Come ride with us at our February 13, 2016 Valentine's Fat Bike Ride up Hobble Creek Canyon in Springville! Registration is at 11:30 am at Jolley's Ranch, 6445 Right Fork Hobble Creek Rd, Springville, UT, Start 12 pm. Latest finish time for longest event: 2pm. Awards will start at 12:30pm for those who finish early, and continue until 3:30 pm or until the last person comes back, whichever comes first. You can just pick up your prize when you finish and don't need to wait until everyone else in your category finishes.
SPECIAL AWARD for the fastest couples of each bike category who go the farthest combined miles in the shortest combined time! If you can't bring a date or spouse don't worry, just come have some fun! Also, SPECIAL AWARD for the person who dresses up the most like our Valentine's Day theme! SPECIAL AWARD for the fastest couple on a tandem fatbike (does anyone own one of these around here?)!
THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS OF PRIZES, COUPONS & REFRESHMENTS FOR ALL FINISHERS & DIVISION WINNERS: MALE & FEMALE OF EACH DISTANCE, TYPE OF BIKE: REGULAR FAT BIKE, ELECTRIC FAT BIKE, AND OTHER BIKE! RESULTS POSTED ONLINE! Everyone who finishes gets to pick out a prize of your choice! Lots of these prizes will make a great present to give to someone special on Valentine's Day the next day! We have lots of prizes from many bike shops in Utah County, as well as Valentine's gifts such as kids valentine box treats, soap roses, boxes of chocolates, heart pillows, etc! See our facebook group or website to see the full list of prizes!
You will be riding in snow that gets deeper the farther you get up the canyon, so if you don't have a fat bike bring any bike with great traction and the widest tires you can, but you will probably have to push your bike most of the way unless we have time to shovel a path for those who don't have fat bikes. If you want to borrow a fat bike for free, we have a few sponsors who will let us use some of their fat bikes including UVU Outdoors Adventure Center and SBR Cycles, and if you help us with advertising by inviting 10 of your friends who are bicyclists on facebook to the ride or 60 people who are not bicyclists (none of which can already be in this group), you can borrow one! You will need to tag Mary Ann Nielsen in your invitation to verify. You will need to pick up the UVU bikes from UVU Friday by 5pm and return it Monday by 5 pm.
We don't charge an entrance fee to be eligible for awards, online results or refreshments, but we are now requiring all who participate to help us for with putting on the ride such as advertising, bringing race equipment, setting up or taking down the equipment, or providing $20 worth of prizes. If you haven't helped before the ride starts, you are welcome to take 5 flyers and give them to 5 avid bicyclists who are not already part of this group, or 30 friends or put them on doors in your neighborhood after the ride. If you would like to help before the ride, please call 8012312000 to coordinate what you would like to do to help such as passing out flyers as described above, inviting the same number of friends on facebook to the ride (can't already be members of this group), helping for 1 hour with set up and/or take down, or bringing equipment to the event (cargo vans are especially helpful in bringing fat bikes and large equipment if anyone has access to these things as the amount of equipment we need increases as numbers do).
HOBBLE CREEK RIGHT FORK:
Registration and the start will be next to Jolley's Ranch, 6445 Right Fork Hobble Creek Rd, Springville, UT, 0.8 miles east of the Hobble Creek Golf Course, and 0.3 miles past the right fork. We will start where the snow starts to cover the road and where large piles of snow block the road to minimize vehicle traffic. The average grade for the ultra distance is 2%, but it is steeper towards the end.
The “toddler” event will be approximately 50-100 M long. This will only take about 1 minute so we will start it 5 minutes before the other events starts so that those participating in the other events can able to help their kids or watch them ride. It will be at the Knight Picnic Area in a safe area.
The "Sprint" event is 1 mile and ends at Cherry Campground. You must finish by 12:30 pm in order to be timed.
The "Intermediate" distance will end at the 15-car dirt pull out 3.9 miles up from the start. You must finish by 1:00 pm in order to be timed.
The "Endurance" distance is 6.3 miles and ends at Balsam Campground's Paved parking lot (the 2nd parking lot for Balsam). You must finish by 1:30 pm in order to be timed.
The "Ultra" distance is event is 7 miles from the start at the edge of the parking lot to the turn onto Wardsworth Rd where we stop before the road gets rough. It is a about 500 feet elevation difference between the starting point (5134’) and the finish line (6066'). The total elevation gain is 1074’ when you factor in all the ups and downs along the way. You must finish by 2:00 pm in order to be timed.
THE SAFEST FITNESS CHALLENGE FOR ALL LEVELS OF CYCLISTS FROM BEGINNERS TO PROS!
FOR MEMBERS OF THE UTAH BICYLING CLUB! JOIN THE CLUB FOR FREE BY SIMPLY PROVIDING AN EMAIL ADDRESS AT REGISTRATION OR JOINING OUR FACEBOOK GROUP (“UTAH BICYCLING CLUB”).
The weather forecast changes constantly, but expect temperatures to be 20-35 degrees, with possible snow showers, and wind. Some parts of the ride are usually shaded this time of year creating colder conditions.
Recommended clothing: for the uphill, you will get warm quickly with the exertion, so wear layers. Thick Marino wool socks, tights, long-sleeves with high neck lines, thick gloves, an ear warmer, boots, and helmet. For the downhill you will cool down quickly with the windchill and no exercise coasting back, so bring a back pack with a warm thick jacket or coat, bar mitts, ski mask, ski goggles, and snow pants, particularly if you are doing the Endurance event since you will be at higher elevations and have a longer coast to the finish.
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HOBBLE CREEK ALTERNATIVE TRANSPORTATION OPTIONS: You can ride UTA bus on route 821 or 822 if they have room for your bike (they can usually take a few bikes in the front and a few underneath, and then if the bus driver allows, you may put your bike inside the bus if the bus isn't too full) to get to the closest place they can drop you off (400 S Main St, Springville) and then we can arrange to have carpools pick you up to take you the rest of the way up to the event for only $2. (For times year-round see http://www.rideuta.com/ridinguta/routes/schedule.aspx?abbreviation=821&dir=0&service=2&signup=200 ). You could also just ride from that point to the registration if you want, which is 6.4 miles. It takes 17 minutes to drive that portion, so if you are picked up at 10 min after the hour if the bus is late, you should be able to arrive registration at 27 after, in plenty of time to register. If you are picked up at 25 after from the northbound route, you would arrive registration at 42 after, just in time to register. If the bus is already full of bikes and /or you want a ride from home, it will cost $5 to have a ride from one of our carpool drivers for a pickup in Utah County. If you live one county outside Utah County it will cost $10.
More info at the facebook group "Uphill Cycling Series" and www.uphillcyclingseries.blogspot.com!
