**Ryan will be writing about the race for this blog entry!
The race went well. We started out on the words “GO!” We raced down the road in a tight group, drafting off one another. The race separated a little bit once we reached the right hand turn into the canyon. From here it separated more as we climbed to the rim of the plateau. This was followed by a slight uphill to the first downhill descent.

We flew down the descent flying over rocks and loose dirt and arrived at the check point amongst several other teams. We hurriedly switched into our running gear and adorned ourselves with climbing harnesses. We ran over to the 275 foot repel from the rim of the canyon to the canyon floor. We nervously stepped off one at a time – zipping down the rope – with spectacular red rock cliffs all around and a gleaming blue sky surrounded us. Once we had all gathered at the base of the cliff, we started our trudge back to the top. After several hundred feet of elevation gain and even more miles under our soles, we arrived back at our faithful steeds (our bikes).

We quickly changed back into riding shoes and gear and took off down the trail. We went down a small valley which opened up to the side of a cliff. This opened up over the main cliff walls and there was a small road that skirted left along the cliffs to the rocky floor below. From here we quickly hopped on a paved bike path and raced down to the Colorado River. *NOTE: The cross tires seemed to be the supreme choice for this race – flying through the uphills and fats* We had a quick change and jumped into the kayaks to start on the slowest part of our journey – a 12 mile paddle down the river. We sat there repeating the motions of paddling left, right, left, right down the river that was flanked by giant faces of rock on all sides. After what felt like an eternity and some good conversation with teammates we could finally see the red arch. From a distance it seemed small and as we paddled closer it still seemed small and so far away! But we finally did make it and carried our boats up the ramp and walked through the finishing arch. It was a great personal victory to complete such a challenge.

post race munchies

After the race we grabbed some food and played a quick round of frisbee golf. The course in Moab was one of the best we had seen on our trip. The rest of the evening was pretty laid back. We had a nice soak in the hot tub followed by packing and some National Geographic on t.v. We woke up this morning, a little later than planned, and grabbed breakfast at a little cafe called Eklecticafe. We both had banana pecan pancakes and they were delicious! Then we hit the road but ran into some slow traffic along I-70 near Georgetown. Ryan would like to mention that he is pretty proud of his 4Runner for making it from Moab to Golden on one tank of gas (even with the extra drag of all our gear).

goodbye Moab!

Overall, we both agree that the trip was excellent and we learned a lot about Colorado and Moab. There are many more trips out West to be had after this adventure!

6:00 am rolled around very quickly as Ryan was up and getting ready for his race. We took off in the blistering cold to dump off kayak gear at one of the transition areas and sped through the canyons to the start area. It was a cool atmosphere to be in as people were showing up checking their gear and mentally preparing for the race.

gear dropoff

Ryan and his teammates seemed prepared, but questioned how many layers to wear to start the race. Once again the temperature was in the 30’s this morning so the race started off chilly. They took off of to the start line, which was under the big, red Adventure Xtreme arch, and off they went!

what to wear?

They begin on mountain bikes, then run, repel, followed by mountain biking again to the Colorado River to kayak. There are very few transition areas for me to actually see them during the race, so I am hanging out in Moab making a list of things to do because the reality of school is finally hitting me. (Very sad!)

The rest of yesterday was filled with packing, map reading and meeting new people. Ryan spent most of the afternoon packing up gear, and as I had mentioned, was in “race mode” – which totally cracked me up because he was so anxious and had a very “go go go get things done” mentality. We sped over to registration and Ryan introduced me to a ton of new people. It appeared to me that the Adventure Racing community is very friendly – people were very nice to one another and conversational. I personally loved meeting these people and hearing their stories and histories. Around 7pm or so we met up with Ryan’s teammates at Pasta Jay’s. It was great to finally meet up with new people for a night out. We had such great conversation and a yummy dinner.

Rocky Mountain Adventure Racing

Ryan had purchased a pair of cross tires to put on his mountain bike for the race. The reason for doing so is that much of the course is on a paved bike path and the other dirt roads did not seem too loose or sandy, therefore Ryan felt he could go faster with the new tires. We switched tires up, I learned for like the third time (and I still forget what I am doing!) how to do this and took it out for a test ride. Ryan felt pretty confident about this choice so I am interested to hear how they work for him. Let’s stay positive and predict that they made him much faster!

But I am off to the next transition point. Ryan’s mom recommended to arrive a bit early  so I am going to take her word for it. I know they have more experience in following these races than I do! Hope you all are having a great Saturday !

First off – where did the week go? I am having a hard time realizing that spring break is almost over… the thought of going back to scho- nope I am not even going to say it yet. But presently I am hanging out in a very laid-back relaxing coffee shop on the Main St. This morning we packed up our bikes and took a second attempt through Arches National Park.

The outside temperature still read 35 degrees when we took off up the road, but we pedaled through the cold. We road around an hour and a half or so – a nice easy ride on the hilly desert landscape. Minus the cold and the ride would have been perfect. (Or maybe I just need to toughen up!)

Welcoming Sign

The rest of the day is dedicated to getting prepared for Ryan’s adventure race tomorrow. He is officially in “race mode” – packing and reading maps. He was asked to race with some other people from the Front Range area and they should be arriving in Moab soon. I believe this evening we will meet up with his teammates at Pasta Jay’s and probably continue preparing for the race. Check back later tonight for more updates – I hope everyone has a great weekend!

We woke up to a beautiful morning here in Moab. Our campsite was a perfect pick with the sheer red rock cliffs all around and the Colorado river flowing by – it was a gorgeous sight. Ryan and I had plans for a busy day so we took off quickly from the site and headed to a climbing area by the name of Wall Street. Pretty clever name!

Wall Street

Today was my first time climbing so I was ecstatic to get out a try the real thing. The road was flanked with sheer faces of red rock and made me a little nervous. Luckily, Ryan had a good spot in mind and we parked the car and headed up to the anchor in the rock. Oh and we better not forget to mention the awesome indian hieroglyphs etched into the red rock walls! This area is so rich in history – I love it! Anyways, back to the climbing, we chose around a 50-60 foot face and anchored in. The first ascent I was shaking, unsure of myself and my ability to make it to the top! After that first climb I felt comfortable and decided this just might be a new hobby to add to my list. Ryan had a nice set of blisters on his hands once we were finished.

Indian Writings

After climbing, we gathered the gear and took off to fill our growling stomaches. I insisted we went to a local smoothie/sandwich joint (The Peace Tree) that I had eyed the few times we drove through the touristy Main Street. Mmm I was super satisfied with a carrot, celery, ginger and cinnamon juice blend. Ryan had a yummy strawberry smoothie as well. Recharged and ready to go back out we were thinking about road biking through Arches National Park but the weather had other plans in mind for us.

freak snow storm

The temperature drastically decreased so a nice drive through the park sounded better. My jaw dropped as we entered the park – the desert landscape was speckled with sudden jutting rock formations. If you get the chance I highly recommend visiting this park. Not too far into the park we could see a faint gray curtain of rain coming towards us. About ten minutes later we were in the middle of a freak snow storm! Going back into Moab sounded better than driving through the snow.

piles of gear

Instead of roughing it in the cold snow, we found a hotel and booked a room for three nights. Piles formed around the edges of the room and bikes were leaned up against the sink area. Check out the photos… you will understand what I mean! We followed up unpacking with a quick run out in the crisp air and found some din – din. We had dinner at Miguel’s – very tasty and fresh mexican restaurant. Tomorrow looks promising as the weather is suppose to warm up to 56!

Grand Junction Mt. Bike Trails

Mountain biking in Grand Junction. WHOA! Ryan said they were some of the best trails he has ridden within the last few years. Here is his review of the trails:

“With a mixture of spectacular views, challenging downhills and extremely flowing trails – Grand Junctions trails rival some of the best in the world. I started going up the main trail, 1,000 vertical feet, and connected to Eagle’s Wing trail which overhangs cliffs and a great view of the valley below. Too bad I couldn’t look that much because focus was required for the technical downhill. From here I followed this back to the main trail and crossed over to continue onto Holy Cross trail – which the local informed us is seen in many magazines – I can tell why because it meanders through giant boulders with tight rock paved downhills that produce a flowing feel. There were many options; from rocks to jump over and berms to rail. This trail winded up with some mellow turns over the mesas back into the parking lot.”

Why not K 3/5 Road ?

From here we packed up the car and headed off to Fruita. Due to eery looking weather and still being tired we decided to do another round of disc golf. The Fruita course was much shorter, only 9 holes, and challenging because we had to search to find each hole.

We then headed to Moab the 100 mile trip was not without its excitements. We stopped at the border of Utah to take some pictures and a historic site with dinosaur fossils Both were pretty fun and made the trip much more enjoyable. When we were almost to Moab we had to make one more stop at a giant sand hill which we climbed up and ran down. After several falls we were covered with sand and at the bottom of the hill. We shock off like wet dogs got back in our mobile home and headed the last few miles to Moab.

Dinosaur Imprints

In Moab we quickly found a campsite along the river which we claimed and then headed into to to get some dinner. We landed upon a place called Zax. were we ordered the pizza buffet. As we sat there gorging on pizza we couldn’t help but see from the patio all the cars go by and be jealous. Jealous of it all, one car would pass full of bikes while the next was fully loaded with rafts and kayaks.

we officially smell and need showers

We left dinner feeling several pounds heavier then when we started and headed to the local laundry mat. This is were we sit now watching our clothes go around and keeping you all up to date and worry free. After this we plan on heading back to camp and falling asleep next to the campfire. We will wake up early to rock climb, followed by a long road ride through Arches National Park. Can’t wait!

o we did skip a day (or two) on the blog. I apologize about that. The weather so far has not been the greatest. We stayed the night at the Holiday Inn Monday because I have an ear infection (yuck!!) and frankly, I was not up for sleeping in the car. Thanks Mom and Dad for making the hotel possible!

Tuesday was filled with on and off showers of rain/snow and some gusty winds. It was pretty chilly ( at least for me – I think Ryan was more okay with it than I was) and somewhat frustrating. But we definitely didn’t let the weather stop us from getting out and having fun. We found an 18 hole frisbee golf course in Grand Junction and spent a couple hours playing that. The course was a little over two miles and set back in a desert like area. Ryan and I were pretty neck in neck score wise until about hole 11, then he totally kicked my butt from there!

After that we drove up to Colorado National Monument, which was gorgeous! There is a nice 23 mile loop to ride all around the park with a climb of around 2,300 feet. It looked like so much fun! Most of the climbing was right off the bat and with the way I was feeling it seemed a bit too much. Ryan drove us up past the hardest of the climbing and we pulled over where it started to flatten out more. From there we rode our road bikes across most of the top portion of the monument.

It was absolutely beautiful and so much better to ride through it on a bike instead of driving. I was feeling pretty fatigued so we turned around before we reached the bottom. Unfortunately I have been lacking a lot of energy and find it hard to keep going for too long without feeling light headed. Ryan rode all the way down to the bottom and I drove the car down. I was happy he kept riding. I don’t like to take away from his training time.

After our ride we took off to find some mountain bike trails. We stopped on the side of the road at an intersection, looking like total tourists, with out big maps out trying to figure out where the heck we were headed, when a local pulled up and asked if we needed help. Fortunately enough, he must’ve known we were looking for trails because he was headed to the exact place we were trying to find. We followed him to a set of trails (and I don’t know the names – I will have to ask Ryan) and he gave Ryan some good loops and figure eight paths to do. I could tell Ryan was pretty excited to get out on the trails, but it was getting late so he decided to do them the next morning. Our stomachs were growling so we found a Famous Dave’s BBQ and settled in there. We had a very filling and tasty dinner there – with plenty of leftovers to feed us for the rest of the trip!

So that basically leads us up to now – I am at the hotel trying to rest up and Ryan went out early this morning to hit up those mt. bike trails. The weather is chilly and cloudy once again. We will head to Fruita this afternoon to do more trails. Then it is on to Moab!

It was a long day. We made it to Copper and skied for a couple hours. It was slush all over. Not the greatest skiing conditions but we made due… by playing in the Woodward Kidz Park with the six year old Bro-Bras!

My ski boots made my feet hurt yet again so I took it pretty easy. Ryan on the other hand dropped his first cliff, it was small one, but you have to start somewhere. We left Copper after basking in the sun in some big lawn chairs. It was nice – the sun felt good.

We hit the road towards Glenwood Springs but had a sudden impulse to check out a cave near Eagle CO. After reading through our Caves of Colorado book and a website on my phone we thought we knew the way to Fulford Cave…but it took some work. After getting to Eagle it took us about an hour to get to Yeoman Park. (which isn’t even where the cave is located) The drive through the mountains to Yeoman Park was beautiful.

Aspens lined the dirt road and a large creek ran along with beaver dams scattered throughout. Once we discovered the snow was too deep we had to turn back because there was not access to the cave at this time. We declared to come back in the summer months once the snow has subsided.
We headed back down the winding road to eagle and beyond (Glenwood Springs). Upon arriving into Glenwood Springs we could see all the pools of steaming water (the hot springs) We bypassed them for the moment. We went over to the main street and strolled up and down like tourists looking for a place to eat. We ended up at an Italian restaurant called ( agh crap we forgot name) but lucky for them because the service was ungodly slow and the food was average, but oh well we were hungry. After this we headed out to our camp ground.

At the campground we hurriedly moved our gear from the back to the front seats as the rain started to fall. We made our bed which resembled a 2 person wide bunk bed with about 2 feet of clearance between the bed and roof of the car. We stayed up for a bit working on the blog and talking about tomorrow We Finally dosed off and awoke several times during the night because of the pounding rain or fierce winds.

In the morning we did our same routine again-  we moved gear into the back again and set off for the nearest coffee shop where we set up our operations to plan our days activities. After much discussion we finally decided to attempt Hubbard Cave about 13 miles away. Then we plan to visit some hot spring later tonight. Ok we are off– More later

Last night I spent a couple hours packing because I had been putting it off all week. I really don’t like packing… I stress myself out making sure I have enough stuff and end up overpacking! Anyways though, Ryan and I met up at 8:30 am to start getting stuff packed up. His 4Runner is literally packed to the max! We have four bikes, two sets of skis, four plastic boxes, around a thousand duffel bags and only one pair of socks…

As we were leaving my apartment we found a nice cardboard hobo sign on the ground in the middle of the road… Ryan insisted on picking it up and hanging it in the back passenger window. So now as we pass people on I-70 they will not only think we are on a road trip, but also homeless. The sign says: “Need Help to Feed Me – God Bless” We ran to Home Depot and Whole Foods. Ryan munched down on some maple pecan granola and Brown Cow yogurt. Food wise -  Friday I baked some vegan apple cinnamon mini muffins, banana bread and protein bars to have on hand for snacks. Spending money on gas station snacks add up fast, and they usually are pretty unhealthy!

We are heading to Copper to ski – in 60 degree weather – Ryan says it is comparable to skiing back home in California. After skiing we will go to Glenwood Springs for the night. This first day will be interesting as we figure out how we sleep and keep everything organized.