The Untold Story

Here's us... Kirk, myself, Jana, and Rustin. We're smiling right? We look happy to be out on our bikes representing our cycling team. What you don't see is the bags under our eyes, our exhausted children running around the campground, the bee sting on Rustin's hand, and not to forget the bee sting on Kirk's inner thigh. Last but not least, you don't see my list of goals with "a century ride" left unchecked.

Here's the untold story:

A century ride has been on my list of things to accomplish since 2005. My first attempt was the Heber Valley century which was so windy that you had to pedal downhill - I only ended up doing 70 miles. From babies, to infants who wouldn't take a bottle, to broken pelvises, I have a slew of excuses why I haven't attempted one since then. 2009 was the year.

We signed up for Bike the Bear at the beginning of August and I was REALLY looking forward to checking it off the docket. We decided we would just take up all the kids, camp, and have family members watch them while we rode. After all, we've had lots of success camping this summer.

The day before the race Kirk and I got up to Bear Lake around 6:30. We set up our camp at Camp Hunt where the race begins. First off, the mosquitoes were thick and we forgot repellent. I stayed at the lodge for a while with the kiddos while Kirk set up the tent and then around 8:30 we just got in it to avoid being eaten alive. I was hoping to get the kids off to dreamland before the rest of our party got there, but my attempts were futile.

9:30 hits and most of the crew shows up. Six of my nieces and nephews pile in our tent while the adults set up their camp. It's taking an especially long time since no one could park near our campsite. After the kids filter out and my children are finally asleep I check the clock, it's almost midnight.

I lay there wishing I would have brought my earplugs and breathright nasal strip (essentials for sleeping - especially while camping). I finally doze off when Jesse starts to fuss. We can't calm him down so he gets into the sleeping bag with us. We doze off again, and Maren starts to cry. After a few minutes, she calms down and falls back asleep. Then, at 1:30 am, Maren starts up again. This time we can't seem to figure out the problem. Her fit wakes up Jesse and then they are both crying. Mind you, we are in a scout camp filled with hundreds of people who are supposed to wake up at 6:00 in the morning to ride 100 miles. Neither child will calm down and we are no where near our vehicle.

Upset and frustrated, I figured I might as well join in and start crying. I tell Kirk that I am driving home with the kids, but he won't let me. We walk our sobbing children through the camp to our car, put them in their car seats so we could make a plan. Somehow Kirk convinces me that he will just drive them around and sleep in the car with them while I get some shut eye in the tent. He told me he would text me if there were any problems.

I get back to the tent, phone in hand, waiting for some type of report. I try to take Kirk's advice and get some sleep when a similar situation erupts in Rustin and Jana's tent nearby. I'm not sure how much sleep I got or how much anyone in our camp got for that matter. At 6:00 am a leader shouts out on the megaphone and there is no sign of Kirk and the kids.

They finally show up a few minutes later. When I ask Kirk how it went he told me that he had literally been driving for 4 hours straight. Every time he would pull off the road to sleep the kids would wake up. His longest stretch of sleep was only 13 minutes. Jana and Rustin emerge from their tent looking sleepy eyed as well. After a discussion with the four of us we opt to eat, start late, and only ride 50 miles.

We took off at 9:00 instead of 7:00 and despite the crummy night we actually rode quite well and even caught the back end of the other riders. The ride was really beautiful. It's mostly flat with some rolling hills on the east side of the lake. It's just over 50 miles around the whole thing. Minus the bee stings the boys got during the ride, we had a great ride. When we got back to camp, we ate lunch and Kirk fell asleep at the lunch table.

So here I am eating some of my words about taking your kids on adventures. Next time, I will not combine camping with an event, and I will gladly leave my children at home.