Family Camping Adventure

This summer we had a few goals as a family.  One of the goals was to go camping at least two times.  The first trip was down to the Sand Dunes at the start of the summer but the summer went by so quickly we almost didn't get our second trip in!  The first weekend after school started we decided to take off Friday evening and head up to one of our favorite free spots in the San Isabel National forest, just 45 minutes from our house.  We left town a little later than we would have liked so we didn't make it to the area until the sun was just going down.  It was a busy weekend for campers so all of the spots were we usually camped in the past were taken.  We continued to drive down South Hardscrabble and just before it turns into private land we saw a campsite, but it took some work to get there.  To get to the site you had to walk down into a gully, then cross a little stream, then bike back up the gully to camp.  It took us some time to ferry all of the gear over but right as it got too dark to see, camp was setup.  Timing also worked out great because just as camp was setup, the rain started.  And it didn't stop.  For almost 2 hours.  We stayed relatively dry in our huge 12 person tent.  The two oldest boys have graduated to our small 2 person tent and unfortunately they had water all over the floor of their tent.  We didn't do the greatest job of laying down the tarp, mostly because it hardly ever rains.  

 

The hike over to camp made it fun.  This was the first morning as we were drying everything out.

  So that night, the oldest boys spent most of the night just trying to stay on their dry sleeping pads and off of their wet floor.  Hanni and I realized around midnight that our air mattress had a leak, a big leak.  So by morning we were sleeping on the ground.  Which sounds comfortable, but it really wasn't.  We all woke the next morning to damp sleeping bags but we decided that as long as it was drying during the day, we would stay the second night.  We spent the morning hiking and exploring around camp.  The boys had a great time.  Then we headed over to Lake Isabel to meet up with Pete, one of guys I work with, and his family.  We all had a fun time walking up the stream which leads into the lake and exploring.  We packed a small lunch for us so we spent all day there until about 2pm.  As we were packing up to leave, the rain started, but nothing too hard.  

 

Exploring around camp.

 

Handsome explorers

 

Beautiful Lake Isabel.

Up river from the lake.

 

We got back to camp and decided that if our things were dry we would stay another night.  Miraculously everything was dry.  We had a tasty dinner which Hanni pre made at home, beef with broccoli and rice.  One of the best meals we have had while camping.  We built a fire and just enjoyed the time sitting around it and roasting marshmallows.  I brought up flint and steel and the boys had a great time trying to start a fire without matches.    

Back at dry camp.

 

Making fire!

 

S'mores!

By 6pm clouds were rolling and so we quickly braced ourselves for another storm.  We fixed the boys tarp so that water would not leak underneath and packed up everything in the tent.  The rain came at 615pm and it came hard!  By 715 we had numerous leaks in our large tent, with water dripping down like a water fall.  Nothing a little plastic bag catching it couldn't fix.  We decided that if the rain I didn't stop by 730 then we would pack up and head home.     Well the rain stopped right at 730.  We all were laying in our separate tents and we started to think about how this night would go.  I had tried to patch our mattress but was unsure if the patch would hold.  Our youngests' pack and play was completely soaked.  The older boys had a little water in their tent.  We said a prayer as a family and listened to what we should do.  It was unanimous that we should pack up and head home.  Everything was completely soaked and muddy and we were losing daylight fast.  We took down camp as quickly as I had ever seen us thanks to a lot of help from the boys and by 830pm we were on our way back home.  By 10pm all of the boys were in their own dry beds at home and our gear was drying in the back yard.  What a trip!   We learned a lot on this trip.  Here are a few of our learnings.  First, we need a better family size tent which is better at handling heavy rain.  As the boys get older we want to spend more and more time camping and staying dry even in a downpour is very important.  Second, we are done with the air mattress cycle.  You find a cheap one, it lasts a few trips, but inevitably fails while you are sleeping on it at night.  Since returning we have purchased a new sleeping pad system from Alps Mountaineering.  It's two extra large, extra long, self inflating pads.  When inflated they are 3 inches thick and you can remove or add air depending upon how firm you want to sleep.  These are made for car camping, not backpacking.  We are excited to try them out on our next adventure to Moab.  Gear review to come!      

Xterra Aspen Valley Race Report

The Aspen Valley Xterra triathlon is a race which I was looking forward to this year because I felt that I could improve on my times from last year.  I was excited as well because I was able to camp right next to the starting line.  This made the morning of the race very nice as I was able to sleep in and slowly prepare my transition area.  I slept great the night before and had my transition setup with plenty of time to relax and prepare mentally for the race.  With an hour to go I was all set and went for a nice jog to warm up. By 830am I was ready to go.  I put on my wetsuit and went down to the water to start to swim warm up, still feeling great.  The swim is in a lake specifically made for water skiing so that water is pretty shallow and murky, but very warm.  I really felt great on the swim.  It was one loop around the lake and I exited the water in 10th overall, really feeling good about the rest of the race.  The mountain bike course is very unique.  The entire course is on private land and the owner built their own mountain bike course with banked downhill corners and epic single track.  My race was two 6 mile loops.  The first loop I felt a little slow but as I came towards the end of the first quarter I was picking up the pace. At mile 5 or so a racer in front of me was climbing a steep part when their chain snapped and flipped off.  I asked her if she had everything she needed to fix it and she said that she did not and needed help. I figured I could help her out since others have helped me out in the past.  It's part of an unwritten code that racers help out other racers when possible.  I helped her shorten her chain and gave her a quick link (a cool part that allows you to connect a chain without a tool.  I always carry one on me for just this reason.  I helped her out and then we were both on our way With the first lap done I was ready to really crush the second lap.  Then at mile 8 I came around a corner and cut it too short and crashed, slashing my leg up pretty good.  With blood dripping down I continued, still feeling pretty good.  Then at mile 9ish I came around a corner and noticed a large rock in the trail.  My first instinct was to stop and move it out of the way but instead I went around the left of it, too close though because my rear derailleur slammed into the rock, proceeded to get ripped off and thrown into my spoked because of my forward momentum.  Not a good situation.  This had happened once before with my hard tail so I always carry a spare derailleur hangar.  I spent the next 25 minutes replacing the derailleur hangar and trying to get my derailleur to work but realized that it was much too bent up to be useful.  I then decided that since I only had 3 miles left I would just push my bike.  Not a good idea with lots of up and down sections.  So I stopped again, this time deciding to remove the derailleur completely, shorten my chain, and run single speed the rest of the way.  What I didn't have was a quick link since I gave mine to the other racer. Thankfully a different racer stopped and gave me one of her quick links and a better tool to shorten a chain.  Karma.  After another 20 minutes of work I was up and running.  At this point I had already lost 45 minutes which on a 2.5 hour race is pretty significant.     Thankfully the chain worked well, just a lot of work and more planning when you only have one speed to work with.  In the future I think it would be fun to have a single speed bike, just not in this type of situation when it was forced on me. I entered the transition area in pretty much last place.  So going into the run I just wanted to give it my all.  I did beat last years time on both the swim and the run, the bike was obviously much, much longer.  I learned a lot in this race though.  I learned that my will to never give up is stronger than the will to qualify for nationals or place on the podium.  This is the first time that I have ever encountered such major technical issues but I felt good that I was able to work through it and still finish.  Overall a great race experience despite the not so great result.  

Such a beautiful venue at Xterra Aspen Valley

 

 

This is what it looks like to convert a 20 speed mountain bike into a single speed on the fly.  You pick a ring on the front and a ring on the back and that's all you get!