I had the best day with my husband, Trent, at this year's Salty Dog 6hr enduro mountain bike race. Fitting in time to train when you're a parent and working full time can be a challenge... as many parents out there can relate to. We each entered the event as solo riders but then later decided to take advantage of the opportunity to spend the 6hrs riding together. Hey, it was suddenly like a 6hr date and let me tell you - it totally made the day for me.
We were up at the crack of dawn and loaded up the CRV. We dragged our 8yr old son, Carter, out of bed and had his breakfast ready to go in the vehicle. My parents were staying in Salmon Arm to golf for the weekend, so they helped us faciliate two different start times between our race at 10am and Carter's race at 11am.
Trent and I got our first two laps in and then met Carter for the finish of his race. We hung out for a bit with my parents and heard all about Carter's adventure. He said he had a lot of fun and couldn't wait for the following year again. (it was his 2nd consecutive year) He even came 11th o/a. My parents celebrated by taking him for ice-cream on the way back to Kelowna. We are just proud of him for getting involved and working so hard and glad that he enjoyed the experience again
It was a great experience and we walked away with areas that we need improvement on and areas that worked suprisingly well for us. The first 3 laps Trent felt great and was holding back for me while I suffered and tried to bring my heartrate down, while the last 3 laps I felt great and Trent suffered stomach issues which resulted in a bonkfest. (guess next year we enter our team name as: Spazz and Bonk) What do you do? We just hung in there and we still managed to meet our goal of 6hrs and 6 laps.
It was my first 'offical' mountain bike race. Last year I entered this event but broke my rear derailer in the middle of my 3rd lap, so I couldn't continue. I have to admit - I had that cheesy "I LOVE YOU MAN!" feeling at the end and was really happy. To top it off, I was 5th in my age category and 14th female out of 49. Makes the chaffing on my ass feel that much more justified! The best part of the day, however, was being at an event that involved our family, good friends and fellow athletes. KCU team made it's presence and I felt proud to be part of the club and represent Kelowna Cycle. Can't wait for next year!
