A Bit of Inspiration, Pt I

General Thought
I am not sure if anyone other than myself will ever read these postings, so I guess I could care less about what I write here. It's my place, so I'll write about what I want to write about. However, for the time being, it seems as though the writings will be based on, or at least have something to do with my various cycling adventures. With that said, this should be about the great experience I was able to witness during the Scout Triathlon I have previously written about.

Kevin and Kenny

(One excited dad, and one 'trying-not-to-be' excited son)

As I've mentioned in the previous posting about the event, the triathlon was put on by some local scout troops that are predominantly made up of young men from my church. Due to scheduling conflicts (football, 'I'm just too lazy', etc), Kenny was the only boy from our ward that was going to participate in the event this year. He had recently been riding his bike more and thought the triathlon sounded like a fun event. His dad, Kevin, also had started running recently in effort to get back into shape, and thought the same thing. After talking with them a few times about the event we came to the conclusion that Casey would be the swimmer for their team, and our team. (For this reason I am sure Casey swam twice as fast.)

(Teams 712 and 713 waiting for Casey)

Early Warning Signs?

In picking up Kevin and Kenny for the event, Kevin mentioned he needed to tighten Kenny's handlebars as they had come loose. In getting to the lake and taking the bikes off the rack, it seemed that the bolt may have been stripped or something, but either way, it was not getting any better with the tools we had with us. I was a little worried for Kenny, but knew the route and realized that the real trouble would be getting up the mountain as he had only been riding his cruiser bike around a fairly flat neighborhood.

I also noticed that the bike he was riding did not have a place for a water bottle. In effort to be a good boy scout myself (I was an Eagle Scout after all, though that was almost half a lifetime ago), I brought an extra helmet and water bottle, and even a plastic bag he could use as a backpack in case he needed it. (NOTE: If I were really thinking I would have thought to bring my CamelBak pack I usually wear when I'm mountain biking. So, not such an Eagle Scout move on my part.) Anyways, Kenny was a good sport and actually agreed to take the water along with him. though I'm not sure if he wore it on his back or carried it like shown in the picture above.

The Ride

I won't go into the ride much here, as you can read my post for how things went for me. I will just point out that I kind of felt old/dumb as I noticed most the other people on the trail did not have water with them. It was only a 30-40 minute ride, maybe they wouldn't need it. Maybe I didn't need it, and I should just man up and think about hydration afterwards. Was I that old that only I needed water part way up the mountain. And was I making Kenny carry a water bottle in a plastic bag on his back, which only added more weight, for no reason? Well, I was at least playing it safe, right!?

The Wait

I got down the mountain and saw Kevin and his wife, Caleen, waiting for their son to come down. At this point I was grateful for one thing. Kenny did not pass me on the ride. I don't have much in life, and I've only been riding a little here and there for a year, but I was glad my pride didn't have to take a hit that a boy that had just started riding, and hadn't ridden this bike, didn't beat me on a trail he had never ridden before.

We watched as others started coming in, and I told them it could be a while, as I was sure Kenny was starting to experience what I had warned him about, it being a steep trail up and all. And I am sure he had to walk more than I did. But after waiting a few minutes, I started to think about Daniel finishing his run, and me needing to be there to finish it with him, so I left. Once Daniel and I came through the finish I looked back over and I noticed Kevin and Caleen still waiting, wondering where Kenny was. By this point I imagined that everyone else had made it through the bike portion of the ride. "So, where's Kenny?"

(I've really got to get to the point on these stories, but they end up longer than I thought. And I want postings more than once every other week)...TO BE CONTINUED...