It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood

I love autumn in the mountains. This year has been especially vibrant. These photos don't do the landscape justice. But it is all I have.Sometimes I feel as if I live in the most beautiful place in the world.

Bike Rack Holley Style

Just trying to keep it simple...and organized. This is what we came up with to store our bikes.

Exposure Lights

We got hooked up with some Exposure Lights to demo for 24 Hours of Moab. (Thanks to Kevin Day!) Each person on the team ended up running one as our main source of light. These lights were awesome. I had the opportunity to try the MaXx-D Mk.4. I mounted it to my handle bars and it lit my way for each of my three night laps.

Exposure lights are light and compact. No wires stringing to batteries. So I did not have to struggle to find someplace on my small frame and minimal stem to mount a battery. That was so convenient.

I ran a secondary light (I think) on my helmet. But I could only tell it was on when I turned my head. The Maxx D drowned it out otherwise.

They do have longer charge times than my other lights. Because my lap times were a bit longer, I ran a piggy back battery that easily strapped to the light itself. I did not have any issues running out of battery, neither did Matt, Josh or Chris. If you are looking for new or a first set of light, be sure to give Exposure a long, hard look. They are pretty sweet.

St. George w/ the in-law family

This weekend was our annual trip with Chris' family. We hit up St. George again this year. Chris and I would sneak out for an early morning ride for a couple of hours. We would get back as they were getting done with breakfast. We would grab a quick bite and then be off for the day. We had an opportunity to ride:

• Stucki to Rim Runner and Barrel Roll (accompanied by Sabrosa Jon)
  
• Zen, Barrel Cacti, and the race course
• Prospector, Church Rocks, and High Grade

With the fam, we hiked Snow Canyon--

We also went for a ride. We hit the paved path and then took Chris' mom on some single track. She tore up the bottom of Bear Claw Poppy:

I lost a tooth!

Who loses a jockey wheel tooth? Apparently me. Seriously!

Notice the extra space between the chain and derailleur

Maybe the last 24 Hours of Moab

It took Chris and I a while to solidify our 24 Hours of Moab team. We finally convinced Josh and Matt to join us again. Chris and I headed down on Saturday morning. It was supposed to get cold Friday night and we are not really cold weather campers or people in general. While it was nice to sleep in our own bed, we were greeted with a snow storm not far up Spanish Fork Canyon. Nothing like winter driving conditions on Highway 6! The storm broke as we descended into Price. Then we hit more rain as we approached I-70 and it lasted through Moab to the event site. It continued to rain until 11 or so. And while the moisture stopped it never really warmed up. 

Snow on the La Sals in October

I found this year to difficult. The actual racing was not as hard as last year mainly because I got LOTS more rest between laps. The course was in great condition, but it was still challenging. First, it was cold at night. I actually dressed really well for each of my laps. And racing was comfortable. It was just hard to get ready mentally. I know boo-hoo. I am a big wimp what can I say. And since I am whining, I will continue. The other challenge was fueling. I have had to make recent changes to my diet. It is restrictive and forces me to be conscious of what I eat. I can no longer simply eat whatever sounds good as in years past. And much of what sounded good and was available, I could not eat.

Chris on his "hot" lap

 Chris started us off coming in first off the starting lap and laying down an impressive time, 1:01:47. Then Josh and Matt went out with solid times. My first lap was in the late afternoon. The legs took a while to come around and I ended up with a 1:15:35. I hoped for something better, but I always do. My next lap started my night rotations with a 1:20:45 and 1:23:44. Then I ended up with the chilly morning transition lap, 1:25:06. Finally the sun came out and it warmed up a bit. Matt came in at 10:45. I had every intention of just taking it easy and finishing. There was no reason to really push. I knew I could not get in with time to send Chris out. Then I started to feel really good and was having fun. I was soaking up the sun. My final lap was 1:18:05. This was faster than I expected it to be.

We ended up in 2^nd place on the day behind a crazy fast 4 Men Pro Honey Stingers team. They had a couple of guys throwing down sub hour times. But the vast majority of the time difference came from me.

Catching Up

It was Keith's birthday,

Shout Hooray!

We went riding today.

He is one year older and stronger goo.

Happy Birthday to you!

We rode a big loop up Provo Canyon in celebration of Keith's birthday on Saturday.

The Birthday boy atop the Loop.

Chris and Ty Mud Springs

Mud Springs

Ridge Trail

 

 

 

Ridge Trail

Last weekend we hiked to Emerald Lake. I did not mind the up so much. The down is painful though. I thought it would be great if we could get a helicopter to pick us up at the top. Chris had a better idea though. Zip lines! What if we could take zip lines down. 

A view of Deer Creek

Chris playing at Emerald Lake

Stewart Falls

 

 

 

Stewart Falls