P2P Practice...

Brad was able to make a quick trip back up to Park City and ride the Point 2 Point course with friends, Justin and Jared..   They rode for about 13 hours and had a great time. The weather was beautiful and the trails perfect, Brad said it was like riding in the Garden of Eden....Thanks for the pictures Justin....

Park City 50

The finial item on our agenda for this trip was a bike race (surprise!!!!)  It was with the Utah State Championship Series and called the Park City 50.   50 miles in the mountains above Park City with 10,000 feet of climbing and ended at The Canyons Resort.   I will now turn the computer over to Brad so he can post all about it.....

Ready to Go

Brandon, Brad and Justin ready to go....



ready, set, go

I went into the PC50 bike race with a bit of of nervousness, having the last 50 mile race in Big Bear California kind of kicking my butt. This race had about 8,000 feet of climbing as well as being held at 7,000 to 9,000 feet in elevation so that always is something to respect.
But like with all my endurance events it is the difficulty that is it's allure to participate in the event, and again to help me prepare for P2P race coming up in September.
We headed up the mountain at 7:00am sharp, 300 hundred of us. I just started to use a heart rate monitor in my events to help myself pace my effort throughout the day. My target rate was 155 and my goal was to keep it under 160 through the first half of the race...it's a tough thing to do as other riders are riding away from you in the first part of the event, but I stuck to my plan.
There were 6,000 feet of climbing in the first half of the race so I knew if I could get through that and feel okay I would turn it up a bit for the second half.
So that is what I did, probably for the first time, I stayed with the plan and watched the computer on the bike and rode within the target numbers and can I say it went fantastic.
When I got to the aid station at the top of the mountain at mile 23 I really was feeling pretty darn good and then I thought this is where I turn it up but we kept climbing and climbing, and just when I was hitting a wall a bit we started the long downhill to connect to Mid-Mountain trail and over to the canyon resort where we finished the race, this is a trail that I'm very familiar with...but again I was feeling good and I was trying to keep my pace as strong as possible knowing we had about 20 miles left along with a tough section called the re-route. I got with a guy I think his name was Rich, he was wearing a Bike Fix kit and we rode the next 10 miles or so together and I was grateful for the companionship and the pace he kept, we parted ways at the mile 40 aid station. He stopped a drink a coke and I just wanted to get finished...so I rode the last 10 miles basically by myself, I was grateful that Bob let us go on down the canyon with out any nasty uphill surprises like they did to us in the P2P race...So I came down the canyon seeing the finish line and of course my faithful wife Lolly who volunteered at the event, my time was 5:43 and 7th place in my class...But the main thing I took away from this event is that I love Park City trails and that pacing yourself with a heart rate monitor helps in these long endurance events..It was a wonderful week with friends and family to in Utah! Missed my David...

Brad at finish line

Park City, Oh Yeah!!!!!

We were able to spend 4 days up in Park City this summer (we will be back for Labor Day) and enjoyed every minute...Brad and I have decided that we need to figure out how we can live in Park City for June, July and August and then Vegas the rest of the year...With all of the snow fall this year they had a late spring and due to that everything was just so green and fresh.   We enjoyed dinner out for Sammi's 24th Birthday and a great hike on the Mid Mountain Trail and of course on Saturday, Brad had a 50 mile bike race.  It was such a wonderful escape for us and great to spend time with Sammi, Jane and Julie.   Thanks to Stan for use of his wonderful Condo in Deer Valley. 

Sammi and Brad on Sammi's 24th Birthday...

Jane and Brad

Jane and Brad

Julie and Brad

Sammi and Lolly

We had a fun dinner for our Sammi's 24th Birthday...She is an amazing Young Woman..

Brad and Lolly

Brad, Lolly and Sammi

Brad, Jane, Sammi and Lolly

Brad and Jane

Our Brady Bunch Shot  

Friday Morning we went for a beautiful hike along the Mid Mountain Trail.....It was wonderfully green and peaceful...

Jane at 13...

Lolly

Sammi and Julie

Jane on the Mid Mountain Trail

Lolly (shot taken by Jane)

Hiking up to Mt Timpanogos Cave

On Sammi's 24th Birthday, we hiked up to the Mt Timpanogos cave and did the tour.  It is a great hike up a little over 1000 ft in 1 1/2 miles, then 1/2 mile through the cave and then 1 1/2 miles down.   Sammi great friend Julie was here for Sam's birthday and so the 6 of us girls, Sammi, Julie, KK, Brookie, Jane and myself, with our water bottles, light jackets and almost awake, headed up the mountain.   We left the bottom at about 7:40am made it up in an hour and were done by 10:30am.  It was a great morning and saw some beautiful wonders of nature.

The Start, 7:40am

Highland below..

KK and Jane

Just to prove I was there also....

Almost there....

At the top waiting for tour.

Inside the caves you really see some amazing things.  It is dark and narrow and you are not allowed to touch anything, but it is really fun and so worth seeing.

Really narrow inside...kk is a small girl...

Mountain Goats on the trail

After the hike we went over to check out the American Fork River.  With the snow fall this year in Utah being about 300% over normal, the rivers are really high and fast and they are asking people not to get in them....

Summer fun in Utah...

Well we have been having a wonderful time in Utah visiting family and friends....We started in Grantsville with a baby blessing on Sunday and then a fun filled 4th of July.   We were able to celebrate Sammi and Brads Birthdays with Brads family and then off to spend a couple of days in our old stomping grounds of Highland Utah.  Our Niece Jane is here visiting from Seattle.  She has been staying with the sweet Strickland family, but tomorrow we are heading up to Park City for 4 days of fun.  

Flowers at South Willow Canyon

Fields of flowers 

Beautiful Flowers in South Willow Canyon

South Willow Canyon July 4th, 2011

Our first Morning in Grantsville, Brad took a ride up South Willow Canyon on his bike.  The river had been really high due to the large snow fall this year and the road was closed to cars, but Brad said it was not to bad and the the green fields and beautiful flowers were amazing....

Jane Overmars....

Sammi and Jane waiting for the candy

cool cars in the parade

Jane got a bouncy ball

Jane lost her bouncy ball

Old Fire Truck

Jane got a 4th of July lei

Adam, Seth and Skyler Hart

Sammi trying to feed the sheep

Jane and the Moose the horse

That horse loved Jane's Hair...

Jane....

Brad and Lolly

Jane

Brad playing the ball toss...He and Allen beat all of us over and over again. 

Miriam and Randy

Frankie Sneed

Birthday Cupcakes for Brad's 50th and Sammi's 24th Birthdays.

Birthday boy and girl 

Sammi and Grandma Janet

Sandy and I went and watched the fireworks at the Grantsville city park...

After our time in Grantsville, we went out to Highland and were met with a huge thunder storm...lots of rain and thunder and lighting....

Thunder storm in Highland, UT 

Look at those dark clouds....

We also enjoyed out time with the Thomas Family.   Their kids are so fun and we just love spending time with them....

Lolly with her Mega Lolly and Izzie with her Izze

Izzie Thomas

Brookie Thomas

Max Thomas

Izzie Thomas with her princess umbrella