I am moving to the Salt Lake City area. And my house hold good will not arrive for 6 to 8 weeks. So i will be doing outside riding only. Looking for good area. The temp housing will be near State street and 5300s Murray. I will have my Aspero and both road and gravel wheels.
Emigration Canyon. It is the most ridden route around here. Head east until you get to Wasatch (above the 215 freeway) then head North. Bike path over freeway to Foothill, but jump up to Scenic ASAP. That will take you to the bottom of Emi and then just go up.
Not much good gravel near your spot so road wheels are the choice unless you have a bike rack and can travel a bit.
I’ll add you are also close to Big Cottonwood Canyon there. Much bigger overall climb, but a good ride. There is also Little Cottonwood Canyon (tougher and dangerous during Oktoberfest weekends), Millcreek (scary on weekends), and City Creek (open to cyclists only on odd-numbered days).
To the west, there is the Jordan River bike path, but it’s not the best for cycling due to joggers, strollers, etc. Or ride out to the Great Saltair if you want some flat miles… just need to navigate through town to get there.
Thanks,
Last year i visited family, with my CAADX and rode around the Jordan River trail and some of the Bonneville shore line around the U. But not on a training rides just T shirt rides. Hoping to be able to participate in UTCX if work and travel permits.
If you are up for an adventure, you could take the gravel bike on BST by the U. Not ideal, but I’ve done it.
My CAADX on 32 gravel kings from the zoo to the U was fun did have to walk a bit. And dealing with coming from sea level.
If you are up for a good climb, Francis Peak one county north is mixed asphalt/gravel (mostly gravel). 4000-ish feet up. Though you’d have to drive or Fronttunner to it (unless you want an epic day) as it’s about 30 miles north of Murray area to Farmington.
As noted above, City Creek is only odd days during summer but the restriction ends at the end of September.
Emigration is pretty popular and can be linked up with the Big Mountain Summit for another long climbing session (all paved).
Again, if you don’t mind driving, Antelope Island is a fantastic ride. Plenty of parking just outside the entrance and costs $3 to ride in.
Edit: Radio Towers just north of the Capitol make for a good little gravel excursion and the BST in that area isn’t too extreme.
I will likely end up in central Davis County once my house hold good arrival, so Antelope Island will definitely be on the list.
Eventually will also look at joining some group rides. I get dropped from the B group here in Japan. If nothing else i will join my brother and help out with the Hyland NICA team.
Many many routes to keep you entertained but note that weekend traffic in the canyons can get bad (you won’t get hit, but it’s annoying riding next to cars) - weekday is awesome. Emigration you CAN ride during the weekends and an easy bet for riding here and getting started. Big Cottonwood has a great shoulder and fine (except for weekends which get busy by about 8am). You can climb Big and then head to Midway and back up around AF canyon. Little Cottonwood was the Queen stage for the tour of utah, and a great steepish climb, American Fork is south of you and awesome (but not on weekend), as well as Butterfield. Millcreek is fine, just watch for dogs.
Hope this helps.
There are so many routes around here, it’s more a matter of getting to know when to go, rather than where… Plenty of group rides. If you’re on facebook look up Utah Cycling Community, if you’re on strava hit me up and I’ll send you some routes. Utah Cycling Association has a lot of info on clubs. Davis county will have Ascent, LHM, Z5, Mi Doule are other big racing clubs.
Lifetime Fitness South Jordan (?) also has a big group ride during the week.
We moved from SLC in 2020, and lived in Holladay. So not too far from Murray. And my info probably isn’t too much out of date.
I second Emmigrant and up to Big Mountain. There were TT’s every other week on it, perhaps Thursday’s, I can’t remember too well. I remember it being busy, but wider than Mill Creek.
I really liked Mill Creek canyon. It’s a State Park I guess, so cars have to pay to get in, which greatly reduces traffic (on weekdays at least). And at a point the road is closed to cars even. That was probably the thing I rode the most.
Check out Tour of Utah routes from years past too, as that’ll show some options up around Park City and by Alta etc. I thought there was a loop from Park City and over … oh, I can’t remember the name, but a little road that drops you into the top of Big Cottonwood (or was it little … 2020 seems like an age ago).
From the little bunch riding I did, Contender Cycles had a good seeming bunch ride. I think it was Sunday’s maybe. Not crazy fast, but it was hard enough for me at the time.