Weekly Newsletter: July 8th-14th, 2024

Lindsey continued with her hiking training plan this week, and Keith had some big days mountain biking. Oh, and we finally had a chance to check out a local donut shop! 🍩 😋

Check out our new posts and videos 🆕 🎥 📝

Utah Adventures With A Friend: Part 5

Yi visits us in Utah to hike, bike, and adventure. This is part 5 of the multi-part series.

Keith and LindseyLindsey Huster

Mountain biking Kyhv Peak 🚵‍♂️ 🥵

Keith has ridden up Kyhv Peak Road many times during his prior Tour Divide training rides. However, those rides were mostly focused on the paved and gravel road aspects of the route. This time, Keith's bike was set up for pure mountain biking so that he could enjoy the quality singletrack in this area.

Keith started this route with a rough climb up the Bonneville Shoreline Trail towards lower Kyhv Peak Road. After completing this warmup 😅, Keith then road up to the top of Kyhv Peak Road to access the downhill singletrack trails. The climb is steep-ish but the blazing hot weather made it feel so much more difficult. After reaching the top, Keith was excited to enjoy the downhill MTB trails.

The downhill trails are very much "natural style" trails in that they are primarily hiking trails that also allow mountain bikes. This means that the trails are very narrow with unexpected obstacles around every corner. These trails require solid bike handling skills and some serious physical endurance to navigate. Overall, Keith had so much fun riding this trail system.

Dinner at The Smoked Taco 🍖 🌮

We had a coupon for two free tacos at The Smoked Taco that we couldn't let go to waste. So, we decided to take advantage of that coupon this week. We have been to this restaurant before and found the combination of BBQ and tacos/nachos delicious! This visit did not disappoint.

Mountain biking the Valley Vista trails ⛰️ 🚲

Keith decided to ride the local Valley Vista trail system in Pleasant Grove, UT this week. Valley Vista is where Keith first learned to mountain bike and he loves returning to this local trail system from time to time.

This time, Keith decided to first pedal up to the trails above Valley Vista before descending back down into Valley Vista proper. The climb up the Sneaky Shiz is brutal! The trail is just generally steep with many steeper switchback turns. 🥵 The return down to the Valley Vista trails is way too short for the amount of effort to get up there.

Keith then used the bench road to access the various sections of the Valley Vista trail system. Keith started with the newest trails located in "The Pit" area. Keith then pedaled back up to the bench road to access the swooping "Cowley's Cure" downhill trail. This trail exits into the middle of the oldest section of Valley Vista's cross-country (XC) trails.

Keith had a blast riding these trails and we are sure that he will be back out there for more later this summer.

Hiking and biking in the Timpanogos Wilderness Area ⛰️ 🥾 🚵‍♂️

Lindsey has been continuing with her hiking/walking training program. Recently, she discovered the Bonneville Shoreline service road near Provo Canyon. This is a gravel road that includes steep climbs up into Provo Canyon. Hikers are rewarded with beautiful views down into the canyon! 😍 Lindsey hiked this road with a weighted backpack to work on building her hiking endurance.

While Lindsey was hiking, Keith decided to explore the MTB trails above the Bonneville Shoreline service road. Keith started his ride with a super-steep climb up the Swidge Ridge trail to access the rest of the Timpanogos Wilderness trail system. This trail system was closed for several years due to a previous wildland fire so most of these trails are new to Keith. The downhill trails were worth the effort this time! Keith had a blast descending back down to meet up with Lindsey.

Post-ride/hike donuts! 🍩 😋

Is there a better way to celebrate a hard day of hiking/biking than getting freshly made donuts? We think not! So, we decided to check out Bismarck Doughnuts in Provo, UT. Bismarck Doughnuts creates made-to-order, gluten-free doughnuts & beignets. Unfortunately, they were out of a lot of their menu items but we were still able to sample a couple of their best-sellers.

The donuts were amazing! Hot, fresh, and filled with amazing flavors. The cream-filled donut felt like it weighed a full pound and the double-chocolate donut was so amazingly rich. We can't wait to go back and try some of their other menu items.

Upcoming posts and videos 👷‍ 👷‍♀️️

Lindsey has wrapped up the series of posts on Yi's visit to Utah. We 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 will also be putting together a full blog post about our trip to Gulf Shores, Alabama, and Lindsey's most recent trip to Redfish Lake in Idaho.

We hope that you are enjoying our newsletters. Do you have any summer vacation plans? How do you like to enjoy the summer? Let us know in the comments section below.👇 💬