Road to the Western Open, p.1

The Family Man. There are many out there, but much fewer who ride dh/freeride, and even fewer yet still trying to race DH. But that's only normal. After all, the Family Man has commitments, responsibilities, and quite often, the Family Man sacrifices his own interests to those of of his family. The Family Man works, pays bills, mows the lawn, fixes the house, finds time to play with his kids, and even makes time to pretend to listen to his wife. And often, this sacrifice takes a toll on the Family Man's health. With no time left for fitness at the end of the day, and only enough time to relax momentarily with his favorite malty beverage, the Family Man often carries a bit a spare tire around the middle, which, although a social symbol of his status as a Family Man, is often an inhibitor in his pursuits of athletic prowess, and often relegates him to less masculine activities, such as golf.

But there are some Family Men who, too stupid or too stubborn to simply give up their favorite sports and subjugate themselves completely to their families, continue to push on. For some, the struggle may be less difficult, but, for a Family Man living in the Prairies and trying to compete in Downhill, it can be a long, uphill struggle, pun intended. This is the story of the struggle of one such man.

Part 1: Pre-Season

Foolishly, I make the decision sometime in March, to once again purchase a License, with the intent of chasing points in the Master A 30-39 category of the Alberta Cup. Stupid or stubborn, which I am I can't yet tell. A bit of both I guess.

I did my best to maintain my fitness during the winter. Worked out at home a lot, and played quite a bit of hockey. But, in spite of all that, my love of beer, combined with a bad winter catching a lot of colds, prevented me from reaching my fitness and weight-loss goals. Life goes on.

After the hockey season ended, I kept up the fitness spinning at home, with a bit of road ridding on the weekends. A poor substitute for DH training, but every bit counts, and what else can I do? It's hard to justify traveling 6+ hours to Invermere, Golden, or Fernie, to get in some early season shuttles. Even the 3 hour drive to Moose Mtn is a little hard to justify, considering I'm usually solo and without a riding group.

But in June our family moved from St. Albert to Sherwood Park, so, training-wise, that month was pretty much shot. By the way, moving sucks. If you haven't done it in a while, and forget what's it's like, here's a reminder. Don't do it. Regardless, in spite of the suck-factor, I'm glad we did it. New house is a major upgrade in every way. Space, location, neighbourhood, proximity to family, commute, all of it, all so much better.

So, over the Canada Day weekend, I headed out to Grande Prairie, with family and RV in tow, to compete in the Race to the River, the first stop on the Alberta Cup, hoping that the distance would deter a few of the faster Calgarian riders, and possibly give me a shot at my first podium. Alas, those hopes were dashed when, the evening before the race, a minor family emergency necessitated my early withdrawal from the race. My wife had a bit of a crash on her bike, trying to show off to the kids, and her resulting injuries meant we had to go home immediately the next morning. If the situations were reversed, I would have sucked it up, but I'm not bitter.


July, new house, still too much work to do. No time in the evenings for training, I start going to the gym in my office building over my lunch breaks. Strength training, some cardio, and even manage to sneak in a couple drop-in spin classes. First time ever for spin class. Eye-opening experience. The trainer is a sadist, but I guess I should be grateful. No pain....

Coming up in Part 2:

- Hauling the family and RV again, out to BC, for some holidays and practice riding before the race.
- Funny stories about weird family (my sister-in-law's in-laws)
- Adventures in the Kimberley Nature Park
- Cool photos of my kids (age 5 and 3) shredding the skate park in Kimberley