Hi, friends! How’s it going?? Good weekend??
We are in recovery mode after a quick trip to Beaver, Utah.
Last Thursday, we packed everything up and set out on a road trip. Brooke woke up with enough excitement for everyone!
The trip took about 9 hours with a few stops along the way. Brooke and Jasper are seriously the best little travelers!
Made it to Beaver and found a campsite before calling it a night!
Friday morning, we woke up to some gorgeous views. Ken got dressed to ride and we set out to preview the Crusher in the Tushar course (70 miles and 10,000 feet of climbing). This race is no joke!
We drove up most of the first climb before Ken jumped on his bike to check out the descents. He rode the flat loop and then started back up part of the climb. Once he felt like he had ridden enough to open up the legs, he got back in the car and we drove the rest of the course.
The weather was a little nutty.
We picked up a cyclist who had flatted and took him back to his car so he could rescue his friends….because a huge hail storm rolled through!
We headed back to camp and then into town for a bit so Ken could do some work. Back to the trailer for some dinner and then it was bed time!
Yes, that is a giant bear. Yes, the kid is living her best camp life.
The alarm went off fairly early on Saturday morning and Ken was up and at ’em getting breakfast/coffee/bikes and clothes together. We headed into town around 6:45 am. We had camped about 10 miles up the road/course.
The weather was a bit drizzly and not too hot. A nice change from the day before!
Game face?
Brooke, Jasper and I headed back to camp about 10 minutes before they started the race. We wanted to make sure to be out of the way and back in time for them to roll through!
Plus some time to play beforehand 😉
Ninja? Rock star?
A bit later, the groups started rolling by!
It was fun to see all sorts of riders out there! We especially liked the guy on the yellow bike 😉 People seemed really excited to see us. Several guys asked me to ride their bike for them. I think I would have been faster on the climb than a few of them 😉
We took our time packing up camp before heading up towards the finish line. The finish was at a ski resort and it was a steep 1 mile climb up from the bottom. They did not allow any cars up at the finish, so we had to park in a parking lot at the bottom. They had shuttles, but what fun is that?
I pushed Brooke up in the BOB stroller (half hike/half jog). We left Jasper at first because it was rainy and cold. If it started to hail, it would have been really lame for him! We made it to the top, but had time to kill and I needed a workout…..so we ran back down the mountain and turned around and headed back up! Down with the stroller was killer!! My calves are still recovering. Gravity pulls hard.
The shuttle drivers all thought I was nuts and I had several strangers comment on my craziness.
Brooke wanted to take some pics while we waited at the top…
Super flattering from the bottom up. Ugh.
It started getting warm out and I worried about Jasper, so we started heading down the hill. We didnt make it very far because we were so excited to see our favorite rider coming up!
Ken battled the guy behind him to the line and finished 11th in the Pro Men field. That was huge considering the guys in front (and many behind him) were legit professionals!
We chased Ken up the mountain and were excited to see him finish. 4 hours and 35 minutes.
Since it was only getting warmer, I left Brooke with Ken and ran down the hill to get Jasper. Then I got to hike back up it!
We hung out at the top for a bit watching people finish. The weather started to take a turn and we got out of there just in time!
I ran down the hill with Brooke in the BOB and Jasper running next to me. I was getting cheered on by the riders finishing their last climb of the day. Ha. I ended up with 8.2 miles and over 1700 feet of climbing and the respect of a lot of shuttle drivers who had to tell Ken how crazy I was!
We made it back to camp, showered and changed, hooked up the trailer and headed out!
Super rough
We happily got halfway home before parking it for the night. Unfortunately, we ended up in the desert and it was pretty hot overnight.
Sunday morning, we rolled out around 8:30 and made it to Costco in time for a little shopping and lunch. We were home before 3 pm and got to take our time unpacking and relaxing-I even got an hour ride in myself!
On the way home, Brooke was looking at the course booklet from the Crusher and said, “Daddy, I know why it took you so long to finish the race! I see all those places that you stopped for snacks!” Bahahahahahhaa. Yeah, Ken never stopped, just grabbed bottles. Oh, kids.
Today was spent doing laundry, cleaning, unloading….all the boring things. But the weekend was sure fun.
We are super proud of Ken and learned a lot about the race! We will see if he wants to go back next year….
Hope that you had a delightful weekend as well!
Fit After Little Bits 