I am so far behind in my blog that I have to go back to March and tell you about my Adventure Race in Moab! I was invited to join a team of 3 men (I thought they were women when I accepted the invitation!) to do a 7 hour adventure race! It was an absolute blast once I got over the pain and agony of the fastest bike ride I have ever been on! Geesh boys! We paddled down the Colorado, it was a mud pit, and then we rode up Longs Canyon to Gemini Bridges...jumped off a 300 foot cliff and then ran 7 miles back to our bikes! IT WAS A BLAST! The last leg of the bike was much better because John and friends were in Bull Canyon waiting for us to rappel and they had food. It was the first time ever that I burned up all my fuel in the first 3 hours of an event and I was so hungry I was delirious! It was wicked! The potatoes and PBJ saved my life! Plus we had “roadies” the entire ride back to the top of Gemini Bridges! It was crazy! Nicole, Kari, Keith, Tyler and Tony were all out there at some point with John cheering us on. I think that Gordon, Matt and Chris may have thought we were all nuts!

The team of guys was terrific. They were all very nice and supportive as I struggled to get my new mountain bike up the canyon. I know I can ride forever but apparently they wanted to ride fast? Really? Who knew! So Matt and I tried to use the tow rope a couple times but it didn’t work very well. It is clearly something that we should have practiced a few times before going sand boarding in the desert. I almost crashed a couple times trying to hang on to the rope…it was only funny because I was working so hard not to fall behind. On the way back I learned that speedy Chris is not a runner so we were slower on the run portion and of course I was thinking “I could run forever out here as long as I don’t have to get back on that saddle!”

Gordon was my saving grace as he told me how he struggled when he started doing these so I shouldn’t feel badly. Ha! You know as well as I do that initially my ego was hurting more than my legs but soon there was a shift and I had no ego just screaming legs! I loved jumping off the cliff! It was one of the most beautiful views I will ever get of the rock formations in Moab! Gemini Bridges is so mysterious and majestic! I loved it!

The last 3 miles turned into a time trial race for the guys. We hit the road to the finish and there were a couple teams in front of us so they decided to hammer up this lil grade to catch them…we caught them and it was so freaking hard! Thanks for pulling me along guys!

Nancy, Gordon’s wife, was our biggest fan as she dragged all our stuff back to the start and dried it all out. She is a great lady! Thanks Nancy! Tim and Bruce took 3^rd place and I think we were 10^th in the 4 man teams. It took us over 7 hours but t seemed a lot longer!

Heidi did the solo and finished close behind us! After the race we just hung out in Moab and cheered on Sonja for her 100 mile race, ran a little to shake out the legs and laughed a lot!

What an amazing way to spend a weekend…old friends, new friends and tons of adventure!