map helps. Just keep trying the different trails 'till you find a route that works for you and goes where you want. There are so many incredible places to ride up here that you'll never get bored. I don't have any pictures of the first cairn, but I'll add some pictures so you can get the beauty of the rest of the ride.

To save you the trouble, I'll let you know right now this ride sucks. I keep riding it about once a year in the hopes that I'm wrong, but it sucks every time. I want to like it 'cause it's so close to BYU and it leads into some really fun trails, but it's just a terrible, horrible no good very bad ride.

"What makes it so bad, Sean?" I'm glad you asked. It's so bad because it's a long, steep, gravel double track that's infested with hundreds of slow walkers. Honestly, you ride two or three miles and it feels like fifty because the trail's so soft and gravely. And coming down is just as bad because you're flying down soft gravel and just seconds away from flying over the handlebars when stationary group suddenly appears in front of your bars.

I didn't even bother taking pictures of bringing a GPS--you all know where it is, and if you're so inclined, give it a shot. If you make it past the first three miles or so, there really are some fun tails to be had. In fact, if you're looking for the ride from hell, you can start at the mouth of the canyon and climb 4000 ft to the top of Squaw Peak. From there it's a beautiful view, but it's best visited on foot with a cute girl. The trail does eventually turn into single track, but it's not meant for riding. You'll be doing a lot of walking.