I have raced there the last 4 years so have lots of experience in the logistics of the week, course, etc.

1- you can easily preview the course in sections. From the swim start you can ride the whole course and back down the road if you want. Or you can start where the singletrack starts just where the course intersects with Old Snowbasin Road (OSR), where there is a parking area. You can drive further up (using the main Snowbasin Road) and enter the trail at the top of Green Pond (I think that is the name) and do the descent and climbs to the finish from there. You can also park at the resort and do the climbs from the beginning of Sardine Canyon (a big loop from the resort). I usually ride from the OSR spot, so that I get the technical descent a couple of times in training, then climb over the top of the mountain and do the fast descent down to the resort, then coast down the OSR to my car. Riding from the swim is worth doing once so you can see the better lines to take (its a rough and rock fire road for the first few miles that has a nice gradient - enough to separate people before the single track)

2- The shuttle is super easy, and works like clockwork

3- For fun, there is the Harvest Moon Festival that goes on that weekend, which has some live music and other entertainment. Otherwise, Ogden is a sleepy little city. Park City and SLC are close by so spending Sunday there would offer a few more things to do. If you are looking for hiking/swimming/trail running or other outdoor fun, then you are going to heaven for that stuff. Art/Music/Nightlife is less available.

PM for anything else, I hope to get there this year, I love the course and the weather makes for a sublime time to visit.

Jack

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I haven't done the race, but can help with #3. What are you looking for activity wise? Are you wanting to go for a hike, trail run after? Another ride? Food check out red iguana if you are into mexican. If you like beer, swing by epic in SLC and grab a sandwich and have a few tasters. Good sandwiches and even better beer. Be careful though, it sneaks up on you :)

What Jack said. Those are all good options for pre-riding the course. Personally I like to park at Snowbasin (there are nice bathrooms there) and ride the road back to the Green Pond trailhead and ride the course from there. You get in all the downhills and it's plenty of climbing for me for race week. But I'm older and slower and don't need to be wearing myself out on a huge pre-ride. Starting at Old Snowbasin Rd. will give you a few more miles of climbing but I don't think there are any/many very technical sections there that you need to know about. And yes it does help to know the good lines on Wheeler but I wouldn't make it a priority if you have only one day to pre-ride, it's not as important as the stuff from Green Pond on.

Also you can swim for free at Pineview Reservoir. There's a really nice swim beach. Again, depends on how much time you have.

I have photos, race reports etc. from previous years here: http://www.daysofspeed.blogspot.com/...l/Xterra%20Nationals

The shuttle is no problemo.

I always go to Antelope Island State Park on Friday. It's a 45 minute or so drive from Ogden and well worth it. Loads of wildlife that you can see from the car, easy hiking paths, very beautiful and unique area. I have photos from various years here: http://www.daysofspeed.blogspot.com/...el/Antelope%20Island

For post-race dinner I love going to the Sonora Grill for Mexican food. It's a very yuppie-ish sort of place, not authentic Mexican food but good food nonetheless.

Have fun and enjoy Nationals!

Elayne

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Elayne
New Day Rising Hypnosis

There really isn't too much to do in Ogden. As far as other things to do, I would also suggest going to Snowbird (up Little Cottonwood Canyon). You can take the Tram up and see some incredible views. Also, just driving up Little Cottonwood Canyon and Big Cottonwood Canyon is really nice because of the views and how beautiful the mountains are. There are also some relaxing nature trails at the Solitude Nordic Center and possibly some moose sightings. I think seeing the canyons would be much more scenic then going to Antelope Island, but that's just my opinion and it sounds like you are in town long enough to see Antelope Island and other things like driving up the canyons. As someone else suggested, Park City can be a fun afternoon walking around the shops and grabbing dinner. If you like whiskey then High West Whiskey and Distillery can be fun place to grab dinner. I moved to Utah in March (I'm close to the base of Little Cottonwood Canyon) so I'm still learning all the things to see and do around the SLC area, obviously assuming you don't want to do anything too strenuous since you're in town for a race, but those are a couple low key things we did with my in-laws when they came to visit. I'm pretty sure you can do tours of the Olympic center in Park City too.

Antelope Island smells like a big toilet and I found it to be less than incredible, especially when the mountains are so close. Sadly the Bingham Canyon mine visitor center was destroyed in the rock slide, that hole is incredible.

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This sounds great, I like this plan.


Probably just outdoorsy sight-seeing and walking around. No night life stuff, just want to "experience" the mountains in Utah!


This actually sounds awesome, wish I had a nicer/faster/sportier rental car ha!

Congrats on your race. You were probably showered and changed by the time I got in! Hope you had as much fun as we all did. What an amazing view coming off the climbing when entering the single track along the ridge was worth all the suffering up the switchbacks! Definitely something I hope to do again. Congrats again.

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