Weekly Newsletter: May 5th-11th, 2025

This week, Keith completed more Tour Divide prep work and training rides. He was also involved in a fairly serious crash! 😱 ⚠️ Thankfully, he is ok and able to continue to train.

Check out our new posts and videos 🆕 🎥 📝

Part 8: Camino Highlights: More Favorite Moments

Keith and Lindsey have many favorite memories from the Camino de Santiago. Here are a few fun moments that haven’t been included in previous posts.

Keith and LindseyLindsey Huster

More bike maintenance and prep work 🔧 🧤

As usual, Keith was busy this week with Tour Divide prep work tasks. First, Keith noticed a small rattle coming his rear wheel. He has heard this noise before so he knew exactly what it was, a loose rear axle. Keith was able to easily remove his rear wheel and cassette in order to tighten the rear axle. Problem solved! 👍

Next on his list was to seam seal his Mountain Laurel Designs 3-Layer Event Rain Mitts. These ultralight, ultra-portable waterproof mitts will help keep Keith's hands warm and dry during the cold, rainy days on the Tour Divide. The material itself is waterproof but the seams are not. The mitts require seam sealing using McNett Seam Grip Seam Sealer which is provided. The seam sealing process was tedious but relatively easy. The end result was a set of waterproof mitts! ✅

A crash that shouldn't have happened! 🚸 ⚠️

Keith was involved in a fairly serious crash during a routine training ride this week. Keith had been out riding for several hours on the local trails without incident. As he was returning home, he was on a relatively unused section of paved connector trail that brings Keith back down to the base of the valley near our home.

Shortly after making a 90° turn, Keith began pedaling to accelerate back up to speed. All of the sudden, Keith saw three children (~10 to 12 years old) pull out from a blind alleyway entrance immediately in front of him. Keith didn't even have time to hit his brakes before he slammed into the oldest boy's bike. Keith flew over the bars (OTB) and landed head-first on the pavement. His bike then flipped over and landed on top of him.

Keith was dazed from the impact. As he picked himself and his bike up, the parents of the children arrived on their bikes. The Dad started off showing concern that Keith may have been seriously injured. Keith asked him to stick around for a while until he could regain his senses and make sure that he and his bike weren't seriously damaged. That's when the Dad's tone and demeanor quickly changed...

The Dad took a look at Keith's bike and stated "that's an expensive rig you have there" then started saying that Keith was threatening to sue them and call the cops. Keith was so confused since he had not mentioned either of those things. The wife was also confused and highly upset with the husband's behavior. Keith asked again for the parents to stick around and that's when the Dad started calling Keith all sorts of names and said that Keith was "trying to detain his family". 🤪 The Dad then told the kids to ride away and he did the same, yelling that Keith was an a**hole the whole time.

Keith was in shock over this behavior. If he wouldn't have been so dazed, he probably would have done something that he would have regretted later. Thankfully, the wife was a much better person. She stayed with Keith for about twenty minutes to ensure that he was ok and that his bike was still rideable. She also offered to get Keith's Venmo so that she could pay for any damages. Keith declined her offer, thanked her for staying, and told her to relay a few choice words to her husband.

The result of all this was some minor damage to himself and his bike. Keith's Garmin inReach GPS has some cosmetic damage and the mount that he had just purchased was shattered beyond repair. The rear of his saddle was slightly damaged but it doesn't impact performance or comfort. His front wheel was knocked out of true so he had to put it on his truing stand and tweak it for about an hour to get it fairly straight again. He will need to have a professional check it over before the race.

As for himself, Keith has some large bruising on his right leg and some smaller bruising on his left leg. His right tricep is still sore but it is recovering. Keith also has a slightly bruised rib which hurts when he coughs or blows his nose. 🤧 Keith is just glad that nothing was seriously hurt, including himself, and that he can continue to train. 🙏 Also, Keith was blessed with this amazing sunset on the way home.

Living the Tour Divide lifestyle 🥫 🍜

As the 2025 Tour Divide grows closer and closer, Keith is continuing to find ways to simulate what life will be like during the race. Keith has been taking more and more "real food" on his rides to test out options for cold soaking meals.

This week, Keith completed a beautiful route through Provo Canyon and rewarded himself with a delicious meal of ramen and tuna. 😋 Doesn't that sound like fun! 🤣

Date night at Red Lobster 🦞 🍽️

For date night this week, we decided to return to an old classic; Red Lobster. 🦞 Lindsey had received a gift card to Red Lobster for Christmas and we have been wanting to use it for quite some time now.

We rarely have seafood anymore as it isn't quite as popular in Utah. We started our meal with a stuffed mushroom appetizer, caesar salads, and of course, the Cheddar Bay Biscuits! 😋 Lindsey ordered the Bar Harbor Lobster Bake and Keith ordered the Creamy Crab Carbonara. Both meals were delicious and we left the restaurant stuffed.

A massive and beautiful training route 🏔️😍

On Saturday, Keith headed out for another massive, all-day training ride. Keith started the day by following one of his standard training routes up through Provo Canyon and along the Deer Creek Reservoir. This time though, he continued to the town of Midway, UT to refuel on a massive cinnamon roll from the Midway Bakery.

After refueling, Keith headed for the big climb of the day; Cascade Springs Road. This road winds its way through the mountains up to the summit of the Alpine Loop Scenic Highway. Keith cranked up the mountain for nearly 3 hours before reaching the summit. The start of the climb was very steep but it was rideable, at a snail's pace. 🐌 The average grade of the first 3 miles was 9%!

The road also included several short downhill sections which were great for recovery but also meant that Keith would have to re-climb the elevation that he had just lost. Keith was able to ride near all of the climb except the final section just before the junction with the Alpine Loop. That section was averaging 12% grade and Keith was pedaling slower than he could walk, so he got some hike-a-bike practice instead.

Keith made a quick stop to filter some water and refuel from the long climb. Afterwards, he was treated with a long descent down American Fork Canyon (with a quick stop at Tibble Fork Reservoir for some bonus vert!). Keith then finished the canyon road descent and emerged back into Utah Valley. Keith, being Keith, decided to make the ride even harder by adding a bonus loop taking him north through Draper and Bluffdale before finally returning home.

In total, Keith rode 119 miles (192 kilometers) with 7,995 feet (2,437 meters) of elevation gain! This was a massive ride for Keith, nearly ten and half hours or moving time, and he was very happy with his performance and how he felt afterwards.

Testing out tired legs 🚵‍♂️ 😅

The next morning, Keith got back up and headed back out on his bike. His initial plans were to ride another 100 miles but his training needed to be cut short due to work commitments. So, instead of a long, steady ride, Keith headed up to the Valley Vista mountain bike trails to see if his legs could still put out the power required to climb singletrack.

Keith was pleasantly surprised by how his body felt. His power numbers were strong and he was able to knock out two relatively fast singletrack laps. One other rider stopped Keith at the bottom of the route and couldn't believe how well he was riding the trails with a loaded bike. His mind was blown when Keith told him that he rode 119 miles (192 kilometers) on that bike the prior day! 🤯

Upcoming posts and videos 👷‍ 👷‍♀️️

Lindsey is wrapping up her work on the post series from our three-week adventure along the Camino De Santiago, Portuguese Route! Be sure to check those posts out. 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 and summer is just around the corner! Do you have any summer vacation plans coming up? Let us know in the comments section below.👇 💬