Super Dad and the Grand Bike Race Adventure

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Super Dad and the Grand Bike Race Adventure

December 4, 2011 by Lana

One of the neat things about Doug is his sense of adventure. He decided that my long work hours should not hold back he and the kids from a good summer adventure. The event was the USA Pro Cycling Challenge, the best bike racers in the world competing in a “Tour De France” style bike race through the mountains of Colorado. His plan was for he and the kids to camp while following the race.

After a few family camping trips with me, Doug did a single night trial run to Rocky Mountain National Park to test the waters. Doug knew that the kids would love hanging out in the tent. Here, Carleigh is investigating a down feather from our sleeping bags.

Eating was a good bit of entertainment too.

A quick hike and a ranger presentation made for a good evening in Rocky Mountain National Park. I love how Carleigh is looking at Treyden in this picture.

As expected, Carleigh was ready to go in the morning, and the boys were a bit lethargic.

The trial went well! 2 days later, Doug was packing for a week long tour of Colorado with our 2 kids. The plan was for me to join them for the weekends at the beginning and end, returning to Boulder for work during the week.

The 4 of us stayed 3 nights in the tiny town of Marble Colorado (near Aspen) to kick off the tour.

The town name makes sense. Marble’s quarry is rivaled only by a small town in Italy as the worlds biggest suppliers of pure white marble. We enjoyed their unique city park with huge pieces and sculptures of marble.

And Carleigh made her first basket on a regulation rim.

We did a lot of hiking in the gorgeous valley where Marble sits.

And of course got caught in a little rainstorm. Carleigh loved it, though got a bit cold.

A little play time by Beaver lake.

The bench swing right next to our room.

It was easy to bike across town in about 3 minutes.

A kiss for dad.

Slow Groovin BBQ was the only restaurant in town, and 3 of our meals.

After struggling to find our intended trailhead, we found ourselves walking down a 4WD road in a gorgeous valley, that just happened to lead to Crystal Mill (4 miles away). We started off thinking, “we’ll see how far we get”.

With Treyden on Doug’s back and Carleigh on mine, we journeyed along through a rain storm and a winy, tired Treyden storm and found ourselves 4 miles in at the infamous Crystal Mill. With both kids passed out, we had some time to take photos of this picturesque landmark.

Gorgeous, but we were sore from the 8 mile hike with kiddos on backs!

After dropping mom off at the train in Glenwood Springs (back to work for me), the family headed to Crested Butte to camp at “Oh be Joyful” Campground and meet up with the bike race.

A good night followed by breakfast!

Even though Treyden was quite proficient with his pedal bike he was pleased to hop on a lender strider and cruise around the bike race finish line in Crested Butte.

Then they learned there was a Strider Cup race that crosssed the race finish line! Treyden is on the blue bike second from the right at the starting line.

He won 2nd place, including a medal and shirt!

Here’s the race video.

Race commentators Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen (of Tour de France fame) even commented audibly about Treyden’s skills as he quickly gained speed on the strider going down hill and then used his foot on the front wheel to skillfully come to a perfect stop (and they thought he was out of control!!).

With race time approaching, it was time to take position behind the wall.

Here’s a video of Treyden chearing on the riders and Carleigh sleeping through the whole thing!

After this stage of the race finished, it was time to hop in the car and drive to the next stage.

Treyden wore his medal non stop until that night when Carleigh was really upset while dad was working to get camp set up. Suddenly Carleigh stopped crying in the tent. When dad made it back to the tent Carleigh was playing with the medal. Treyden had given his prized possession to his sister to calm her down… what a great big brother!

Having tired kids is good thing! Doug actually woke up the next morning before Carleigh.

Ready for more adventure! Time to pack up and head up Independence Pass to catch the next stage of the race.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars in bikes laying haphazardly on the side of Independence Pass. Amateur bikers rode the race route and then cast their expensive bikes aside to watch the professional roll by.

If you’ve ever seen the Tour de France, fans write messages to the riders in chalk on the road. My heart melted when I received this text message image at work…

And of course, this one had to be done too!

Treyden loved cheering for the riders even though it was raining / snowing on and off!

After surviving the weather atop Independence pass, they met our friend Steve at the bottom of the pass and camped in Minturn in preparation for the Vail criterion stage the following day.

After another fun day of racing (which Carleigh slept through). It was time to drive to Steamboat, where mom could finally meet them later in the night. We camped on Rabbit Ears pass and then went in to town with Julie and friends to see that day’s stage finish.

After some great fun with Julie’s family and friends we went back to camp on Rabbit Ears and secure some prime realestate to host the big event (race day tailgate) the following day (the race was climbing over Rabbit Ears Pass).