Weekly Newsletter: March 25th-31st, 2024

We kicked off this week with an incredible powder day at Deer Valley Resort! ❄️ 🎿 We then wrapped up the week with an amazing Easter brunch at Sundance Mountain Resort. 🐰 😋

Check out our new posts and videos 🆕 🎥 📝

Utah Adventures With A Friend: Part 2

Yi visits us in Utah for a road trip. This is part 2 of the multi-part series.

Keith and LindseyLindsey Huster

Powder day at Deer Valley 🦌 ⛷️

The company that Keith works for offers "quarterly mental health" days as additional paid time off (PTO) opportunities. We decided to use his first-quarter mental health day to ski at Deer Valley for free using our Wasatch Benefit from our Snowbird Summit Pass.

We couldn't have picked a better day! There was a significant overnight snowstorm and the forecast called for additional snow throughout the day. This meant one thing... POWDER DAY!!! We spent the morning enjoying the fresh snow throughout the Empire Bowl and Lady Morgan areas. The main skiing zones had 4-8 inches (10-20 centimeters) of fluffy powder while the more remote skiing zones had up to 24 inches (61 centimeters) of deep snow.

After a long morning of powder skiing, we were famished and ready for lunch. We made our way to the cafeteria at the Silver Lake Lodge. Lindsey had been craving Deer Valley's famous chili and Keith was on the hunt for tacos. Lunch on the slopes can be quite expensive and somewhat of a letdown. However, this wasn't the case at Deer Valley. While lunch was a little expensive, the food was totally worth it!

After lunch, we made our way back out to the slopes and headed to the Mayflower area so that Keith could ski one of the more remote areas of the mountain. Lindsey was completely exhausted by this point so she stuck to mostly groomers for the rest of the day. Keith still had some energy in his legs so he tackled a couple of the double black diamond runs near the resort boundary. Keith even managed to find a nearly untracked top-to-bottom run! 🙌

We were both worn out by the time we left Deer Valley. So, we decided to stop at Black Rifle Coffee Company in Heber, UT on the way home for a quick caffeine and sugar pick-me-up. Both the coffee and treats were delicious!

All in all, this was such a great day out. We are rarely able to ski together during the week since we both work. So, when we do get the chance we do our best to make the most of it.

Keith's last ski day for the season 🎿 🎬

Speaking of skiing, we hit yet another spring powder day at Snowbird on Saturday! What are the chances of getting two awesome powder days so late in the season? 🤯 As good as this day was, it was also most likely Keith's last ski day this season. At this point, Keith needs to shift his focus from skiing to cycling so that he can be adequately prepared for his attempt at the 2024 Tour Divide in June.

Lindsey is still planning to ski throughout the rest of the Spring skiing season. She will either get to ski alone or ski with some of our friends that we meet up with most weekends. She is looking forward to the warm sun and beautiful springtime views in the mountains.

Easter brunch at Sundance 🐣 🐰

To celebrate Easter this year, we decided to attend the Easter Foundry Grill Brunch at Sundance Mountain Resort. It's been several years since we went to a Sundance brunch and we were both very much looking forward to this, especially after being somewhat let down by the last few buffets that we went to at Snowbird.

We were seated next to a cozy fireplace which made the experience even more memorable. The buffet selections were all delicious and we left feeling stuffed! Some of our favorites were the prime rib, beef stroganoff, cookies & cream pancakes, and of course, the dessert bar.

It's nice to treat ourselves like this on holidays but we both miss getting to spend this time with our families. Hopefully, we will be able to find some time to get together with our families soon.

Tour Divide training update 🏋️‍♂️ 😅

Unfortunately, Keith is still dealing with knee pain every time that he attempts to ride. He has scheduled an appointment with his sports doctor to find out what is going on. He will be meeting with his doctor on April 8th to have his knee imaged to ensure that there isn't something more serious than simple tendon strain. Until then, he is focusing on knee rehab exercises such as simple stretches, muscular activation drills, and ice/heat therapy. We are both keeping our fingers crossed that he will be able to get back on the bike in the next couple of weeks. 🤞

Keith also looked into getting a professional bike fit to help address his knee issues. Professional bike fits are expensive and time consuming so he would prefer to avoid this if possible. Keith decided to turn to technology and searched for an app that could potentially perform the bike fit calculations for him... and he may have found an amazing iPhone app!

If you aren't familiar with "bike fitting", it is a method to ensure that you bike touch points (think saddle, pedals, handlebars, etc.) are all positioned correctly to provide the rider with the most comfortable and powerful position on the bike. The fitting process also attempts to minimize the likelihood of back and knee pain by measuring and controlling various angles such as knee flexion and extension.

The iPhone app that Keith discovered is called Bike Fast Fit (Elite). The app has a one-time purchase price of $19.99 which is pennies compared to a multi-hundred dollar professional bike fit.

Bike Fast Fit (Elite)

Unlock peak performance and comfort on your bike with Bike Fast Fit Elite. Whether you're a cycling enthusiast or a seasoned professional, this app is engineered to enhance your riding experience.

Buy on the Apple App Store

The app uses AI image analysis algorithms to detect a rider's joints as they move through the pedal stroke. This includes everything from the rider's knees, ankles, hips, elbows, etc. It's truly amazing to watch this app in action!

The data collected is then analyzed against the recommended flexion/extension angles and body positions at key points of the pedal stroke. Once analyzed, a simple set of recommendations are provided to the rider to help them set the correct saddle height, saddle fore/after, stem length, etc.

The app can also analyze the pedal stroke to look for any deflection in the knee inward/outward from the expected vertical plane. Knee deflection can lead to unnecessary stress on the medial/lateral (i.e. sides) of the knee. As you can see from Keith's results, he has some minor outward knee deflection at the top of the pedal stroke even after the bike fitting. This may be caused by a several factors including muscle weakness, muscle/joint stiffness, or the bike fit itself. Keith plans to continue to address this knee deflection as he recovers.

Keith spent about an hour using this app to dial in his Stages SB20 bike fit. The app seems to be working as he was able to follow its guidance to find a comfortable pedaling position that appears to be close to his current MTB bike setup. Also, Keith was able to confirm the measurements by analyzing three back to back pedaling sessions and verifying consistent results from the app. He also verified the suggested angle/position values against well-known bike fitting standards to ensure that the app was utilizing valid analysis parameters.

Upcoming posts and videos 👷‍ 👷‍♀️️

Lindsey is working her way through the series of posts covering our friend Yi's visit to Utah last summer. Be sure to subscribe to our blog so that you don't miss out. Keith has been extra-focused on recovery efforts so he is unsure when he will be able to work on the posts from our Las Vegas trip. 🥺

We hope that you are enjoying our newsletters. Have you ever used an app to perform a bike fit? Do you have any recommendations for recovering from knee pain? Let us know in the comments section below.👇 💬