I had so much fun on the Flatten the Curve Virtual Race that I decided to continue with the series and participate in the second race of the series, Forget the Couch. This time though, I signed up for the biking portion of the race not running. I also convinced Russell to do the race with me. I am excited to finally try out my new road bike and Russell is excited to teach me all he knows.
We did our first ride on June 1st. We rode out to Paradise and back for a total of 17 miles. Let me tell you, biking is much easier than running! But it does take your butt a little getting used to.
During June, we took a little vacation to St. George so of course we brought our bikes to continue with this challenge. St. George is a perfect place to road bike because there are so many bike trails that go through out the city. We went on about every trail in the city and biked about 135 miles this week
One awesome ride we went on while in St. George was through Snow Canyon State Park.
We did a 50k
on the bike this day through Snow Canyon, Tuachan, Ivins, and more. The views through Snow Canyon were amazing but let's just say
the climb up Snow Canyon was a killer! Sadly we both got passed by a 75 year old guy
on his bike. The ride back down through the park was so thrilling though! I think we got to speeds close to 35 mph!
The next day we decided to ride to another state. We rode from Washington to Arizona! This was an interesting ride. First we had to convert our road bikes into mountain bikes and go on some dirt roads, then we got lost somewhere in Little Valley (thanks Siri) and finally made it back home to complete another 50k. Good times!
On another day, we got together with my cousin, Shawna, and went on a ride with her. We
rode around the whole city this day. It was a nice loop but pretty hilly. Shawna showed us some new trails too. It was pretty fun until we had to climb Hell Hole hill at the end...
No one becomes an official biker until they get a flat tire.
When we got back home from St. George, Russell and I got up early one day to head out on a ride. We had high hopes to get some good miles in but unfortunately it was cut short at mile 4 by a lovely flat tire. I hit a rock and totally slashed my tire. Unfortunately, all three of our spare tires were bad so we selected the one with the slowest leak and gimped it all the way back home. Now I have to get a whole new tire and a few extra tubes, not to mention all of the gear to change a flat because I don't have any of that stuff. Thankfully Russell was with me because he was able to use his gear to fix the tire. The next day I changed out my tire and tube. Who knew I would ever have to use my childhood bike tire changing skills as an adult! Go me! So instead of riding, we went back home and picked up Emily for a short morning run instead.
Well we did it! We made it to 200 miles in June. Actually we ended the month with 315 biking miles! We finished the month with a ride through Paradise, Mt. Sterling, and other surrounding areas. We were riding pretty quickly because we were trying to beat a storm. Luckily the rain held off until we got home.
This is why you should always wear a helmet while riding your bike. My helmet saved me from a massive bird poop!
A few days after the end of the month, we received our Forget the Couch medals and swag!
This was a great challenge for us and we were able to do amazing things to push ourselves! At the beginning of the month, Russell told me he could ride at my pace forever. Well by the end of the month, he was complaining that I was a slave driver forcing him to do more miles! Ha!
During this month, we were able to bike 315 miles which enabled us to place in our age divisions! I earned first place in my age group earning me the Champion pin. Russell was able to get second place in his age group! We were super excited about our results. Now on to a new challenge and a new month of riding!
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