My new Fuel is like pedaling air. This winter and into early spring, we were both riding my Paragon (and, for me, not enough) with little to no bike maintenance. I cannot believe how much better my new Fuel feels to pedal as well as my legs afterward. Moab was a pretty eye opening trip for me. I fully realized how out of shape and over tired I am from lack of sleep these past 7 months. My biking legs are not coming back as quickly as I was hoping. I realize now how much more I was able to train in the past and how much Scott and I trained together; especially helping one another get out the door to ride when we may have not felt like it. It is much easier now to make excuses and play with Kiera instead. She is such a great kid!

Kiera is finally sleeping through the night these past couple weeks (except I still get up once or twice to give her a nuk instead of nursing her back to sleep). Overall, I am feeling some better and better on my bike and training in general. Scott is fired up to race, whereas I cannot help but feel a bit reserved. I am starting to feel better since I have added a few intervals into my training regimen and gotten back in the weightroom. I was doing pushups, ab work, and other dumbbell exercises at home, but I realized that was not enough. I didn't feel strong while riding in Moab. Luckily, Scott lifts on his lunch breaks two times per week and Kiera and I join him for one of those times as my work schedule allows. It is fantastic as Kiera can play on the mat while Scott and I lift. (The weightroom is usually empty while we are in there so it works out perfectly).

BACK HOME

It sure is nice to be back home. The drive out to Moab is pretty easy, but the return home is always much more difficult. It didn't help that Vail Pass was closed due to an accident, so we had to spend a couple of hours waiting for the DOT to clear the site and open the road again.

Kiera was quite a trooper during the entire trip. She didn't fuss at all on the ride down and she absolutely loved everything about Moab. Like the rest of us, she was a little cranky on the way back, but it wasn't too bad. We stopped in to meet Stella Swanson - boy is she cute! Kiera enjoyed grabbing at her and playing with all of her toys...

It was nice to see most of the snow melted because the gravel roads are really starting to shape up. The city opened up Skyline Road-our gravel road in the summer/snowmobile trail in the winter-last week so we now have another access road for our mountain and cross bikes. I got to enjoy these views the past week now and and there are very few cars that frequent them so that is also a huge plus.









On a side note, my brother Brad who now lives in Flagstaff, AZ, just ran his first half marathon. He has a propensity for getting lost in mountain bike races, and the half marathon was no different. However, the funniest part of the story is that as he was packing his bag for the 1/2, he included two right shoes. Instead of bagging the race, he decided to take out the insole and run the thing with two right shoes! After finishing the race he decided to jump on his bike and get in a long ride...he is quite the tough guy. He can't stop talking about how amazing the singletrack is in Flag and Sedona. Sara, Kiera and I plan on going out the end of June to check it out.

That's all for now because I've got to put together the new Fuel that arrived right before we left for Moab!

MOAB PHOTOS

We rode from Canyonlands Campground yesterday and did Poison Spider. My dad took a wrong turn about 5 minutes from the top so I had to go look for him, and unfortunately missed out on one of my favorite trails, the Portal. Jesse, Bill and Sean got to ride it and like usual, Sean flatted (for the second time on the ride). It's tough to ride in large groups because the chances for mechanicals increase and it seems someone is always falling off the back. I got to ride a good chunk of Poison Spider twice looking for him and found a new way to make a loop out of Poison Spider.

Bushey ran into some people from Marquette, MI on the ride while I was searching for my dad.

It's supposed to be in the 60s today so I should be able to put away the insulated jersey for the first time!

MOAB, UT

We arrived in Moab on Friday afternoon greeted by high winds, rain, sleet and a generous dose of hail. Yep, this is the Moab we remember! We figured it would be a little chilly since the drive from Denver to Grand Junction was loaded with snow, wind and cool temps. The mountains were supposed to get anywhere from 20 - 30 inches of snow so we felt pretty lucky getting the van through without any problems (other than having to stop twice to chisel the ice off the grill to allow air flow to the radiator). We didn't let the weather deter us, however, and we rode Amasa Back to Jackson's trail Friday afternoon. It's tough to start a ride in wind, rain and hail, but we were excited to get on dirt again. Sara loves the new Trek Fuel even though I didn't get around to setting it up properly before the ride.

Woke up Saturday morning to snow - plenty of snow - falling in town and about an inch accumulated on the tops of vehicles. The surrounding rock cliffs that surround the town were blanketed and the contrast between the snow and red rock was stunning. In the 13 - 14 years I've been coming out here, this is the first time I've seen snow in town (I've seen plenty of snow in the higher elevations around town, but never snow in town). Saturday's ride was a short one again due to weather, so we opted to do Moab Rim trail to the Hidden Valley hiking trail in order to get a loop in. So far, Irv, Sara, brother Brad, Jesse Reints, Nikolia, Mattable, Shamus, and Schwalbe have arrived. Mister Bushey and Veits are on still fishing in Glenwood Springs since the weather isn't great, but they plan to meet up for Sunday's ride - a Slickrock appetizer followed by Porcupine Rim.

I'd attach some pics, but alas, I've forgotten the usb cord.