MTB State Championship: Cedar City

What a fun weekend for MC mountain bike team and also for us. Emily and Colby worked hard the whole season to get a chance to ride at Cedar City for the Mountain Bike State Championship. Emily was 31 overall in her division and she was stoked to make it to State. Colby was 2nd in his division and was also way excited to ride his Freshman year. 

It was a long drive down to Cedar as usual. Once we got there, we were all ready to get out of the truck. The weather was perfect for a good pre-ride. The trail was a lot of fun. There were some good technical spots that caught me off guard. There was also a large hill climb called Lucifer's Hill that was crazy. Colby said he thought it was easy.  I am glad that my bike stayed together and didn't malfunction. Once the pre-ride was done, we got back in the truck for the rest of the ride to St. George. This began one of the many times we made the trek from St. George to Cedar and back this weekend. 

The morning of the race came early because I needed to be to Cedar by 7:30 am. While I was at coaches' meetings, everyone else stayed in the truck and slept for a few more hours. Colby rode first in the Freshman B division. He was placed 2nd in our region so he was right up in front of the whole group of around 250 riders. It is fun to see him prepare for the race. He made game plans in his head and was super focused, then he put a smile on his face and said "I am going to podium!" What a kid. 

The race began and we all ran off to watch him in all parts of the track. I was just before the finish line by an awesome jump area. As I was watching, I was counting the riders. Once he came around he was in 13th place.  He needed a top ten finish in order to podium.  I yelled "Move it Colby you are in 13th!" He picked up the speed and off he went for lap 2. I went to the Coach Zone to wait for him to finish. When I saw him coming down the home stretch, he was neck and neck with another boy fighting for 10th place. Unfortunately, he finished less than one second behind 10th place. Man, he fought so hard. He was 10th place in my books when he came across the finish line. 11th overall at State is still amazing when you are looking at 250 riders in his group. A sad but funny story about Colby's race was when Colby was about 3/4 of the way done, probably a mile from the finish line, he passed Tiffany on the course. When Tiff saw him, she yelled, "Move it Colby you are in 11th place." Colby was about to pass the 10th place kid right at that moment but once the other kid heard Tiff yell, he turned it up and pushed harder which then made Colby's plan to pass much harder.  He had to push harder. At the end Tiff felt so bad for sabotaging his plan.  She was just cheering... It was such an awesome finish for him anyway. He gave his all that race. 

    Emily was also amazing in her ride. She was 31st in her JVB division. You could tell she was excited to ride. She told us that she was just going to ride and have a good time. I was excited to hear this from her. She had no nervousness when she got to the starting line. 

The funny story for her this race was her good luck ritual of putting a tattoo on her arm and cheek. The times she did not do this, her bike had issues or she wrecked. Well, in all the preparation for the race, she almost forgot her tattoos! Logan had to run back to the Pitzone and get one for her. By the time he got back to the start line, the towel was almost too dry to put on the tattoo. All was well though and off she went. 

I went to my normal spot and tried to see her. As she came around the first lap she had a bloody knee. As she rode passed the family cheering section near the finish line, everyone was wondering what had happened to her knee.  She still had her game face on though and kept going onto her 2nd lap. She did amazing and finished strong. If I remember right she was about midway in her group. 

I asked her about her knee and she told me she slid out twice. I was so proud of her because, in the past, this would have crushed her, but she took the high road, got back up, was strong, and had a blast. Good job Emily!! We took her back to the Pitzone to get cleaned up. While cleaning the road rash, we found out one of the Logan High girls in Emily's group also crashed and got some road rash. The trail was really getting churned up and slick!  

We spent the rest of the day just cheering for the other riders.  It was so low key and fun.  We got to cheer for Tyrel in the Senior Open division as he rode for fun.  One of the kids on our team was able to podium in the Senior Open division so that was amazing to see him finish out his mountain bike season on that high.

We took some fun pictures at the venue and each of the kids picked out a State hoodie to wear proudly.  This was a fun race and a great experience for each of the kids.  

A few weeks later, we had our Mountain Bike Banquet and the kids received some fun awards.

Colby and Emily were awarded Varsity Letter certificates for qualifying and participating at State.  Each rider was also awarded a specific award from the coaches.  Emily received the "Sunshine on a Bike" Award.  Colby got the "Upcoming Star Mechanic" award. Logan received the "Laser Beam Focused" award. 

It has been a fun mountain bike season but we are glad to be able to take a break for a while.  Good job everyone!

Fall Break

Fall Break was a fun weekend with the family just enjoying being outdoors. We stayed home during the break and did a little stay-cation and had a great time. 

On Thursday, we traveled up to Idaho to go to Lava Hot Springs.  As part of our Get Out Passes, we got to go to the hot pools at Lava Hot Springs for free. It was finally a good time go when the weather was just right. We got to Lava Hot Springs and had a quick lunch at the park before headed to the pools. 

There were multiple pools at the Hot Springs and each pool was a different temperature.  The pools are naturally heated through geothermal energy and they all felt good. The pools ranged from 102-112 degrees.  We tried each pool and finally decided the 102 and 105 degree pools were the best.  The others were just too hot.  We all felt like we were being cooked if we sat in them too long. You could only sit in for like 5 minutes and then had to get out. Brooklyn was telling us the whole time "It is hot Mom." We stayed in the cooler pool the majority of the time.  The pools did feel kind of relaxing though like a nice warm bath.  We just laid around and soaked for a while.  

After we were done, we took a stroll down the main drag and found an ice cream and candy shop. The ice cream scoops were square not round! We laughed at the fun old candy they had for sale. Eventually we got back on the road and headed to the American West Heritage Center for another fall activity. 

It has been a long standing tradition to go to the corn maze and try not to get lost. 

This years maze was difficult. It took us a bit to get out. We all had fun running around in the dark and getting lost. The only thing that went wrong was, Brooklyn and Logan got put in the stockade for going the wrong way during the corn maze.  Ha Ha!

Saturday was the Fall Harvest Festival at the American West Heritage Center so we all returned for more fall fun.

Emily and Colby were working in the concession stand during the Festival so they got to miss out on all of the fun activities Logan, Charlotte and Brooklyn got to do.  First we were able to milk the cow.  Logan was a pro because of his practice during the summer.  Charlotte wasn't sure about it but did give milking a try and did great.  Brooklyn was totally willing to pet the cow but did not want to try and milk her.  Next we headed to the cider press and were able to crush some apples as well as see how apple cider is made and pressed.  While at the farm site, they also got to shell some corn in the corn shelling machine and help the Center make feed for the chickens for the winter.  No trip to the AWHC is complete without multiple train rides and pony rides.  Brooklyn and Charlotte got the chance to ride the ponies. That is their favorite thing to do. Sadly Logan is too old and big to ride the ponies so he just got to watch with me.

When we were finished on the farm side, we moved over to the pioneer side for even more activities. Near the mountain man cabin, we were able to throw some tomahawks.  Logan is getting better at his hatchet throwing skills.  Charlotte also had fun with this activity.  I was able to throw the tomahawks as well and for the first time ever, I was able to get one to stick!  I know there is a trick to getting the tomahawks to stick in the target but I don't know what it is so I go off of luck.  I have taught the tomahawk rotation a few times and I can demonstrate the form correctly but making one stick is something I need to work on.  I was excited to finally be able to land a target.

Our next stop was the pioneer cabins where we were able to make corn husk dolls.  Each of the kids made a doll and they turned out so cute.  The girls have been playing with them for the past few days.  

The rest of the Fall Break weekend was spent relaxing and hanging out at home.  It was nice to have a break.