Exploring on Columbus Day

Dave says: I think a new Welsh family tradition will be to go explore somewhere new on Columbus day. We rode from Park City through Brown's Canyon, past Echo Reservoir, up and over to East Canyon, and back to Jeremy Ranch. It was a 70 mile loop with the last 10 miles on a pretty little dirt road that a road bike can handle. This is a very low traffic loop and we were passed by probably a dozen cars in 4 hours. We also had a blustery tail wind that put us up near 30 mph for about two hours of the ride. Of course, the other two hours were right into the wind at 14 mph but what can you do.

Dave says: We did our last road race of the year up city creek canyon on Saturday. It was a pretty low key event with lots of recreational riders but Chase Pinkham was there and eager to shatter the course record. As a result, things went quick right from the gun. Chase finally got rid of me about a mile from the finish but it was still a good race for me. Alisha was fourth overall and the first girl and shattered her old course record by over a minute (22:59).

Today was perfect for a fall walk up around memory grove, the capital, and city creek. That's about it for the week except for a bunch of fun little things like seeing the new Harry Potter movie (now somewhat old and in the cheap theater), going to Costco (yum), hanging out at the Pie with friends from school (also yum), doing homework, working at the bank, etc.

A Bit of Cool Weather

Dave says: Alisha was out scraping her car windows today for the first time this year. It was General Conference weekend as well as the start of cyclocross season so we had plenty to do. On Saturday I raced 'cross at the Weber County Fairgrounds. The flat bar, single ring, ghetto tubeless bike setup is going to be great. However, I still am not very fast on and off the bike in jumping barriers. The atmosphere at a 'cross race is pretty sweet though as there are plenty of spectators and lots of excitement. On Sunday, we went for a rainy day hike up Emigration Canyon between sessions of conference and found some really pretty fall colors.

PCIM Team Pics

PCIM 2009: Nisie, Chantel, Tayler, Kelsey, Kirsten, Jillian, Alisha, Jenna (front)

Alisha says: Now that the season is over we finally got all the team together for this little photo shoot a couple of weeks ago. Talk about a bunch of fit women. We had a fun season full of lots of racing. Thanks to everyone on the team who helped me out. I learned a lot from everyone and loved having KK as our team leader in races to help with the tactics. Harvest Moon Crit was last weekend in Ogden and was the last race for points in the UCA series (There were only three of us). It was a great season as I won the women's overall and PCIM won the team competition. Go PCIM!!

At the beginning of this season, I never would have imagined all the incredible opportunities that I have had this year. I am so appreciative to the many people who helped me out: my great teammates, parents and other family members, Kelly, Michael, numerous neat and talented athletes I have been introduced to, and last but not least my super husband.

I have been blessed to have been able to work with the US Women's Cycling Development Program this year. They are a great resource for women just getting into the sport of cycling. I wrote an entry for their blog on Cycling News that was just published that talks about my transition to cycling. It sounds like I am betraying my running roots but don't worry, running will always hold a special place in my heart. http://www.cyclingnews.com/blogs/us-womens-development-program/shoelaces-to-wheels.

Vegas

Alisha says: This past weekend was great! I headed south to see family and race. I made the trip solo because Dave was doing a collegiate mtb race and had to do some major studying time. I rolled down I-15 with my favorite tunes blasting on Friday and spent part of the night at my parents. We were up before the crack of dawn and rolling down I-15 to be in the Vegas area by 7:00 am.

I raced the Mt. Charleston hillclimb, 17.5 miles 5,357 ft. elevation. A hillclimb in Vegas? Well, it's a ways outside but in the general area. I had a fantatsic race. I felt really good and finished in 1:29.08, seven minutes faster than last year. There weren't too many women, but I had fun racing the men. I was 13th overall (7th in Pro men, 2nd in Cat 3's) out of about 250.

Awards were absolutley ridiculous. I'm a fairly patient person but it took over 3 hours for them to put together results. By this time it looked like it was going to rain and so rather than post them and have the 15 min. protest time they just started anouncing them. Of course they did the women very last and then they announce first place and it wasn't me. Several people knew that I had won so we told them they were wrong and we had to get the officials involved who at first insisted that the results were correct. I knew what my time was so then we had to look at the footage and there I was with my number clearly visible. Somebody made the comment that they must have left me off because they didn't expect any women that early or they though I was a guy. By this time it is raining and everything is being packed up. I had to find another guy who pulled this humongous trophy out of a box and that was that.

My parents were quite the troupers to come with me and I was greatful for their company. My dad got home from work at 2:30 am and was back in the car to go with me at 4:45 am. I love hanging out with family. My mom sent me home with a back seat full of delicious garden produce.

Dave says: I did a bit of collegiate mtb racing this weekend at Utah State. Mitchell and I made the trip together and the U represented well. There's still not too many collegiate riders in Utah but it's nice to see the IMCCC conference coming together.

Nine Hours

Dave says: So I chose not to do Lotoja this year because ten hours on a bike seems about twice as long as I'd like. Nevertheless, Labor Day rolled around and we decided to do the Alpine Loop with Tyler, Norm, and Steph. It was a nine hour trip from SLC to Park City to Sundance over the top to American Fork and then up again over Suncrest and back (7:30 of actual ride time).

It turned out to be a fun time and I was quite impressed that we held a high tempo the entire ride. In fact, for awhile I was the weakest link after eating a footlong sub right before climbing Suncrest.

During the week we've enjoyed a bit of post-ride Vuelta coverage while eating dinner. Alisha has been watching the mountain stages closely and has been pulling out some fierce attacks on me during our weekly rides. I also managed to capture a rare photo of her on the mtb. We've been doing an occasional off road trek together for a bit of variety in addition to our regular diet of pavement.

Today we decided to brave a bit of questionable weather and made it all the way up emigration canyon before it started pouring. It was one of the worst rain storms I've been in on the bike but still probably a bit better than spending the afternoon on the trainer.

In other news, we have a new young men's president which is a big relief for the rest of us. Last week I ran all over the place during capture the flag (right after a good bike workout) and was shot for the next two days.

The Curse Continues. . . But Still A Fun Day

Alisha says: So for the third year in a row I have taken second at the Climber's Trophy race. The best part is that each year a different person has beat me (today it was Nicole). I was bummed that my time this year was slower than last year (even on the same course it is sometimes hard to compare times because the conditions can vary so much from year to year.)

This year it was a little cooler and there was a slight drizzle of rain. The race was time trial style and I was the first to go. It is good that I like to get to races plenty early because today I was almost there and realized that I had forgotten a key piece of equipment, my helmet, and had to drive back home to get it. I'm glad that the race didn't start too far out of town but it still stressed me out.

Dave says: I was the support crew again today. My form was way off in August but I am healthy again and trying to get back in shape for cyclocross. After the hill climb, we decided it was time to redeem some of Alisha's previous winnings. We went to Porcupine Grill (courtesy of the Porcupine hill climb) and then to Octoberfest at Snowbird where we rode the chairlift up to the top of the mountain (thanks to the Snowbird hill climb). We went on a fun little hike in the mountains and only got a little wet.

Then, tonight we went to our ward's centennial celebration where they removed a time capsule from the cornerstone of the church that had been there for exactly 100 years.