"KOLOB TERRACE, STAIRWAY TO THE BIKE GODS"

kolob terrace is a road bike ride kind of like no other, it is a paved road up the north side of zion national park, if anyone has ever heard of the subway hike in zion this is the way to that trail head, there are a number of options when taking this ride, you can start as far away as you like, once last year i made the trek from st george to the top, just a little over 110 miles, and as you all know i just dont like going that far on the road, so i wont be doing that again, it was a too much of a boring thing, if i aint climbing im bored, well good thing kolob has plenty of that. so for now i usually start at springdale, or if i really just want to grind and nothing else i start in virgin.
the climb its self never looks that ominous, you never get the felling that there is almost 5000 feet of up coming, as you leave virgin its just a nice country road through some farm land and past some small neighborhoods and if you have never rode here before you would swear that this was easy, uumm, dont look now but you just turned a corner and it seems the road turned straight up. the first sign of trouble is a 1/2 mile stretch and about 350 feet gained. nice thing about this ride is it does give you chances to recover, there are a couple of places where it goes flat and even one place before the switchbacks that goes down, but when it turns up, well folks its no joke with its 13 to 15 % pitches...

this is just after left fork trail head, in about one more mile it gets so steep that i have to stand on my pedals to keep going, the only place i have ever rode this steep is brian head with its extended distances of 13 % inclines, get to that one later in the year. just before it lets up you will come by a church on the left side with a bell outside the gate, i dont know what the story is here. as you can see the road is paved red, cool huh, its so fun to ride on.

ive been on some really cool road rides, but i have never seen one as beautiful as this, the scenery is unbelievable, the only place more stunning is the road through the park to mount carmel. if you leave from virgin its going to be about 50 miles to get to the top and back and you will climb over 5000 feet, god i love where i live, this is the middle of winter people !!

one of the amazing features you pass while on the way up, this road will take you in the park then out of the park a number of times up the north side of zion canyon, it also passes to the south of kolob canyon, i always want to stop and just look at stuff, its hard to get a good workout sometimes cuz i want to see everything...

ah, the top... this is kolob reservoir and the road you just climbed ends right here, hard to believe that there is a desert just 25 miles from here. okay, it does get hotter than shit in st george sometimes, but hey look at where you can go if you want, and i can leave the house and be riding my bike at brian head in less than 50 minutes, so the heat, if it is an issue never really has to be.

paradise im telling you... paradise !!!