Master Magis

Over the past few years (since we stayed at Great Wolf Lodge) the kids have periodically gone back to play MagiQuest, an interactive scavenger hunt game spread out along the main level of the hotel. We went back several times until both kids completed all of the quests and became Master Magis!  I bet each of them spent over 20 hours playing the game...not too mention the chunk of change we paid over this time for each of them to play.

Totally unrelated is the picture of Julia and one of the zucchinis from our garden. This is what happens when we forget to check for a few days. They grow fast. I thought it was a great picture of Julia so I wanted to include it. I can already see glimpses of her as an adult in this photo. 

2018 Courage Classic

The main focus of this weekend for me was the Courage Classic ride. To be honest, this was the first organized ride that I had done in my life. In addition, I had never ridden longer than 70 miles at one time. However, I knew that I was prepared from a training standpoint to do back to back days of 80 miles in the mountains.  Here are the statistics of the two days:

Day 1 - 80.16 miles, 6,112 feet of elevation gain, 4:45 ride time (also known as Copper Triangle)
Day 2 - 80.61 miles, 4,150 feet of elevation gain, 4:44 ride time

I rode the entire first day with Chris, who is pictured below. We rode well together, as I was a little faster on the downhills and flats and he was a little faster on the climbs. The route was well marked and organized, with lots of bathroom and food/drink stops. We rode from Copper Mountain to Leadville to Minturn to Vail back to Copper Mountain. After an initial climb most of the day was downhill or flat until we got to Vail. The climb up Vail pass was pretty hard after already riding 60 miles. All in all it was a great day, especially considering my fan following at the finish line. Because we started so early I was able to grab lunch (delicious pizza and beer) before the thousands of other cyclists arrived.

The second day was fun too, but not quite as scenic. There was more traffic and more bike trails on the route. However, the descent down Ute Pass and being able to ride around Dillon Reservoir were probably the highlights of the day. Chris and Mark (another guy from Compassion) rode together this day, since our 4th member had to pull out for health reasons. Better safe then sorry.

While I was riding the kids did things like face painting, design and color the welcome sign, and even made a blanket for someone saying at Children's Hospital. I wish I would have taken more photos along the way, but it's hard to stop to take photos. Thanks to others in the family I have the great pictures below. I can assure you that the route was very pretty even if I was more focused on things related to the ride.

The weekend was a huge success thanks in large part to my parents, Stacey, and Michelle. In a lot of ways this trip was about me, and they made it easier and better with their help in many different ways. Thanks all.  We had a great time and it was a great fundraiser for a great cause!

Copper Mountain

The entire family spent this weekend at Copper Mountain. Michelle even joined us from California for the festivities. I was up there to ride the Courage Classic with some guys from work, so we made it a longer weekend. We all stayed in a three story condo in Copper, which was the perfect location to base our playing and riding from.

We arrived on Thursday around dinner time and left Monday morning. That gave me Friday and Monday to prepare for the rides on the weekend and to also have some fun. The rest of the family had their own fun and rest while I was riding on the weekend.

My Dad and I went for a quick exploratory ride and were treated to an amazing sunset. In the village there was an American Ninja Warrior like obstacle course which the kids ran through a handful of times. On Monday Jonathan finally was able to scale the final ramp wall and grab on to the top and pull himself up. It took him dozens of attempts, and he eventually got it with a little ingenuity from Dad on how to best get the slippery dust off of the bottom of his shoes.

We all had a lot of fun riding the bumper boats and ended up getting into a water fight together and with the other kids on the pond. Jonathan is never afraid to mix it up. The kids had their faces painted a couple of times by an amazing artist that was doing it for free on behalf of Children's Hospital. At night there were fun options like s'mores around the fire.

Stacey and I really liked Copper. It is smaller and less touristy (i.e. busy) then nearby Breckenridge and Vail, but literally just down the road from both. We'd definitely go back again for a weekend away or family "playcation".

Soccer Camps

The kids both attended two soccer camps after we returned from Spokane. The first camp was with the local youth team, Pride. The second camp was run by our local professional team, The Switchbacks. They both had a lot of fun and are looking forward to playing a season of soccer this fall.

Mount Spokane

Today was the day I'd been waiting for all trip.  The Mount Spokane ride!  The roads were pretty much near perfect (it's a State Park) and there was very little traffic.  The climb up was about 15 miles and 4,000 feet and took about 90 minutes, but the descent was even better.  I had a lot of fun riding downhill for 30 minutes straight. This was easily the best overall ride of the trip, even if the weather wasn't great. I'd take cool and cloudy over sunny and hot any day of the week. I would be regularly riding this route if I lived in the area.

Greenbluff Cherries

Family Hike