Comment 2010 "All last year while I was refinishing my motorcycle my friend Ed would come over and check on my progress. Last week we were talking and he mentioned we should ride up to Midway and see Swiss Days. I took a half day on Saturday and came home at 10am. Packed up and left."
Comment 2010 "We took the scenic route through the Alpine Loop which is up American Fork Canyon. Here we are waiting in the line to get through the toll shack." If you are just going through the canyon and not planning to stop and camp or picnic there is no fee, which I thought was pretty cool. I think this year I should come back down here and go through the Timponogos Cave, would be a good excuse to make the ride again.
The wait wasn't too terrible, but it was warm, and when you are straddling an engine while wearing a heavy denim jacket, it's VERY warm. I tend to turn my bike off during this type of thing for a couple reasons, one is to save gas, another is because my engine is air cooled. When idling an air cooled engine for long periods of time you run the risk of warping engine parts or just out and out seizing them... no bueno.
The road is pretty narrow when compared to the regular streets in town, but not so bad that it's scary. I liked how the trees kind of formed a tunnel of sorts, very fun to ride through!
Here's Ed, he was a good sport about letting me stop whenever I wanted to snap some pictures, and even being in some of them. I've decided I really like his motorcycle style, it's made for both on and off road riding, and I think that would suit me very well. I believe my next motorcycle will be this style.
More pics :) I believe this is for the turnoff onto the actual Alpine Loop. This is a super fun ride, you can't go very fast because visibility is limited and frankly it's just too dangerous, but you can really lean your bike over in the twisties! I actually managed to scrape my center stand on one :D
Lots of pretty Quakey Aspens in this area.
More Scenery.
Most of the way was paved, albeit poorly, but it was solid. Here we left the pavement and rode on loose gravel for about 5 miles. I don't remember exactly how fast I was going during that time, but I'm pretty sure I didn't reach 20mph. I kept the bike upright ok and never had to do an emergency stop to keep from tipping, but it was a pretty good challenge.
The wait wasn't too terrible, but it was warm, and when you are straddling an engine while wearing a heavy denim jacket, it's VERY warm. I tend to turn my bike off during this type of thing for a couple reasons, one is to save gas, another is because my engine is air cooled. When idling an air cooled engine for long periods of time you run the risk of warping engine parts or just out and out seizing them... no bueno.
The road is pretty narrow when compared to the regular streets in town, but not so bad that it's scary. I liked how the trees kind of formed a tunnel of sorts, very fun to ride through!
Here's Ed, he was a good sport about letting me stop whenever I wanted to snap some pictures, and even being in some of them. I've decided I really like his motorcycle style, it's made for both on and off road riding, and I think that would suit me very well. I believe my next motorcycle will be this style.
More pics :) I believe this is for the turnoff onto the actual Alpine Loop. This is a super fun ride, you can't go very fast because visibility is limited and frankly it's just too dangerous, but you can really lean your bike over in the twisties! I actually managed to scrape my center stand on one :D
Lots of pretty Quakey Aspens in this area.
More Scenery.
Most of the way was paved, albeit poorly, but it was solid. Here we left the pavement and rode on loose gravel for about 5 miles. I don't remember exactly how fast I was going during that time, but I'm pretty sure I didn't reach 20mph. I kept the bike upright ok and never had to do an emergency stop to keep from tipping, but it was a pretty good challenge. I think the riding position my bike has helped, unlike modern cruiser style motorcycles which have you sitting with your legs extended in front of you (your knees are pretty straight) my bike has you sitting with your legs right beneath you (knees are at about a 90 degree angle). I believe this helped keep me stable.
I believe this is Jordanelle Reservoir off in the distance.
Look, more gravely road!
We finally made it the Swiss Days festival, and there were tons of people.
I believe this is Jordanelle Reservoir off in the distance.
Look, more gravely road!
We finally made it the Swiss Days festival, and there were tons of people. The traffic getting in was so bad that my bike started to overheat and blow thick white smoke out of the exhaust. I think one of the only things that kept it from getting super bad is I was running 20w-50 weight oil in it, which is a lot heavier than the manufacturer recommends, but with the kind of riding I do, it seems to help.
More people.
So I was thinking of making wise cracks about trying to pick myself up a "Swiss Miss", but after these young ladies exited the stage, the MC came up and asked us to give the "Swiss Miss's" a hand.... um they are way too young for me, so that pretty well killed that joke dead.
Ed had a program for the festival, and there were a couple groups he wanted to see if we could, but he absolutely wanted to catch this gentlemans act.... sorry, his name escapes me at the moment. This guy is a world famous yodeler. Story goes that he served his mission in Germany or Austria, and heard some yodeling music. When he returned, he went back to potato farming, and to pass the time while driving the tractor up and down the rows of potatos, he'd yodel.
More people.
So I was thinking of making wise cracks about trying to pick myself up a "Swiss Miss", but after these young ladies exited the stage, the MC came up and asked us to give the "Swiss Miss's" a hand.... um they are way too young for me, so that pretty well killed that joke dead.
Ed had a program for the festival, and there were a couple groups he wanted to see if we could, but he absolutely wanted to catch this gentlemans act.... sorry, his name escapes me at the moment. This guy is a world famous yodeler. Story goes that he served his mission in Germany or Austria, and heard some yodeling music. When he returned, he went back to potato farming, and to pass the time while driving the tractor up and down the rows of potatos, he'd yodel.While I don't see myself ever choosing to listen to yodeling on the radio or my iPod, I have to admit the man was entertaining. He'd take popular rock songs, oldies, and others, and play them on the accordian while yodeling.
I think one of the funniest things to learn was not only does Ed have a couple of his CD's, but he will make the scouts listen to them while they drive to campouts :D
More pics of Jordanelle. There were some guys with enormous kits and surf boards kite surfing. It was interesting to watch whenever I could spare a glance from the road. Traffic was pretty thick trying to exit the festival, so I didn't really have a chance to take a picture of the kite surfers.
More pics.
On the way back through the Loop. The trail is so narrow that you really have to watch for oncoming cars, cause if you are leaning over when one comes up, you run the risk of having your head taken off.
See, I really am on the ride ;)
Another of Ed.
We found a pull out on the way up and I made a mental note to try and stop at it on the way back and get some pictures of the canyon. The Loop goes all the way from the floor of the canyon to quite high in it. It is pretty steep in some areas and you have to down shift to keep the RPM's up.
More from the pull out.
Gratuitious pics of me, since I'm told that's one of the reason anyone reads the blogs.
More of the canyon. It's really very beautiful. I really wanted to go back through it when the leaves changed for the fall, but sadly life got busy and I was unable to make it.
I think one of the funniest things to learn was not only does Ed have a couple of his CD's, but he will make the scouts listen to them while they drive to campouts :D
More pics of Jordanelle. There were some guys with enormous kits and surf boards kite surfing. It was interesting to watch whenever I could spare a glance from the road. Traffic was pretty thick trying to exit the festival, so I didn't really have a chance to take a picture of the kite surfers.
More pics.
On the way back through the Loop. The trail is so narrow that you really have to watch for oncoming cars, cause if you are leaning over when one comes up, you run the risk of having your head taken off.
See, I really am on the ride ;)
Another of Ed.
We found a pull out on the way up and I made a mental note to try and stop at it on the way back and get some pictures of the canyon. The Loop goes all the way from the floor of the canyon to quite high in it. It is pretty steep in some areas and you have to down shift to keep the RPM's up.
More from the pull out.
Gratuitious pics of me, since I'm told that's one of the reason anyone reads the blogs.
More of the canyon. It's really very beautiful. I really wanted to go back through it when the leaves changed for the fall, but sadly life got busy and I was unable to make it.Well, that's all for this adventure, I'll have to be sure to write and post the blogs while the trip is still fresh on my mind.
Until next time, keep the shiny side up!!
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