Bears, barfing babies and biking....

I am a little more relaxed now that we have arrived at our final destination of our trip!
We left Cranbrook Friday night after work and drove to Oliver, it was an eventful drive, as we spotted a Mama grizzly and her 2 cubs hanging out just off the highway!! The mom looked like I do right now.....exhausted, while her 2 cubs rolled and jumped and climbed all over her!! After this amazing sight....Jackson started barfing, and kept on barfing until Osoyoos.
A quick visit with Granny and Grandpa before crashing in bed!
We left Oliver right after breakfast for Richmond. My cousin Paul lives there and we were staying with them for a couple of nights. They introduced us to their local pub....where I actually sang Karaoke, and some crazy dude was singing the craziest heavy metal, slasher songs!! Ahhh..The BIG city!!

We spent the entire day at the aquarium, I LOVE the aquarium, and the kids love it as well!
My cousin had a great dinner waiting for us when we got back, and it was a great visit with his family.....as I have such a small extended family, it is nice to re-connect with them!

Notice the lack of training?! It has not been an easy trip for following my training schedule, and now that I have a strict schedule to follow, I rarely miss a workout, and feel a little stressed when I do!
I am back on track now, I got on my road bike after we arrived at the Ferry terminal and biked into Victoria, did 5 hill repeats up Mount Doug (that climb is harder than I remember!!) and then biked downtown...getting totally turned around and lost before arriving at our gorgeous hotel....gotta love going to conferences with Shawn!!

The hotel is on the Inner Harbor....the kind of hotel that I feel as though I totally don't belong in, especially when I arrive at reception decked out in my biking get-up, not even knowing what room we are in!! There was a very nice concierge that took my bike....somewhere....still need to find it, and I think I should have tipped him?? Never sure of these things...again as I am not used to this environment!
Of course we hit the pool right away, and after as we were getting off the elevator on the 6th floor.....Avery was a little distracted and didn't get off the elevator....I turned around as the door closed, listening to Avery calling out!! Lina stayed with Jacks as Shawn headed down in the elevator next to it, and I in the one Avery HAD been in and wasn't in anymore!!! Up and down we went yelling down the halls as we got off at each floor!! We notified the front desk and they sent everyone out looking....AAHHH this was super scary, but just a few minutes with staff here looking, someone on the 4th floor had found her!
I really really think we are trying to, and have a very good chance of winning the worse parents award.
Did I mention she only had a towel wrapped around her waist!?!!
I have now written in permanent marker their names and room number on their foreheads.

Moab XTERRA

OK, so I have forgiven myself a little for my poor performance this past weekend, have accepted some of my many excuses for more than just lame excuses, but maybe reasonable explainations for why I didn't do nearly as well as I was expecting.

I had been feeling very unwell the week leading up to the race; with bad headaches, and overall achiness and I was extremely tired!! I felt so tired and sore on the rides that it was all I could do to push through an easy ride.

I was excited about the swim though, my swimming this year has been feeling so good, and my times have been promising.....so I have NO idea why my swim was this slow!! This is slower than it has been the last 2 years!! I think Shawn told me that there were 15 girls ahead of me....so I started counting as I headed up the hill out of transition....I was feeling pretty good, I had counted 9 girls before I hit the half way mark. I was riding fairly well....riding everything, but not riding everything fast enough, on the way back out, the ride got harder, the climbs were steeper, rockier and longer....I would finish one nasty ledgy steep climb, and see another and then another right up ahead.....again I was still riding everything, but not with enough power and speed, and not catching up to anybody else.

I was looking forward to the run, I suffered through the first few km's before getting into my groove, the second lap of the run was the best I had felt the whole race, I was able to catch another racer and was chasing down another as we rounded the lake toward's the finish line....closer and closer I was getting, but I didn't have quite enough time left to catch her! Ended up just 7 seconds behind his racer (which would have placed as 3rd overall female :o(

Also the last km, I noticed my nose starting to drip....thinking it was just your usual excerise

runny nose, I kept wiping it quickly with my hands, it wasn't until just before the finish that I glanced down at my hands and saw that they were covered in blood!! As I crossed the finish line, a man ran up to me, introduced my as Dr somebody (really can't recall his name) he whisked me away to the medic tent, and put me on a cot. I guess I was quite the sight, with blood running from my nose and my face and shirt covered in blood...didn't realize that the taste of blood in my mouth....was actually blood!!

My worse injury is the lousy blister on my foot...this started burning 4km's into the run....and I am limping around pretty good today on it :o(
So...today, I have decided not to give up, but to keep training......I don't think that this race was indication of what I can do.....I am not sure how fast I can be, but I know I can be faster than that!!

The fun stuff....

I am not quite ready to talk about the race (I am not sure how it went so terribly wrong ), so I will wait until I am not feeling so sad about it, and instead I will relive some more of the super fun family adventures!

This has been an amazing family trip, different from when we used to come here (pre-kids) but still lots of riding and then more fun with the kids!

Here are some pics of us hanging at the pool, the weather has been amazing (hot!!) and the pool has been a hit.

Avery was really wanting to teach Baby Charming to climb, so we took her out climbing, she did really really well for her first time!!

Shawn and I went on another ride together,, another one of our Favorites-----Sovereign, man it is fun, we did another quick trip to it last night as well. This picture of me, you can see a little pink spec climbing up through the rocks.

Almost time to start driving home, we are taking the kids for a quick bike ride on the SlickRock trail, and then finish packing up and heading home!

Race day!!

I am not sure about the prep for the race, the days are so busy and there is not much time to prep for anything!!!

We went out to the race venue last night and overcame my fears of my first lake swim of the year! They had been warning of a very cold temperature as well...but, it was really nice last night and I felt pretty comfortable!

The bike heads out of transition and up, up, up a dirt road....but as long as I am riding well, it should be good for me to make up some spots before we get to the trail.

The trail is super fun, it is going to be very challenging to race, lots of climbing on broken slickrock and sandy, rocky bits...the key is to stay relaxed and watch your line and keep pedaling!

We went for a quick walk to a waterfall after my pre-ride and it turns out that the run goes right in front of the waterfall!! The run is gorgeous, and will be lots of fun!

Here are a few pics of the race course!!

I better go!!

Tan

i

And goodbye awning....

After our visit to the Coolest Dino museum ever, Shawn and I headed back to the Kokopelli trails to do the Horsethief trail. Here are a few pics from that ride.

After dropping you very abruptly into the valley, the trail swoops and winds around on some awesome fast singletrack, before throwing in some rocky ledges to ride/walk up and some fast rocky bits! When we finished loop, we wanted more and figured the best bet to get more quickly was to do the same trail the opposite way! It was even more fun this way, with more challenging rocky ledges and drops to ride down (they are easier to ride down, then to ride up)

I unfortunately have a little bit of badhead....I haven't been feeling very good on my bike yet, I don't feel very fast, legs feel so heavy and tired and I am getting a bit down about it...I am hoping I will start feeling better....

On a better note, the following day, we hit the new recplex in Fruita, a very nice facility. While the kids and Shawn swam, I did my swim workout. After a 400m warm-up, I started my 200m sets, after I did my first 200m, I looked at my watch and it was by far the fastest 200m I have ever swam, the next one was about the same!! I asked the swimmer in the lane next to me if it was 25m, he said "yeap" he said. "Are you sure?" I asked? He gave me a funny look....I finished up my workout and had even more fun playing withe kids in the fun pool.....until the pool was evacuated because of lightning.....really??

I was excited to head out to Moab the following day, I was hoping it would raise my spirits a little, Moab has a way of doing that, I usually feel really good riding there, and with the blue skies and amazing bright colors surrounding you, it is hard not to feel good :o)

It seems that since so far on this trip, everything was going well, no flat tires, no shaking wobbling trailers...something was bound to happen.....and it turns out that if you don't roll up the awning on your trailer, it actually will just tear right off your trailer once you hit highway speed....all the bits and peices and everything.....who knew?

We are in Moab :o)

Fruita CO.

After a very long drive, made longer by a vehicle that is not getting anywhere near the gas mileage it is supposed to, I think we stopped for gas every 2 hours, we arrived in Fruita CO.

It took 21 hours to get to Fruita, but I don't actually mind the drive, I enjoy the time to sit and talk to Shawn, read for hours to the kids, tell/listen to stories and if the kids fall asleep, read a little myself.....and you arrive in a new land, with endless riding and adventuring!

I was able to get in a quick ride when we arrived Saturday evening on the Kokopelli trails. It was a beautiful evening and I climbed up Mary's trail for a bit, and then back down and did Wrangler's trail....not feeling awesome after 2 days in the car, but feeling really good to be riding!

The wide open trails here are so different than at home, they bring you along the most gorgeous views high above the CO River.

Shawn went for a ride the next morning, while the kids and I explored the beautiful State Park, this is a beautiful campground on the CO River, with endless exploring, but the highlight of the day...and the trip so far (even for us) was the Dinosaur Journey Museum, where the kids could dig up bones, get sprayed by the Dilophosaurus, watch a moving Utahraptor eat another dinosaurs head (with real looking blood and gooey parts being strewn about!) and experience an earthquake!

The kids said the missed Aunty Erin, Uncle Keith and Hayden.....and we are really missing you too!!!

More to come.......

Cranbrook---best riding in the WORLD!! Shawn says so!

Heading to Roller Coaster----My fave!
Alkali Lake
Looking at Cranbrook from the second lookout
Mayook Lookout---heading up to Big Tree

Sunday was a good day!!
Headed to Marysville in the morning for a quick 5km trail run/race, it was a gorgeous morning, and a torturous 5km out and back run along the Mark Creek. It was a slight incline for the 2.5km out and I guess it must have been a gradual decline on the way back!
I was excited about this race, as I have been running more this year than the last 5 years combined! I have put in many treadmill miles this winter! I have been loving the treadmill runs though, with the coaching, the runs are very structured and I feel fast and the time flies by! I don't even need to have the ipod...I need to focus too much!
I have not done any running to test my training though, and I was really hoping to be fast, like super fast! Even though I wasn't quite as fast as I would have liked to have been, it was an improvement for sure, and with having a very big training week leading up and tired legs...maybe it will be OK!
5km races are hard for me....like a looooong sprint! aggh!

Headed back into town to meet the kids at a bday pool party, so fun! My kids are water babies, can't get them out of the water!

NEXT!! Headed out on a mtb ride with Shawn, Sherri and Gary....aaah, it was SO nice out!
We headed up to the second lookout and down a new trail called DNA, (I think) a pretty fun little trail, with some loose tight corners, that connected on to one of the good little technical trails.
I had a long ride scheduled for the day, a little too long for everyone else, so after an hour and a half, I was on my own, I climbed back up to the first lookout, I love this climb, it is a lung-busting, steep climb, which over the years has been getting looser, more rutted and more challenging!
I criss-crossed all over the Community Forest, climbing every hill I could find!
Everyone laughs at Shawn, when he says that the Community Forest has the best riding in the WORLD....but I might tend to agree with him, other locations that we travel to our fun and awesome, but it's new, so it is always fun to do something new.
Then you come back to your own back round and whip around all these amazing trails, like Upper Coaster, Roller Coaster, DNA, Suck it up Princess, Your Cheating Heart...and so many more!! Some of these trails, especially Roller Coaster are just pure classic and FUN, just before you hit the College, you get to speed (feels speedy anyways) and twist through some single-track to end your ride! So exhilarating!
I am very thankful for all the folks that get out there and create new trails and take care of the ones that are there!!! Thank you!!