St George Paradise

One of Adam's cool pictures on Zen
Jed before Bear Claw Poppy this pic makes me laugh
Bear Claw Poppy
Bear Claw Poppy
Me and my sweet team attire
Me on Zen, courtesy of Adam thanks!
This is a picture I got from Adam's blog epicriding.com. He took some really great pictures, they really captured the trip. Take a look at his blog and you will wish you would have been there soaking up the sun with the beautiful red rock in the background. This trip was the most fun I have had in a long time. KC had brought up the idea a few months ago to have everyone head down to St. George or Moab to celebrate her birthday. I thought that was an awesome idea. So I have been looking forward to it for quite a while. The week before I got a terrible cold, lost my voice and could NOT talk at all for 3 days. Then the kids got a fun stomach flu and we were up with them all night tuesday and wednesday. I was really starting to get discouraged and was sure our trip was ruined. But by some miracle, everyone seemed healthy enough on Thursday night, so Jed and I dropped the kids off to Grandma and Papa's house Friday morning. I still didn't feel super great on the way down, but was so excited to be going SOMEWHERE!!! I have been feeling a bit depressed about my foot injury and not being able to run, and feeling cooped up with winter caving in.
My Grandparents got us a room with their time share, which was nice. It is located right by the trails, you can literally ride right from the condo over to them. We pulled into town and headed straight to Bear Claw Poppy. I had never done this trail so I was really excited to get going. The funniest thing ever happened though. We were in the parking area and were getting our bikes ready, and a car pulls in with a pink bike on the rack. I looked over and thought, "hmmm a pink bike. That looks a lot like my old bike." Then I recognized the car too. Sure enough, that WAS my bike, the bike I just sold. I wanted to hide behind my car, because I thought it was a bit awkward. I was whispering, "Jed, that is my bike! What if she doesn't like it?" as I was cowering behind our minivan. He just thought I was so dumb. So we ended up riding with the couple that bought my bike for a while. It was pretty funny. I couldn't get over it, I mean WHAT are the odds? She seemed to like it fine, but she was having trouble with the pedals, she wasn't used to the crank bros. Anyways, Jed and I had a blast on the trail just winding all over, and feeling like kids in a biking playground. That night we went to dinner with Gayle and Paul and Wendy, and Tiff and her friends Emily and Jeff. That was the first time we met Paul, we really had fun with them. They are an awesome couple, they totally make me laugh and they are so welcoming and friendly, so easy to be with. We watched Race Across the Sky, about Leadville. I was totally motivated after watching that movie, I hadn't seen it before. It really made me want to get in to the race, but also very nervous if I do!
The next morning we met up with the very big group of riders by the race course. It was so cool to have so many people there. We started off with a lap on the race course. This was an almost spiritual experience for me (does that sound weird?) To explain, last year this race course was my first race of the year, and pretty much my first big race in general. I had never done an ICUP, only a few weekly race series. This was also my first time riding clipless, which was very scary for me. I remember Jed going out with me on a practice lap and I was crying. Everything looked so scary and intimidating, and I remember thinking every rock ledge looking GINORMOUS! I think I walked a lot of it. So this time, I was kinda expecting those same feelings. But right away, I started to realize those ledges weren't scary at all, I was able to ride everything, no problem. It was so weird, but so amazing and so much fun. I felt really empowered. It made me realize that I had learned a lot this past year racing, and have gained a lot more confidence riding. It really made me happy and I was having so much fun.
We then headed to Zen, another trail I hadn't done before. This trail was such a blast, I loved it. What a great trail. Just technical enough to push me, but nothing too crazy. I felt like I had tons of energy and I was really feeling good. I think it was just such a rush to see all these amazing riders in a big line on the single track. I absolutely loved it.
Then we headed to Barrell Cacti? There was some good climbing, and I was definitely feeling it. Jed was hauling all of my stuff (food etc) on his nice and heavy bike. Poor guy! He needs some serious calories, I need to figure out what to feed him, because he was running on empty. He decided he was done for the day, and headed back with Paul. KC encouraged me to keep going. I was really glad she did, because it was fun to see the trails and maximize on this precious biking time. I was getting pretty tired, my legs were really starting to burn. I was just trying to keep everyone in sight. I got a flat somewhere on the way to Stucki Springs, and I was worried since I was at the back of the pack. Luckily KC came back to find me, and we got back on our way. When we got to the parking lot for Barrell Roll I was pretty spent. I looked around for Jed's car and when I saw it wasn't there I was like oh great, I better just sit here in the parking lot and wait. I wanted to try Barrell Roll but it would have to be another day. Luckily Gayle was there to rescue me, she offered to drive me home, which I was grateful for. So nice of her, because she could have stuck around and rode some more. We chatted with Lynda and Dave for a bit, they are super nice.
Then we went back to Gayle and Paul's place and I took a nice hot shower (felt GREAT!) and then headed to town and bought the kids some candy at the soda shop. Then to dinner at Bajio with the team. What a great team. I really feel blessed to have joined the Mad Dog team. It has been such a great experience, I have met so many wonderful people that I feel will be lifelong friends. I also feel so blessed to have found mountain biking in my life. It is just the greatest, I can't think of many things that are more fun than that!