Southern Utah escape

Utah is simply and excellent place to live. Where within about four hours or less you can travel from one end of the state to the other an find yourself in an entirely different climate. For years cyclists have been taking long weekends and heading South. Away from the snow covered Wasatch Front. Away from the inversion and cold temperatures. Away from wind stopper jackets and thermal tights to a place where fresh dirt is dry and blue skies shine a bit warmer. Southern Utah offers a wide selection of unique and challenging trails that can not only aid to your spring training program, but more importantly, offer a nice escape for the North.Brian Tolbert of the Kuhl Mountain Team spent Presidents Day weekend with his family in sunny Southern Utah, putting in a few hours on the bike and soaking up some much needed Vitamin D. I've asked Brian to give us a little incite on what he feels are some of the major benefits to a weekend in Southern Utah, and how to get the most out of you time and training while you're there.I have been going down south for a weekend or two in January and February for the past few years. I started doing it originally to test new bikes and make sure all the bugs were worked out before the early season races but more recently I do it more for a mental break from the trainer and the poor snow conditions that always seem to hit the Wasatch front in late January and early February.This year I packed up the family and headed down south for a long weekend over the presidents day weekend. One of my favorite things about St. George this time of year is that there are always people to ride with; it seems that most of the Wasatch front cycling community is down there on any given weekend. This year I hooked up with Duff Johnson and Ryan Krusemark and put some solid hours on dirt. Because of the wet weather that St. George has had this winter we stuck to the rocky trails outside of Santa Clara and Green Valley. We started nearly every day at the trailhead just south of Santa Clara and rode Barrel, Black Brush, Precipice and then move over to the Rim trail system with Rim Runner, Rim Reaper, and a couple other Rim trails I can’t remember. From there if it was dry we would ride the Stucki Springs trail over to Zen and the Green Valley race course. These trails are a great mix of technical red rock and smooth flowy desert single track. I love this area of St. George because you can ride for 6 or 7 hours and never touch the same trail.The key to this early season training for me almost is more mental than physical, I use these early season trips to southern dirt as a mental kickoff for the new race season because more often than not I return home from these trips to skate skiing and soft pedaling trainer sessions for several months till I can ride trails up north. These trips are my favorite of the year because most times it is just popping wheelies with my friends and riding cool trails, it is a great way to recharge the batteries before heading back up north for at least 6 more weeks of winter.