Lance Armstrong Foundation Ride in Moab

Amy , Cam and I had a great weekend in Moab for the Skinny Tire Festival benefiting the Lance Armstrong Foundation. I have a bunch of pictures to share but they were taken from my phone and some while riding my bike so I apologize for the poor quality.

We loaded up the car with 3 bikes, Camden's trailer, a playpen for him to sleep in and all of our gear on Friday and got on the road about 2:30 to beat the traffic. The new "grocery getter" wagon proved it was plenty roomy for all our gear. Friday night we had dinner in Moab and Camden was the hit of the night, showing off some of his many talents. Check out the pic of him sticking his spoon to his nose:

Saturday morning started early for me as the mass start for the century ride (104 miles) was at 8 am. It was cloudy and about fifty degrees and the weather man said there was a "chance" of rain. Well the down pour that started about 5 miles in the ride finally let up after about 3000 ft of climbing into the mountains - there it turned to snow! It was coming down sideways and packing my ear full of snow. I was part of the lead group of about 12 riders out of about 1000 that made it to the top. As I headed back down with 2 other guys the ride officials were coming up and turning people back due to the weather and not letting them finish the climb. I came down about 2000 feet and had to stop at an aid station to warm up. Everyone kept commenting that my shivering and purple lips were a sure sign of hypothermia, but I was able to do enough jumping jacks to get the feeling back in my toes and head down the rest of the way. Once back down to the canyon along the Colorado River the temps warmed up, the rain stopped and I was dry after fighting the wind back to the finish. Below are a couple of pictures I took while biking that morning. One shot is of the snow starting to land on my arm and handle bars. It was after this picture that I pretty much lost any motor skills in my hands and was not able to handle the phone to take any more pictures:

The rest of Saturday afternoon and Sunday was perfect weather. The sun was out and it was about 65-70 degrees. We took Cam for a short hike in the afternoon but he and Amy were pretty worn out from a morning of playing in the pool while I was riding. Camden was more interested in every rock and stick he could find along the trail than the beautiful scenery all around him. (I'll have to post the pictures from our hike on a later post) Cam really tested his hiking abilities and walking on some uneven, rocky surfaces but he did very well.

Sunday morning we got up early and loaded everyone onto the bikes/trailer and went into town for a latte' at one of the small cafes there. The ride on Sunday was a relaxing 30 miler that went along the CO River down stream by some awesome red rock cliffs. There were only about 30 people in this ride and Amy was a little nervous as she had never ridden in a big group like this. She did great and stayed in right behind Camden and I in the front 1/4 of the pack. We were able to tuck in behind some of the pro riders and let them block the wind from slowing Camden and I with the trailer. It was sunny and just the right temperature. The sky was a deep, dark blue behind the red rock cliffs. Moab is one of the most beautiful places in this country and I recommend to anyone reading this to put it on you top 10 places you have to visit before you die! Below are a few more pics from Sunday. Check out Amy riding in the group behind me. She's on the left in the first picture.

Here is another pic of Cam where he is trying to be like Daddy:


Overall we had a great weekend in Moab. I'll be back down there next weekend for the 24 Hours of Moab Race. Cam and Amy won't be making this trip with me but I will have some pics from the race next week. Keith (my brother) is doing it with me again this year with John and Erika who also raced with me last year. I'm looking forward to it but have now caught a cold (probably from biking in a snow storm) so hopefully I can shake it before this Friday.

Amy and I feel so lucky to have such a great boy who loves to go on our adventures with us! Everywhere we go people tell us how he is the cutest boy they've ever seen! He has such a great and playful disposition that makes him the life of the party no matter where we are!