Weekly Newsletter: April 7th-13th, 2025

This was a busy week! Keith completed several big training rides and also finished a critical bike upgrade. Lindsey hiked with her friend Stephanie and her dog Miles. We also checked out new dinner and dessert spots.

Check out our new posts and videos 🆕 🎥 📝

A Day in the Life on the Camino: What to Anticipate

Keith and Lindsey fell into a natural routine along the Camino de Santiago. While most days looked somewhat the same, there was room for flexibility.

Keith and LindseyLindsey Huster

Keith's mid-week training 🏋️🚵‍♂️

Keith had another big week of training this week. Keith worked out one day, completed a huge indoor virtual road climb, and completed a tough outdoor training ride.

Keith took on a new (to him) virtual route in Zwift. The La Reine route in France climbs nearly 4,000 feet (1,219 meters) in just under 14 miles (22.5 kilometers). This climb was the single largest continuous climb that Keith has ever tackled on Zwift. This was a significant workout since virtual climbs such as this require constant power output in order to continue progressing forward.

Keith decided to take on the Sneaky Shiz switchback climb along with Ava's Way doubletrack as his tough, mid-week outdoor training session. The switchback climb is steep and unrelenting but it is all worth it once you reach the top and see the valley views! 🤩

Dinner date at MMK's 🍚 🇵🇭

For date night this week, we decided to check out MMK's Your New BFF Filipino Food in Provo, UT. This local establishment offers authentic Filipino cuisine that is both simple and delicious. We ordered a sampling of the various meat dishes along with white rice and a side of their noodles.

Everything was so satisfyingly delicious! The portions were also huge so we had plenty left over for dinner the next night. The staff was super friendly and even offered samples of the various meats before you purchased to ensure that you would like what you ordered. This was a great experience and probably our first time eating truly authentic Filipino food.

After dinner, we headed down to Utah Lake to watch the sunset. It was so nice to sit by the lake, enjoy the cool air, and watch the people travel along the shoreline trail.

Installing the Axle Pack 🔧 🚲

Last week, Keith mentioned that he had ordered the Axle Pack from Old Man Mountain as a more streamlined way to carry water and gear on his front fork. This week, the Axle Pack arrived, along with the Wolf Tooth Morse Cargo Cages, and Keith couldn't wait to get everything installed for a test ride!

The install was a breeze and the final result looks so much more sleek and streamlined than the heavy/bulky front rack that Keith had purchased for last year's Tour Divide attempt. This new approach drastically improves steering and handling in all conditions since the weight is centered on the steering pivot point rather than further out front.

Dessert at Ooh La La 🍨 🇫🇷

We decided to treat ourselves this week to a random mid-week dessert! We had planned to check out the cinnamon buns at Sunshine Buns in Orem, UT. Unfortunately, by the time we arrived, they were sold out for the day. 😔 Thankfully, just next door was Ooh La La Ice Cream so we headed there instead.

Ooh La La serves a variety of amazing desserts including a plate of mini pancakes, bubble waffles, and their speciality rolled ice creams. Lindsey ordered the bubble waffle and Keith ordered a "small" rolled ice cream. Both desserts were huge and incredibly delicious! A patron at the table next to us ordered a "large" rolled ice cream and we were shocked to see just how big a "large" actually is. It was enormous!!! 😮

Lindsey's weekend hike 🥾🐶

Keith was planning to be on an all day training ride on Sunday so Lindsey and her friend Stephanie made plans to hike together and then get lunch. They met up before noon and headed out to the Bonneville Shoreline Trail: University of Utah to Emigration Canyon Road to hike for a few miles with Stephanie's dog, Miles.

After their hike, they headed back down to the city to have lunch at Dali Crepes in South Salt Lake, UT. Lindsey ordered a savory crepe and Stephanie ordered the chocolate covered "crepe sushi". Lindsey said that the lunch was delicious but they should have split their meals so that they could have eat had some savory and some sweet.

Keith's big day of singletrack riding 🚵 😅

While Lindsey was hiking, Keith was out on an all-day training ride/adventure. The lower mountain trails are all drying out now and most are fully rideable. Keith has been craving some good singletrack riding so he decided to make that the focus of this week's big training ride. He also knew that this would be an optimal way to test out his newly installed Old Man Mountain Axle Pack and Wolf Tooth Morse Cargo Cages.

Keith loaded up his bike with food, electrolytes, and water (including an extra 2 liters strapped to his front fork mounts). He then started the day with a "warmup" of riding all three loops at the Valley Vista Trail System. This, in itself, would be a significant amount of riding for most people. Keith then headed north towards American Fork Canyon via the chunky and steep forest service roads and singletrack sections that run along the base of the mountains.

Keith continued traversing trail after trail under he reached the Lambert Park bike trails in Alpine, UT. Keith rode his favorite loop which included the Spring Trail climb and the Lambert's Luge descent. At this point, it was time for Keith to take a break and have some trail-side lunch.

Keith planned to head north-west towards the Three Falls Trail which would take him up his final off-road climb of the day. Unfortunately, his plans required a reroute due to recent privatization of previously public lands. 👎 Keith was forced to climb up the School House Spring dirt road in order to access the trails he needed to connect to. This road was seriously steep, chunky, and loose! Keith had to hike-a-bike the vast majority of the road because it was completely unrideable. At times, Keith and his bike were sliding backwards down the road as he tried to maintain traction while pushing his bike. 😨

Upon reaching the top of the climb, Keith found that the descent back down to the trails was unrideable as well. He could not maintain enough grip to slow down or stop so Keith was forced to hike-a-bike back down. Several times, the road was so steep and loose that Keith's bike was completely sideways and threatening to pull him down the slippery dirt surface. Thankfully, Keith was able to maintain his footing and eventually made it back down to the Forbidden Trail.

From there, Keith traversed to the Three Falls Trail and slowly climbed his way to the top. Keith then descended a new-to-him trail called Carpe Diem. This is a downhill bike trail so Keith was expecting a nice, flowy descent. However, that wasn't the case. The upper section was incredibly tight, rocky, and had short but steep climbs. Thankfully, the lower section was much more enjoyable. Keith could tell that this trail needed some serious maintenance as there was grass growing in the middle of it on several sections.

Eventually, Keith made it back down to Highland, UT where he connected with the paved Murdock Canal Trail for his return trip home. All in all, Keith covered 80 miles (129 kilometers) with over 6,400 feet (1,951 meters) of climbing. Most of the climbing was on singletrack! Keith was incredibly happy with the performance of the Old Man Mountain Axle Pack and Wolf Tooth Morse Cargo Cages. If they could hold up to all of this rough singletrack riding, then they should surely be able to withstand the demands of the Tour Divide.

Upcoming posts and videos 👷‍ 👷‍♀️️

Lindsey is continuing her work on the post series from our three-week adventure along the Camino De Santiago, Portuguese Route! Those posts are being published as she has time. We also have several prior trips that we haven't yet shared, so be sure to subscribe to our blog if you haven't done so already.

We hope that you are enjoying our newsletters. Spring is officially here! Do you have any spring break plans coming up? Let us know in the comments section below.👇 💬