​After finding out that our XTERRA Beaver Creek race was cancelled, Mike and I decided to keep running and biking but to just have fun doing it. I spent a good deal of this month running and biking on a new trail in our area called the Pineries Open Space. The 8.4-mile loop proved to be a great trail. I also spent some time running with Caryn and Dionne at Ute Valley Park, did speed work on the Santa Fe trail and some climbing on the Ute Pass Trail. I divided my biking between mountain biking and road biking and just had fun with it all. I pushed myself to new PRs which was awesome. I may not have been able to officially race this month, but I still pushed myself to achieve new goals

​On Friday, we got up and road our mountain bikes uphill and took the village connector trail all the way through Beaver Creek. It was a bit of a beast to start climbing right away up the mountain, but once on the main trail, it was pretty spectacular. The views, the flower, and the flowy single track were pretty great. The downhill was fun as well. We had lunch down by the Westin in Avon, and then took the bus back up to the hotel. It was a beautiful day with great weather. The best part of the day, of course, was getting massages at the spa. The Spa at the Park Hyatt is one of the best we have ever been to. It’s just great and never disappoints.  

One of the fun things about being around Sara’s parents is their love for biking. It’s great to have grandparents who are active and want to go out and do things. There are lots of great trails by their house like the Murdock trail, the Provo Canyon River Trail, and then long loops through the mountains to make sure that your legs will be burning and your lungs weeping. Sara, Franz, and Mike did the Alpine loop, which is a stunning, beautiful climb around Mount Timpanogos. The trees and scenery are stunning. Sara flew up the climb and proved that she is still Queen of the Mountain. Coming down, Franz went so fast it was a little unnerving to try to keep up. That man has no fear. It was a great ride. Another great ride we did with all the kids was biking up the Provo River trail to Vivian Park. It’s a great ride and just a beautiful river with great scenery. The kids did great. At the top of the trail, there was a park for Madeline to play at with her siblings. The best part, of course, was that the way back was all downhill. Downhill makes for happy kids. 

​Packing and hauling bikes for seven people cross country is quite a chore, but bike rides like this make it all worth it. Right off the Interstate is a bike path that follows the river as it courses through Glenwood Canyon. The roaring water and the towering rock walls are spectacular. There are parts of the canyon that are only accessible by the trail, so It’s worth the ride. Of course, sometimes even the best laid plans have their hiccups. The plan was to start at the top of the canyon and bike downhill to Glenwood Springs.  Instead, we started about half way down and biked up and then all the way back down. Of course, to do this, we had to leave a car in Glenwood and one in the Canyon. While in Glenwood, renting the Burley for Madeline to ride in, Peter somehow knocked the stem off his tire, thus creating an unfixable flat.  Fortunately, after Mike used some choice words, they found a bike store and got a new tire put on. It only delayed things by about 30 minutes, so not the end of the world. Once the gang was all back together, we headed up the Canyon. It was breathtaking, both visually and physically. It’s hard to pedal uphill with kids in tow! When we got to Hanging Lake, we saw a marmot just hanging out by the trail. We turned around at Hanging Lake and headed downhill to Glenwood Springs. Of course, it wasn’t totally downhill. In fact, there were some big ups, and it was super sunny and hot. There were some grumpy comments, but once we made it to the bridge over the interstate, it was pretty easy. We ended up at a park down by the river in the shade with ice cream.

​Since our race at XTERRA Beaver Creek was still a go in June, Mike and I spent a lot of time working hard and putting in the time to bike, swim and run. We often had to double up 2-3 days a week in order to fit it all in but we both enjoyed being able to bike and swim together. Some of our favorite rides this month were biking at Rampart Reservoir and Staunton State Park. We even fit in some Red Rock rides and some road biking on the Cottonwood Creek trail and up into Cordera and Wolf Ranch. We felt blessed to be able to swim at Flying Horse 2-3 days a week and really enjoyed our mornings swimming together. The only thing we didn’t do together was run. I ran mostly with Dionne and Caryn and we followed many of the Striders workouts. I ran at Garden of the Gods, Barr Trail, Bear Creek Park, High Drive, and Black Forest Section 16. I didn’t get in as many runs as I would have liked since my foot was still healing but I got in enough hard runs keep up my endurance. It was a really great month of training!
 

​Our first day at Steamboat Springs was spent on a family bike ride with the kids along the Spring Creek trail. We rented a Burley trailer for Madeline and attached it to Andrew’s bike and headed out on a fun adventure together. We biked along the most beautiful trail that rang along the Yampa River. It wasn’t a very long trail all the way to the end from where we started but no one was complaining about that. After making it to the end we turned around and ate lunch at a park along the trail. Madeline was super happy to get out and play on the playground. We ate lunch and relaxed for a little bit before heading back on our bikes down the trail. On the way back we saw that the Alpine Slides were open, so we stopped and bought tickets. Each of the kids got to do 2 rounds on the slides and Mike and I each took a turn with Madeline on the slide while the other one kept an eye on the bikes. I wasn’t sure if Madeline would like the slide or be afraid of it, so I was pleasantly surprised when she screamed in excitement all the way down. I personally loved it too and enjoyed the beautiful views on the way down.
 
After getting back on the bikes, we rode along the trail but stopped briefly to check out the botanical garden we saw at the beginning of our ride. We parked our bikes and put on our masks and entered the Yampa River Botanic Park. We did a big loop around the park, just enjoying the pretty flowers and beautiful landscape and fun paths in the wooded areas. Then it was back on the bikes to finish out our biking adventure. When we got back to the hotel, we got on our swimsuits and headed to the pool for our reservation pool time. We were a little sad that the hot tubs were closed but the kids still had a blast swimming in the pool and fooling around together. The older kids took turns playing with Madeline which was nice. The pool was a great way to cool off after finishing our ride with the kids.

​Mike and I decided to head up to Staunton State Park for a new adventure ride. We left early in the morning and arrived at the State Park in good spirits. It was a little cool when we left but the initial climbing at the beginning of the course helped warm us up quickly. We rode a big clockwise loop starting with the Staunton Ranch Trail. This steady uphill climb was mostly a rather wide single track. The trail was incredible with amazing views. This trail eventually dumped us onto a service road that took us up a short distance until we met up with the 4-way intersection. We took a left and headed on the Marmot Passage Trail. This was a pretty spectacular section of the loop. It was a steady uphill climb for almost a mile that brought us to the top of a beautiful lookout that overlooks Lion’s Head. The top was mostly a rocky section and I was having so much fun navigating the rocky section that I didn’t even stop at the top to see the views. The rocky descent was super fun and reminded me a little of biking Slick Rock in Moab. Once at the bottom of this little section, we decided against doing the Chimney Rock and West Meadow Trail and instead bypassed this section altogether by riding up the Bulging Elk Trail that looped back around and took us back to the 4-way intersection. This time we headed on the Border Line Trail and put our bodies to the test on the hardest climb in the park. We climbed for about 1.2 miles. It was grueling at times but definitely doable. We made the short trek up to the overlook and took that as a much-needed break. The views were something else! As we continued to descend, we headed onto the Mason Creek trail and just loved biking through the Aspens and other tree sections. We were diverted to the Bear Paw Trail for part of it as a short section of the Mason Creek Trail was closed for rejuvenation. There was another great overlook at the top before the super fun descent all the way to the bottom. This was probably the coolest ride we’ve done in Colorado by far. It was such a beautiful place to bike and only an hour away from our house. We will definitely be coming back here to bike, hike and camp!
 

​The last time we biked Rampart Reservoir was almost 6 years ago. We decided to ride it again, now with more experience on the mountain bike. We decided to go counterclockwise, although part way Mike informed me that this direction was much harder than the clockwise loop. Great. We were already too far into the course to turn around and go the other direction. The first few miles were tough with many impassable sections. It felt like we were off the bike too much. The saving grace on the first section were the incredible view. I guess that is really why people keep coming back to bike this place. The course isn’t always rideable but the parts that are can be really fun and the views on a sunny day are pretty amazing. We finished the 11.57-mile loop in 2 hours and 10 minutes and then headed to Rudy’s for some yummy BBQ.

​With our XTERRA Beaver Creek triathlon only two months away and still scheduled to happen both Mike and I spent a great deal of time this month getting in our biking, swimming, and running. Luckily Flying Horse opened up their swim lanes by reservation only on May 11th. We swam three days, biked twice and ran 3-4 times every week. We had fun swimming together and biking at Red Rocks, Stratton Open Space, Black Forest Section 16 and the occasional road bike on the Cottonwood Creek Trail. It has been nice to have a race to work towards, even though in the back of our minds we know at any time it could be cancelled. What’s even better is that we have been able to train together. I’m so glad Mike and I like doing the same things! 

​This was a great month for biking and running. The weather was warm pretty much most of the month with several days of wearing shorts and short sleeved shirts. I mostly ran with Dionne this month at Black Forest Section 16, Manitou Springs, and along the Santa Fe trail. Peter and Emma continued to run together, mostly at Fox Run Park. There was lots of biking by everyone. Abby and Emma both went out to Wolf Lake with Mike, Peter and Andrew explored mountain biking at Fox Run Park, Mike and I rode Red Rocks, Mike, Peter, Emma and I all rode at Fox Run Park, and Emma did 7.75 miles with me around Black Forest Section 16 where she had her first crash. Luckily it was just scrapes from road rash. She went down one of the hills too fast and hit some gravel and slid out. I told her that I fell many times my first year of riding. I was always sporting cuts and bruises. I was so proud of her for getting the courage to get back on her bike and finish the loop. Being able to be outside exercising has made a world of different in how we have felt about ourselves this month of quarantine. We continue to pray for good weather so we can keep up the exercise!

It was a crazy month of exercise. The first half of the month was business and usual and I spent most of my time running with Dionne and Caryn and mountain biking with Mike. When I ran with Dionne and Caryn, we tried to follow social distancing as best we could and there were only air hugs when we greeted each other. Although we had several warm days this month, there were still some cold weather days. On those days, I bundled up ran in the snow. After everything started to shut down from COVID19 I knew how much more important it would be to keep exercising and for my kids to keep exercising. I took Emma and Peter to the running store, before it closed, and grabbed them some new running shoes for the season. Peter switched from swimming to running and started training with Emma. Those two spent many of their runs at Fox Run Park or Section 16 in Black Forest. Mike and I even joined them at Section 16 during one of their runs. Mike and I biked while those two fast knuckle heads ran the loop. Abby spent most of her exercise time either running around the neighborhood loop or doing some strength exercises at home. The only way to get through a crazy time is to stay active and healthy!

I really do think there is nothing quite like doing something fun with your spouse.  Mike and I both love many of the same things.  One of the things we love to do that is easy and pretty accessible from home is biking together.  We have really tried to take advantage of this great weather to be outside together.  We decided to head out on our road bikes to bike from our house all the way to Costco via the Cottonwood Creek trail and the Santa Fe trail.  The only major roads we had to cross were Briargate and Union Blvd.  We road Royal Pine from our house across Briargate and once we popped out onto Austin Bluffs, we got right onto the wide sidewalk which turned into the trail at Woodmen.  We biked all the way through the new section (which is AWESOME) and stopped at the Crit Café at the Criterium bike store.  It was so amazing to sit outside on the patio sharing a burger together.  I couldn’t think of anywhere I would rather be than spending quality time with Mike.  Thank you, Mike, for lighting up my life with adventure and your amazing presence.  

​I have loved spending so much time with Dionne biking and running this month. We have both been running and biking a ton trying to get ready for XTERRA Lory. Some of my favorites rides we did were at Red Rocks. After the long climbs we would enjoy the meadows up at the top and stop and just enjoy the view together. We also spent a good deal of time running up Barr Trail and did a few open water swims together. There is nothing quite like being with Dionne. She is the kindest and most patient person I know. I’m so glad that we are friends.