Weekly Newsletter: May 13th-19th, 2024

Unfortunately, Keith had to make an extremely tough decision this week. 😢 However, this week did have a silver lining in that we were able to celebrate Keith's 44th birthday (a little early). 🥳

Check out our new posts and videos 🆕 🎥 📝

Utah Adventures With A Friend: Part 4

Yi visits us in Utah for a road trip. This is part 4 of the multi-part series.

Keith and LindseyLindsey Huster

2024-2025 ski season planning 🎿 💸

Yep, the 2023-2024 ski season is not even technically over yet and we are already planning for the 2024-2025 ski season. We once again decided to purchase the Snowbird Summit Pass. We have been skiing Snowbird for the past several seasons and it is truly hard to beat. Every time that we try to consider purchasing a different pass, such as the Ikon Pass, we can't find a way to justify leaving our home mountain.

We did consider going with the Ikon Pass this year for a couple of reasons. First, we do miss skiing at some of the other local Utah resorts on the Ikon Pass, mainly Snowbasin and Deer Valley. Purchasing an Ikon Pass would give us 7 days of skiing at each of these resorts as well as a combined 7 days of skiing at Snowbird and Alta. An Ikon Pass would also allow us to access Brighton and Solitude as well. Secondly, we have an opportunity to ski at Snoqualmie Ski Area in Washington this year with our friends Chris and Doug.

The determining factor for us in deciding on the Snowbird Summit Pass over the Ikon Pass is our ease of access to Snowbird and the combined 7-day limit at Snowbird and Alta. The combined 7 days is kind of a deal breaker for us. Alta and Snowbird are both located in Little Cottonwood Canyon which receives the absolute best snow in Utah... repeatedly... year after year. Being limited to only 7 days in this canyon is just not acceptable to us.

Also, the drive time to other resorts is hard to justify when you are driving past Little Cottonwood Canyon to reach those other resorts. It's hard to justify adding another 30 minutes each way (to access Big Cottonwood Canyon) or up to 60 minutes each way (to access Snowbasin).

Postponing Keith's Tour Divide attempt 😔 🚵

Well, let's rip the bandaid off... Keith is postponing his Tour Divide attempt until the 2025 race. On May 14th, Keith visited his sports doctor at In2it Medical in Pleasant Grove, UT to get a final assessment of his knee recovery. The good news is that his doctor verified that the sprained ligament has effectively fully healed! 😄 The bad news is that, as a side effect of the original injury, his patella tendon has become significantly inflamed to the point that it will not be able to heal in time for the 2024 Tour Divide race in June.

The plan at this point is to focus on recovery through physical therapy. Keith has his first physical therapy appointment on Monday, May 20th (his birthday). He is expected to make a full recovery but the recovery time could be anywhere from 1-3 months! 😔 We will know more about his recovery time once the physical therapist has been able to meet with Keith. Until then, Keith has been taking it very easy to prevent further aggravation to the tendon. This includes no riding on the bike for the time being, which is crushing Keith's spirits.

Celebrating Keith's 44th birthday! 🥳 🦖

This week wasn't all bad though... As we mentioned earlier, Keith turns 44 on Monday, May 20th! 🎉 We decided to celebrate his birthday over the weekend rather than trying to fit something in on a Monday. Lindsey planned two great surprises for Keith; a visit to the Mountain America Museum of Ancient Life and a fantastic dinner at Antica Sicilia in South Salt Lake City.

Visiting the Mountain America Museum of Ancient Life 🦕 🦖

The Mountain America Museum of Ancient Life is located at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, UT. We have driven past this museum so many times but have never visited it until now. The museum houses an incredible collection of locally sourced and curated dinosaur bones from around the world.

The museum is fun for both kids and adults. It is rich with facts and fascinating dinosaur specimens of all shapes and sizes. The museum also offers several interactive displays that allow kids, and kids at heart, to participate and have some fun. We mainly focused on enjoying the beautiful displays but we did take some time out to play a dinosaur-based game where you have to run away from a meteor that just struck the earth! 🦖 🏃

Overall, this was a great way to spend a few hours out before heading to dinner.

Dinner at Antica Sicilia 🍝🧀

For Keith's birthday dinner, Lindsey planned a special trip to Antica Sicilia in South Salt Lake City, UT. Antica Sicilia is an upscale Italian restaurant owned by true Italians originally from Sicily. We were both starving after our visit to the Mountain America Museum of Ancient Life so we couldn't wait to start our dinner experience.

Antica Sicilia is known for both amazing Italian food, including homemade pasta, and an assortment of exciting tableside preparations. We wanted to experience both so we carefully selected menu items that would allow us to both taste and experience what this restaurant had to offer.

Our dinner started with fresh bread accompanied by an assortment of dipping sauces and a fresh anchovy. This was quickly followed by an appetizer of scallops prepared in a white wine butter sauce.

Next up, was our first tableside preparation. We decided to share a house-made Caesar salad. Our waiter wheeled over a prep table and began mixing a homemade Caesar dressing. He then added fresh romaine lettuce to the dressing and presented the salad to us with homemade croutons. This was definitely one of the top Caesar salads that we have ever had.

For her main course, Lindsey ordered the Cioppino (a seafood soup) which was covered in a thin layer of homemade pizza dough. The waiter cut through and folded back to the dough exposing the amazing view and aroma of the soup.

For Keith's main course, he ordered the Signature Carbonara. The carbonara is prepared tableside within a massive wheel of aged Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. The preparation and taste were both exquisite!

For dessert, we considered splitting one of the succulent offerings. However, we couldn't decide on a single item so we each ordered our own dessert and shared. Lindsey ordered the homemade Tiramisu and Keith ordered the chocolate-covered Profiterols (small cream puffs). The Tiramisu and Profiteroles pairing was the perfect way to end this amazing meal! The waiter even surprised Keith with an additional Profiterol with a candle for his birthday. 🎂

Tour Divide training update 🏋️‍♂️ 😅

As we mentioned previously, Keith had to make the tough, but necessary, decision to postpone his attempt at the Tour Divide until 2025. Because of this decision, this will be the last Tour Divide training update segment until Keith can return to actual training again. We expect it to be at least a couple of months for his patella tendon recovery to progress to the point that he can once again train.

For completeness, we wanted to capture and share his final 2024 Tour Divide training efforts and an update on his targeted milestones:

Weekly Training Efforts

• Monday (5/13): Complete rest day to prepare for the follow up with his sports medicine doctor.
• Tuesday (5/14): Follow up with Keith's sports medicine doctor. The doctor informed him that the inflammation in his Patella Tendon would prevent his from attempting the 2024 Tour Divide.
• Wednesday (5/15): No training until after meeting with Keith's physical therapist on Monday, May 20th.
• Thursday (5/16): No training until after meeting with Keith's physical therapist on Monday, May 20th.
• Friday (5/17): No training until after meeting with Keith's physical therapist on Monday, May 20th.
• Saturday (5/18): No training until after meeting with Keith's physical therapist on Monday, May 20th.
• Sunday (5/19): No training until after meeting with Keith's physical therapist on Monday, May 20th.

Milestones Update

• ✅ May 3rd - Must be able to ride the indoor trainer at 100W or more for at least 1 hour without any immediate or latent pain.
  • ✅ Keith has well surpassed his power and duration targets.
  • ⚠️ He is not experiencing any "pain" while riding. However, his patella tendon is showing signs of strain as his knee becomes red after he completes a ride.
  • ⚠️ He will continue to monitor the patella tendon inflammation as he continues with his training efforts.
• ❌ May 15th - Must be able to ride his usual, 50-mile outdoor training route without any immediate or latent pain. Must also be able to hike on a relatively easy trail (Lower Battle Creek Falls Trail) without any pain.
  • ✅ Power numbers are looking great even as Keith increases his distance per ride.
  • ⚠️ Back-to-back long rides are causing some lingering patella tendon pain.
  • ❌ Keith has not attempted to hike yet due to concerns with the patella tendon pain.
  • ❌ Keith has a follow up with his sports doctor on May 14th. The doctor advised against riding in the 2024 Tour Divide race.
• ❌ May 31st - Must be able to complete the >100-mile Utah Lake Loop without pain. Must also be able to hike a moderately strenuous trail without pain (e.g. Grove Creek Trail).
  • ❌ Unable to attempt any of these goals due to inflammation of the patella tendon.
  • ▶️ Keith will begin physical therapy on Monday, May 20th.

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 any posts in the near term. 🥺

We hope that you are enjoying our newsletters. Have you ever had to postpone a huge life goal or plans? What did you do to help handle the headache associated with this? Let us know in the comments section below.👇 💬