Weekly Newsletter: February, 12th-18th, 2024

This week, we celebrated Valentine's Day 🥰 and Keith went on his biggest ride... ever! 🤯

Check out our new posts and videos 🆕 🎥 📝

Two-Week Road Trip Through Oregon with Friends: Part 6

A summary of our Oregon road trip. Highlights of the coast, Northern California, and interior Oregon. This is part 6 of the multi-part series.

Keith and LindseyLindsey Huster

Happy Valentine's Day! ❤️ 🌹

We celebrated Valentine's day this week by treating ourselves to a couple of delicious meals! We also made a quick stop to see the giant light-up heart on the side of the mountain in Pleasant Grove, UT.

Dessert at Momo's Gourmet Cheesecakes 🍰 🧁

First, on Valentine's day, we took the approach of "dessert before dinner" by visiting Momo's Gourmet Cheesecakes in Provo, UT. It's been a very long time since either of us have had cheesecake so we were both excited to check out this local dessert shop.

We ordered an assortment of mini cheesecakes, some fruity and some indulgently decadent. The cheesecakes definitely satisfied our sugar craving.

Dinner at Eight Settlers Distillery 🥃 🍽️

We decided to delay our Valentine's Day dinner until the day after Valentine's Day to avoid the crowds and long waits. This year, we chose to eat at Eight Settlers Distillery in Cottonwood Heights, UT. Eight Settlers is an upscale distillery/restaurant located at the base of Big Cottonwood Canyon. This restaurant has been on Lindsey's "must eat" list for some time now so she was super excited to finally get to go.

To start our meal off, we ordered the Shaven Brussels and House Bread appetizers. The bread was a focaccia-style yet it was super light and airy. The brussels sprouts were, of course, delicious! We then moved on to our main meals. Lindsey ordered the Bourbon Braised Pork Shank and Keith ordered the Pork Belly Carbonara. This was an incredible meal and such a great way to celebrate Valentine's Day together.

Tour Divide training update 🌅 🚵‍♂️

Keith wasn't feeling too great at the start of this week so he took a few days off of the bike to recover. Due to this delay, he was only able to get in one ride this week, but... it was a BIG ONE!

Keith went on his longest distance/duration ride to date while circumnavigating Utah Lake. This was Keith's second time riding around Utah Lake. This time, he added in a bonus climb at the end of the route which extended the ride by about 15 miles and another 800 feet (244 meters) of climbing. Keith started this ride at around 5:30 AM and didn't return home until 4:30 PM. That nearly 11 hours on the bike!

The ride went well but there were a few variables that made it surprisingly difficult. First, was the unexpected cold weather. The forecast had called for highs in the mid-40°F (4°C) range. However, most of the morning was much colder at around 20°F to 30°F (-6°C to -1°C). Second, was the unexpected swirling winds. The forecast called for calm winds but Keith encountered several strong headwinds along the route (notice the steam from the power plant blowing sideways rather than rising into the sky).

Overall, Keith covered 117 miles (188 kilometers) with 1217 feet (371 meters) of climbing in 8 hours and 34 minutes of riding time (10 hours and 42 minutes total). This was a huge ride for Keith.

Great snow at Snowbird ⛷️ ❄️

We skied at Snowbird the day after Keith's big ride around Utah Lake. Needless to say, Keith was pretty worn out from the big ride. However, it didn't stop him from powder hunting first thing in the morning.

Keith started his day by hiking up the High Baldy Traverse in search of fresh powder from the overnight snowstorm. This is a relatively mild hike up a few hundred feet from the upper ridge between Peruvian Gulch and Mineral Basin. Well, lets just say that the hike was totally worth it!!! Keith found nearly untouched snow along the Fields of Glory/Thanks for the Memories Chute route back down into Peruvian Gulch.

We then met up with our friends, Brandon and Steph, to ski a few laps together. Keith and Brandon decided to hike up the High Baldy Traverse once again. 🤪 By the time they returned from their run, Keith was totally spent. So, we called it a day and headed down the mountain to grab some lunch.

Upcoming posts and videos 👷‍ 👷‍♀️️

Keith was feeling pretty rough this week so he wasn't able to work on the Las Vegas posts. Hopefully, he will be able to find some time this coming week to work on them.

We hope that you are enjoying our newsletters. Did you do any special for Valentine's Day? What do you think about Keith's latest huge training ride? Let us know in the comments section below.👇 💬