Last December, anticipating the winter, I decided to give running another try. I am not much of a
cold weather rider and I usually lose much of my aerobic conditioning over the winter. My 58 year
old runner's knees could only handle so much, so I topped out at 50 minutes of running twice a week,
with a trike ride thrown in.
As it turned out we had the 3rd mildest winter on record for Salt Lake City. It is our high
pressures that bring us warmth and force the flow of air into Canada, bring the brutal winters to
the midwest and east coast.
This week we are in the 60's and approaching 70. We may break a high temp record for this date. I
have been able in the last week to climb two canyons that I would not normally want to ride before
late April. (City Creek and Millcreek Canyons.) Millcreek canyon is about a 1600-1800 ft climb, City
Creek a bit less.
The punchline is that the running has really helped my climbing. I am probably not any faster but I
roll right past the rest spots that I used last year. My wind is much improved. I will remember this
next winter. But, it is time to put away the running shoes and save my knees for riding. Both
exercises are good in their own ways. I get more aerobic benefit from running, but a longer and more
varied workout (strength and aerobic) from triking.
Gary McCarty, Greenspeed GTO, Salt Lake City