Pre-Christmas Vacation

With the lack of snow and bad air quality in SLC, Erik and I dropped of the dogs at City Pet Club and headed down to St. George. We proceeded to throughly break in our bikes and beat ourselves up a little in the process. Between the great rides, going out to eat each night and time off of work, we had a wonderful time. We drove back on Friday, my birthday, and had another fun dinner out at Settebello. Here are a bunch of pictures from the trip:

Winter is knocking at the door

Here are a few fresh photos from last weekend's race in Ogden--it was cold!!!! Good thing I still have some AK toughness left in me!

Moab and the Other Half 2011

For Fall break, Erik's mom and step-dad met us at home in SLC and we drove down to Moab for a long weekend of mountain biking, road biking and participating in the Moab Other Half--a 1/2 Marathon along the Beautiful Colorado River. The first day we hiked Negro Bill's Canyon to look at a really cool rock bridge. After a restful night, we rented Niner RIP's and promptly ripped down most of the Whole ENchilada ride (the upper part was not possible due to snow). The next day we headed over to the classic out and back Poison Spider ride. After returning the mountain bikes, I got ahold of a carbon Marin road bike from Chili Pepper bikes and Erik and I rode the La Sal loop---what an incredible ride. After throughly tiring our legs all week, we were now ready for the big event--the Moab Other Half 1/2 Marathon. Sunday morning we boarded our shuttle bus to the start at Dewey Bridge along the Colorado River. For 13.1 miles we walked (fast), jogged and shuffled towards the finish! In the end we did great, got our finishing medals, pint glasses, and were not too worse for the wear. Erik's mom, Mary Ellen (in her second 1/2 marathon), beat her previous time by more than 10 minutes! Thanks Mary Ellen, Jason, Erik and Moab for a great fall vacation.

It's that time again......

Cyclocross season is upon us! That means fall weather, trying not to eat too many yummy treats, more darkness and lots of bicycle racing. Here are some pictures from the season opener at the Utah State Fairgrounds this past weekend. We had a double header of races, Erik got to race on Saturday as well, so it was really fun! As always, cross is almost as much about re-connecting with the whole cycling community and meeting new friends as it is about the 45-min-to one hour of gut busting pain on the bike!!

to cap off the summer

I finally raced and finished the Park City Point 2 Point. I have volunteered for the first two years of this extremely grueling mountain bike race, and this year after securing my registration back in February, I finished the race. I had only a few "lows" during the race in which negative thoughts crept in. Mostly, it was really positive and I even managed to attack a few sections with more speed. I ended up having to fight for position from 15 miles out from the finish. That was hard. I ended up taking 4th in my age class, I am super excited about the result and am glad to have survived in one piece. At the finish line, Erik was there to greet me and take me and my bike (we both with pretty much fell over). It was an emotional, wonderful finish and to have my husband there waiting for me made it all the more special.

USCS Race #4 (the final race)

USCS Race 4 went off without a hitch again thanks to the promoters, volunteers and great spectators. I talked Erik into racing with me as well, we had a great day! We had such a good day in fact that we hit up the Porcupine on the way home.

It was a super cross country--Erik was on the course for about 36 miles and 3+ hours. I was out for 24 miles and 2+ hours. That was plenty. It was held at corner canyon in Draper, UT. One of my favorite parts about the race was that the guys used all the BEST trails when designing the course. I love Clark's and the Canyon climb, Ghost Falls is a blast to descend and if I was a better bike handler I would like descending Rush a little more too.

We stayed through all the awards, Erik took a very well deserved 2nd place in the expert mens 30-39 category and I earned third in the expert women.

While we were sitting in the little shade that we could find during the awards and opportunity drawing (we can't call it a raffle in Utah--don't ask), Bob S. the race director was making weird hand signals at us. We just thought he was losing it in the heat. It turns out that we both placed in the overall for the whole series. Erik took 3rd place and I got 2nd place!!!

It gets even better---as we waited and waited during the drawing without winning anything, finally my name was drawn and I won a season pass to the Utah Cyclocross Series!!! As everyone knows, this pass will not be wasted and is MUCH appreciated.

That wrapped Erik's racing-he starts school again tomorrow. I have the big one looming over me--the Park City Point 2 Point is in less than 2 weeks. I feel ready and just as importantly excited.

this is what happens when you plant 11 tomato plants for 2 people!

Good thing we love salsa!