Family lessons

This was our house last weekend..... OK its our horse and tree but you get the idea, snow and lots of it.

So I thought I would share our adventure from last month. (the bruises are gone its safe to talk about) 

You might recall the Wilcox's that were up a few weeks ago. Their entire family are mountain bikes extraordinaire, seriously true talent, each one of them. So my darling hubby looks at all their cool pics on their blog and figures his own little family would have so much fun going on a Mountain Bike ride. I tried to tell him that even if you put the four of us together we are are maybe 5% of the Wilcox's capabilities, but being the optimistic man he is he researched to find the "perfect trail". He found a "beginner" trail in an area of St George we had not been before. In case you are not familiar with Utah it is an outdoors man paradise and a little on the extreme side. I know this and still didn't pick up on the fact that my idea of beginner is far different then a Mountain bike websites idea of beginner.

What follows is our adventure and the lessons learned.

We parked, unpacked bikes, helmets and backpacks and set off. Not 10 feet from the start of the trail we went around a corner and saw that the trail went uphill. Of the three of us Dewey is the only one that can do hills. Don't judge not even in my so called prime 100 or so years ago could I do them so its not an old outta shape thing, I swear......

So off the bikes to walk. We were sure that it would be just a small section that was uphill, surely any minute it would flatten out and we would be riding through flat soft meadows. First lesson learned I do not have a realistic view of certain situations.

After a very long time of taking turns pushing the kids bikes the ground leveled out a bit. We worked out a system that we continued to use the rest of the day. Dewey or I would ride ahead, stop and start walking back. The other one of us would start the boys and they would go as far as they could. Best case until they met one of us walking back. We did this hopscotch thing for 3 hours.  

Once we reached the top we hit the real trail. This brought our hopscotch thing to much shorter distances. And added in a lot of bike carrying.

Luke actually did pretty good for his first time riding a "slick rock single track" trail. Yea that's what our "beginner" trail ended up being.

I think Dewey managed to squeeze in a little fun. And no he or I was not wearing a helmet, remember my flat meadow trail picture in my head? 

Patience was our second lesson for the day, neither Dewey or I lost our cool can you believe it? For all you that know me you know this is exactly the type of situation that causes me to freak out. 

The next three shots are a good example of the day, Luke, Dewey and Kolby all coming down the same spot.

Its hard to tell but Luke has a very grumpy face on.

Dewey still smiling after 3 hours

Kolby walking his bike. This becomes important later on in the story. Because he walked his bike so much we did not realize that he refuses to use his brakes.

A trip through the desert is not complete without spotting a critter of some sort.

So after three hours we were all past exhausted and knew we were getting close to the end.... We came around a corner to an almost straight up sand hill. My muscles screamed in protest ans Dewey and I pushed our bikes, then the boys bikes up that last hill. I think I may have told Dewey to just leave me there, I was pretty sure I could learn how to live in the desert, there had to be a tree I could sleep under.

We did however all make it to the top. (yes you are right we started and ending walking up hill) And wonder of wonder a downhill curvy dirt road leading back to our car. All we had to do at this point was get on the bikes and coast down the hill. Luke went first then me, Kolby and Dewey bringing up the rear. From behind me I hear Dewey yelling for Kolby to brake. The yelling gets more intense and I turn to see Kolby flying down the hill screaming "I can't, I can't. Mom instinct took over at that point as he came along side me I reached out and grabbed him. (that's right as we are both speeding down a hill) I kept him on top but we still landed on a pile of bikes and road. Thankful neither of us were hurt more then scrapes and bruises. (in my case great big backside covering bruises)  I like to think that I don't often feel my age but that day and the week after I felt 40 and then some.
At the end of the day I was pretty proud of us. We pulled together as a team and worked together to get us out of a tough situation. 

In a strange (and exhausting) way it was a great family bonding day. And it ended with no trips to the hospital woot-woot
Lessons learned...check
And lucky for us there is not a hill or even a bump on our property. Kolby will be able to practice riding and  more importantly braking with no cause for concern.... knock on wood