Weekly Newsletter: September 15th-21st, 2025

It was a "stuck indoors" kind of week... Keith was on 24/7 support for the company he works for 👨‍💻, and Lindsey is still recovering from an asthma-related illness. 🤧 However, we still managed to have a little fun. 😄

Check out our new posts and videos 🆕 🎥 📝

Post 2: Banff: Canyon, Cruise, and Captivating Landscape

Keith and Lindsey explored Banff, Canada, before the start of the Tour Divide Race. This included hiking, biking, and a cruise!

Keith and LindseyLindsey Huster

Keith is on 24/7 support again. 😔 🧑‍💻

As we mentioned in a previous newsletter post, the company Keith works for recently introduced a new "L2 Support" duty for all engineers and managers. This means that once every 6 weeks or so, Keith will be assigned the L2 Support role for his team.

During this week's support shift, Keith made it a goal to try to stay as active as possible, even with his limited ability to stray from his computer. So, Keith focused on the fitness activities that he could do: walking around our neighborhood, weightlifting in our garage, and riding his Stages SB20 indoor trainer.

Keith managed to walk the 2-mile neighborhood loop every day this week! 🚶‍♂️ ⭐ It felt great to be able to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather each day, especially when Keith is cooped up in his home office for so many hours. Keith also found time for two weightlifting sessions this week. Keith has to slowly ease back into weightlifting to avoid becoming overly sore during this ramp-up period.

Keith was able to complete two decent Zwift virtual rides as well as his first ride on the Rouvy virtual riding system. More about Rouvy in a bit... All in all, Keith's goal of remaining active during his L2 support rotation was a success. ✅

Lindsey is still sick 🤧 😴

Lindsey has been sick ever since she was in Florida with her mom and Thea. Thankfully, it's mostly asthma-related and nothing more serious, like COVID. 🙏 She has had a terrible cough and some difficulty catching her breath at times. She was able to visit our local doctor, who prescribed several medications to help her beat this illness. Thankfully, the medications are working and she is on the path to recovery.

Date night at an old favorite 🍝 🥗

On Saturday, Lindsey was finally feeling well enough to go out to dinner. We had seen several commercials for Olive Garden's "Never Ending Pasta Bowl" promotion, so we couldn't pass up the opportunity to enjoy some delicious pasta. The restaurant was packed due to several high school homecoming events. Thankfully, we were able to be seated rather quickly, and we never really had to wait for our food.

It's been quite a while since we visited Olive Garden together. Lindsey's visits to Olive Garden are typically reserved for herself and her friend Renee. I told Lindsey that I would be on my best behavior so that I didn't lose my Olive Garden privileges. 🤣

As usual, the breadsticks and salad were delicious. The pastas themselves were quite good, but nothing really special. Lindsey started with a fettuccini alfredo with chicken, followed by a small bowl of spaghetti and meatballs. Keith took the opposite approach and started with spaghetti and meatballs (in the new spicy marinara), followed by a small bowl of rigatoni alfredo with chicken. All in all, it was a deal for the price, and we were both happy to have our pasta craving satisfied.

Trial ride on Rouvy 🚴‍♂️ 💻

Keith has been using Zwift as his preferred indoor, virtual cycling system for the past few years. Keith has really enjoyed using the Zwift platform, but he has also been looking for opportunities to mix up his indoor training sessions. Recently, a few new competitors have been gaining traction in the market, so Keith thought this would be a good time to test one of these competitors out.

Keith decided to sign up for the Rouvy 7-day trial period. This will be more than enough time to test out the platform and compare it to Zwift. So far, Keith has been very impressed with Rouvy. Rouvy uses an augmented reality approach where real-world videos of cycling routes are overlaid with cycling avatars. This is a significant departure from Zwift's video game look and feel. Keith's initial review of Rouvy is outlined below.

Pros of switching to Rouvy

• Annual plan is less expensive than Zwift's annual plan.
• The real-world routes are beautiful!
• The information HUD is much more useful and customizable.
• The road feel is more realistic (e.g., coasting during descents, braking around corners, difficulty of climbs, etc.).

Cons of switching to Rouvy

• Far fewer online users than Zwift.
• All routes have a dedicated start and end point, whereas Zwift allows you to keep riding and explore new routes.
• Some of my favorite Zwift routes are not available on Rouvy (e.g., Alpe Du Zwift).

Upcoming posts and videos 👷‍ 👷‍♀️️

We are finally returning to our scheduled weekly newsletters and posts! 🙌 Keith will be working on posts covering his 2025 Tour Divide experience. Lindsey will be working on posts covering her trip through Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks with her mom. Subscribe to our blog so that you don't miss out.

We hope that you are enjoying our newsletters. Summer is in full swing! How has your summer been so far? Are there any particularly memorable moments that you would like to share with us? Let us know in the comments section below.👇 💬