Well here it is spring and premium riding times for us. Over the last three weeks I've been riding the Legacy, Jordan and other surrounding trails getting a feel for the different bikes and I have.

The new transition between the Jordan Parkway in the South end of legacy has a couple of concerns that Mayor Becker should probably seek some restitution from the contractor. I'm not sure where they found the lumber that covers the bridge it certainly is not the same caliber of lumber used elsewhere on the trail going North. As short a time as it's been in place it's already started to curve and show signs of stress, so as you ride across it creates quite a vibration. I did take a minute to ride over to the new soccer fields being built just south of the Jordan motorcycle Park, I'm hopeful upon its completion there will be a path taking into that area from that Jordan, legacy junction. 

One of the better things about riding early in the season is the lack of the goat head thorns along the center of the trail. In the beginning of the legacy you did not see these now a couple of years later they're starting to track themselves northward. 

And like every new year trail courtesy is slow to rise to the surface. The trails are a great place to meet and greet people, take the conversations to the side of the trail, the same for bicycle repairs and looking at your equipment. For me I added a GoPro camera to the already large arsenal of gizmos mounted to the handlebar, it has proved to be a lot of fun and should provide some great movies and pictures in the following year. I had hoped to use it on the Salt Lake bike marathon but time constraints prevented me from having it on board in time to make the event, which by the way was a lot of fun, with the last mile or so climbing up from first South to South Temple on State Street, heard much groaning as I started up the hill, myself being one as well. I believe next year's ride will be much better organized and hopefully the trax line will be complete. 

Just a short note here about bicycle maintenance, if you're comfortable doing your own by all means take the time to do a thorough job. There are many good bicycle shops in the Valley that can provide you with that service should you choose to have it done by someone else, I would however recommend you become acquainted with what is required so that you can convey that information when you drop off your bike. Anyone that owns a bicycle should have some simple tools and without question a good quality tire pump. Every ride I go past someone that has either has a flat or soon will have one based on the condition of the tire with regards to the pressure.

There are many online help sites that can provide you with an enormous amount of easy-to-understand instructions from the simplest of repairs to the most complicated. One such link is: http://www.utahmountainbiking.com/fix/  

Weather can be a factor when riding so having the best information prior ride is as simple as the following link: http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/forecast/wxtables/ if you enter in your zip code in the white box it will give you the option of looking at a table anywhere from 1 to 6 hour intervals up to seven days, it gives you wind, temperature, percentage of cloudiness, and the time of day that those will occur. I use this just about every ride so that I can ride into the wind for the first half of my ride and if I'm really lucky might just have a tailwind on the return, there are times when you get caught riding into the wind in both directions, welcome to Utah.