"Now I'm going to show you the inspiration behind the Wasatch Back route," said Steve Hill, who, like any good sports announcer who appreciates the value of silence at a big moment, then shut up and didn't say another word.
There was also the small detail that neither he nor I could breathe.
We were climbing a dirt road between Ogden Valley and Cache Valley. Our mountain bike sprockets were at 1 and 1, aka the granny gear, and they stayed there until we reached what for any number of reasons could be called the high point of the ride.
Hill got off his bike at the summit and looked around at the horizon.
Then he turned his gaze to the 13-mile stretch of rock and dirt that got us there."Amazing, isn't it?" he asked rhetorically as he gazed at spectacular mountain scenery suitable for framing anywhere in the world.
The remote road, situated only a few miles from the freeways even though it feels like a million, traverses a part of Utah largely unseen, exposing mountain views long hidden from the masses.
It's sort of like having a Renoir tucked in the back of the room, hidden behind an Andy Warhol.
For Hill, the 13 miles represents the missing link he'd long been looking for in his quest to map out the perfect Utah long-distance running relay route.
Ever since moving to Utah from Oregon, Hill had dreamed of one day interrupting his day job — he's a lawyer — long enough to replicate the famous Hood to Coast Relay he'd participated in multiple times as an avid runner in Oregon.
Hood to Coast starts at Mount Hood and ends 197 miles later at the Oregon Coast. It was started in 1982 by Bob Foote and soon became the world's most popular running relay. Every year, 1,000 12-person teams — that's 12,000 runners — enter the one-day event, and it would be many more than that if there wasn't a cap limit on the number of entrants.
Hood to Coast shows off the best of Oregon.
Hill wanted to show off the best of Utah.
For years, as he drove around the state, he tossed his idea around in his mind, trying to conjure the perfect route. But it wasn't until his wife, Tauni, lobbied for a vacation cabin in the Ogden Valley that things finally started moving in the right direction.
One day, after purchasing a lot above the town of Liberty, Hill looked to the north where the 13 miles of rock and dirt starts its ascent to the summit and asked, "Where does that road go?"
The rest is relay history.
Steve and his son, Dan, used the 13 miles of dirt to link a running route that stretches 180 miles from Logan to Park City — every bit of it on the other side of the heavily populated Wasatch Front.
They called it the Wasatch Back Relay.
The first Wasatch Back was held in 2004 with a mere 22 12-person teams — and half of those were friends and relatives of the Hills.
Six years later, not only is the Wasatch Back the biggest running event on the Utah calendar — its cap of 750 12-person teams was reached this year months ahead of the June event — but it has spawned another nine such relays around the country.But word spread fast about the amazing scenery and welcoming, less-traveled backroads.
Collectively, these events are known as the Ragnar Relays. Ragnar is reputedly a ninth-century Norse king renowned for his wild and daring adventures. When it was decided to develop other relays and model them after the Wasatch Back, Ragnar was chosen as the national brand.
The rapid growth and increasing demands of Ragnar caused Steve — who still, incidentally, has that day job — to bow out of the business side of running relays, although Dan remains president of Ragnar.
But the course that got it all started will always be Steve Hill's baby, particularly those 13 miles that glued it all together. Whenever he feels the urge, he can still climb to the top and enjoy the breathless view.
My plan Saturday was to hit the road around 7AM, thinking that would get me to the finish line of the Top of Utah Marathon in Logan around 1030AM. That's when I expected Kristin Barras, one of our trainers, to finish the marathon. Warm weather was forecast but it was cold when I took off, closer to 730 than the 7AM departure I planned. It took me longer than expected to ride from our house to the gate, nearly a half hour. I started up the dirt road apprehensively, fearing that I wouldn't have the stamina to ride to the top without walking, that I would slip and fall due to the loose dusty surface of the road, and that if I couldn't make it to the top without walking I would miss Kristin's finish.
I needn't have worried. I powered to the top, getting off my bike but once to let a truck pass. Otherwise the climb went quickly and relatively easily. Even the descent went faster than expected. I gained confidence the further I rode and eventually let go of the brakes and cruised off the mountain as fast as I could go. I reached the Paradise at 930AM, one and a half hours from the gate, just about exactly half the time it took me in June. I came down the rode whooping and hollering, totally stoked that I conquered the climb. The autumn beauty of the hills matched my joyous mood as I achieved a personal best, something I doubted I could do.
Once in Cache Valley I rode furiously to reach the finish before 1030AM. I was on the way to making it easily when my rear tire went flat. I had been riding along the marathon route, doing a slalom between the orange barriers separating runners from traffic. As I came around one of the orange barriers my tire slipped and I heard a runner gasp. I suddenly realized I had a puncture in my tire. There was no way to make it to Logan on time.
I called Tauni to see if she could pick me up. She was a good three miles from our car, and was waiting with Annie Hedberg to meet Trish and Tasha Bell to run with them to the finish. She wasn't anxious to come get me, and in fact it would have taken her nearly as long to walk to the car and drive to meet me as it would take me to walk into Logan. Fortunately, I had planned to meet a contractor, Bruce Anderson, to talk about our plan for a house in Tanzania. I called him. He picked me up about two miles from the center of Logan, dropped my bike off with Mark Wimmer for repair at Wimmer's Bike Shop, and took me on a tour of his manufacturing plant. Bruce was interesting and very knowledgeable of the technologies being used for third world housing - another one of those amazing people I keep meeting these days. He eventually dropped me off at the finish a short time before Tauni, Annie, Trish and Tasha arrived.
My daughter Nina has been training for the St. George Marathon and had wanted me to join her. After the race Tauni told me I have to go with Nina. This, despite her initial reluctance for me to go. After a couple hours at the finish, she remembered what a big deal these events are. As I told Bruce, being around the finish of a marathon is a bigger thrill than any college football game could be.
I didn't find Kristin, but connected with her by text. She finished in 3:23, a great time but even more remarkable for her not having previously run farther than 13 miles. Before the race I told her I thought she could do under 3:25 based on what I observed of her level of fitness and her recent 1:32 half marathon. The only unknown was her lack of long runs. She proved she is not only a great athlete but very tough.
It was a day of triumph. We are all athletes. We need only train and enter the arena to unlock our potential.
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