Summer 2012...late posting

I've been meaning to do this for quite some time, but have just not had the chance to get to it. I am finally doing it! In August my work sponsored a group of 12 runners to participate in a race called the Spokane to Sandpoint relay. The relay starts at the top of Mount Spokane and goes to a town called Sandpoint 185 miles away. The 12 runners are divided into 2 vehicles and each runner runs 3 legs. The race takes about 28 hours to complete. It was a very hot day that day so some of our runners really struggled. Luckily I was the first runner and started around 9am and my other two legs were either in the evening or early morning. I really enjoyed the race and was glad I finished!

Back in early September was our annual ABH (All Brother Hike). This is our 12th year in a row doing it! Unfortunately only 4 of the 7 brothers could go on it (Birch, Me, Logan and Kelly). This year was we decided to to a 3 day bike trip instead of hiking. We spent the summer preparing for what would be about a 220 bike trip. Before this trip, I'd mostly been a casual rider, so to get ready I had to invest in a few things. First I had to get a decent bike. I purchased a Schwinn bike online after doing a lot of research. It is a good bike and served me well. Nothing too fancy. I also had to invest in clipless pedals. I'd never worn them before, I'd always used toe clips in the past, but I found that I really liked riding with the clipless pedals. I especially liked that I didn't lose the circulation to my feet like when I used toe clips.

We decided to do our trip in Banff national park area (Canada). We rode a loop called the golden triangle. We drove up to Canada on a Wednesday evening and had started our trek Thursday morning. Our first day of riding was definitely our hardest. We went about 78 miles and ascended over 4,250 feet in elevation! That was a ruff first day. The next two days were about 77 and 68 miles. I was very pleased to say that I felt really good on the trip. I did not get too sore and had plenty of energy (thanks Cytomax). At the end of our trip we went to the Radium Hot Springs pool and soaked. It was a great trip.