UTAH

So I’ve got to get the blog update out after a full week of vacation. We went to SLC to visit Ade’s family and through in a bike race at Deer Valley. It was nice to have a week off work, but it certainly was a busy week. Left Denver on Monday afternoon and rolled into SLC around 8:00 Monday night. Tuesday was a full day for the 4th with brunch and hanging out at Snowbird on tap. Shay and I swam for awhile at Snowbird, then when we were about to embark on other adventures the rains came. We ended up hanging out in our room for a couple of hours.

Shay quickly found a new friend, Ade’s cousin Evan. It was pretty funny to watch them together, two redheads with abundant energy. Evan is about 14 and was awesome with Shay the entire time. It seemed Shay found out what he/who he wants to be like when he gets older. Evan even rode down the mountain with us, sitting next to Shay and listening to his gibberish. Those two interacting was the best entertainment throughout the trip.

Later we started lighting fireworks at Evan’s house. Shay has never seen fireworks so he was pretty intrigued in the whole thing. We ended up buying a bunch more and taking them back to grandma L’s to light. Shay wouldn’t let us light all of them because the cops stopped by and said some were illegal. Not sure how Shay decided which of ours was illegal, but somehow he did.

On Thursday we went to an amusement park. Ade had a blast, Shay spent most of his time scared and I went on a roller-coaster once. Shay started crying on a log ride (water ride) because he got wet. Sometimes he is over dramatic.

On Saturday I threw down in the NORBA National Series race at Deer Valley. After pre-riding the course on Wednesday I decided to upgrade to Expert for the race. Nothing like jumping into the deep end for a first race as an Expert. The speed was way faster than a Sport race, especially on the climbs. I quickly realized if I was going to have a chance to finish I needed to ride at my own pace i.e. at the back. I fairly well got my ass kicked in the race. It has been awhile since I’ve ridden at the back end of a race so it was a little tough, but I’m excited for the move up and the work it’s going to take to be competitive in Expert. We’ll see how it goes but clearly more speed is needed.