The Next stop on our Epic Desert Fat Camp was Zion National Park. We headed there to make camp and ride from the park for a couple of days. Unfortunately the weather was not being very cooperative this time. We spent our first 3 days there freezing. The temperatures had dropped to highs of mid 30's and it was snowing. We left SLC to get away from the snow and it followed us here! Sibs and I made due with our situation quite well. The first day of snowy weather was spent resting from the previous day of epic riding. We cruised the local shops and galleries in Springdale (the little town just outside of Zion Natl. Park.)
Sibold likes to refer to Zion as appearing...Biblical!Day 2 of Snow....and ment that we decided to trail run all of the trails in the park today. This time of year no cars are allowed to drive in the park so we ended up running a trail and hopping the shuttle to the start of the next trail. We ran over 13 miles of trail that day! Kinda crazy when you think about it.
Some views of the different trails that we ran. While being snowed in!Day 3 of Snowy weather took us to Gooseberry Mesa. Gooseberry is a really popular trail head for mountain biking. It's a pretty technical ride and so obviously I haven't ridden it....but I have run it! Sibold and I ran all of Gooseberry and then some because yes we did get lost....and yes we did get caught in a snow storm, and of course we did not have water, food, or a cell phone. All the cardinal survival rules that my Mt. Man has tried to teach me and of course I didn't follow a single one! Yes the Epicness continues.
A view of the Upper Emerald Pool.
Looking out towards the park.
As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, I have been really fortunate this spring to have some fun visits from my fellow Canadians. Enter in Kristina Groves and her boyfriend Scott Maw. Kristina and Scott just happened to be bike touring through Zion when Sibs and I were there. We got to meet up with them for dinner, catch up, and then they camped with us for the evening. It was defiantly one of those small world situations. We had a fantastic time getting to hang with them. 
Kristina and Scott getting ready to head out in the morning on their bike tour.
Kristina, myself, and Shanon...at one point in time we were all training partners together...lots of fun to catch up again!
In the middle of our camping in Zion Sibs and I had to switch campgrounds. I couldn't get the same site reserved for our whole stay. How awesome is this ingenuity! Yup, instead of packing up the whole tent we just picked it up put it in the back of the truck and moved it. This was an AWESOME idea! You wouldn't believe the looks that we got from people. I wish we had a video camera running!
Complete Brilliance!
So here it is...the answer to all of your questions....Why was this trip called the Epic Desert Fat Camp? Since the weather was crappy while we were in Zion we never started riding or running until 10:30/11 in the morning. Very late compared to normal training standards, but who wants to ride or run in 30 degree weather...not this girl! Sibs and I would have a leisurely morning of breakfast and coffee at the campground, followed by more coffee at the coffee shop before we would take off. (As I said before every real roadie knows a good ride always starts from the coffee shop!) After a couple of days of this schedule Sibold finally declared, "Raney I feel like I am on fat camp because you never let me eat lunch...we're always riding then!" And so that my friends is the story behind the Epic Desert Fat Camp!
While we were in Zion there were lots of Earth Day Celebrations going on! It was really sweet. Sibs and I went out on a ride...did an epic climb, rode back into town, stopped at the festival and grabbed some home baked goodies, and then headed back out on our bikes to log a couple more hours!
Virgin is located about 12 miles outside of Springdale....Yes this pic is priceless.
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