{brett, whitney, lincoln & griffin}: May 2009

Monday, May 25, 2009

The Iron Horse...and a sore neck!

Well, it's safe to say that we are back in Provo and I am thankfully alive!! On Friday, my dad, younger brothers, Brett and me traveled down to Durango, Colorado for something road bikers refer to as "The Iron Horse Bicycle Race". For those that don't know what this race is it is a 50 mile race that travels up 6,600 vertical feet. It has flat ground, downhills, and 3 rather large hills to climb. When we got there we spent some time with some of my relatives that live there. We went down main street and looked through the shops and of course, went to the Mountain Bike Specialists store for some needed gear. It was a pretty rainy day but luckily wasn't snowing. My Uncle Robert is some sort of an expert on the race so he prepped us for what we were getting ourselves into. Josh, my dad and I did the race. This year was tricky because the race completely filled up before the race so we weren't able to be registered racers. So, we woke up at 5 a.m. and left my uncles home at 6 a.m., while the rest of the riders started at 8 a.m. Brett drove my dads car and my uncle in his car. We started the race and Brett and Robert would make stops every couple miles or so just in case we needed more water or food. The race was going great until we hit a hill called Colebank. It is an uphill that is 7 miles long with one little area that is flatter than the rest. My dad stayed with me and Josh raced ahead to get a new PR for the race. Josh and my dad had done it before so my dad was just staying with me which helped me alot! I never thought that we would get up Colebank but we finally did. We had some downhill after that before we hit the next big hill called Molass. When we first saw Molass I had to pull over and get a good cry in. I was so tired and was so sick of biking. Although it looked bad Molass wasn't as bad as Colebank and amazingly enough we make it up to the top. The downhill was again very welcome as we came down the mountain. It felt so good to see the small town of Silverton as we came down those mountain passes. Well, we made it to Silverton!! It felt so, so amazing to finish that race! Robert, Brett, Trevor and Josh were there waiting as we got in. I honestly couldn't believe I had finished. I don't think I will ever do it again, but....we'll see. Thanks dad for staying with me the whole time and cheering me on like you did!! I love you so much.

1. I'm alive.
2. My dad is amazing.

3. Today is Memorial Day! No school or work.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Timpanogos Cave

The Explorers

At the top!!

Brett was very interested :)

Yesterday Brett and I took decided we would do some things that have been on our "to do" list for a while. We set out at noon and went to the Timpanogos Caves. Neither of us could remember the last time we were there so we wanted to hike it again. We got our tickets and hike the mile and half up to the caves. It was perfect weather and so fun to have a Saturday out. We arrived at the top and shortly after got to go inside the cave for our designated tour time. It was interesting. It was our tour guides second day on the job and he was surprisingly very knowledgable about the caves. We were both surprised as to the size and length of the caves. Thankfully we made it out alive and got safely back down to the base. We got in the car rather tired from our four hour excursion and went down to Cabelas. We pass it every time we go home and have always wondered what it was like inside. Well, it's huge and definitely a hunters paradise. We didn't stay long cause we were exchausted. On the way home we stopped and got Five Guys Hamburgers because of all the "raving" we hear about it. It was really good and we were impressed. So, the day was successful. We definitely were excited to see the caves, the store, and try out Five Guys. Other than that we are just working, Brett's in school, and my sister Holly and her family comes in today for the week. Yeah!!