Whew! What a summer…… Managing 2 kids full time when they are not in school is quite a juggling act. Thank God for my wife, Aly. She is super woman for sure. The kids went to 3 different camps – Skateboard Camp, Mountain Bike Camp, and Vacation Bible Camp for Kyle; and Little Tykes Bike Camp, Gymnastics camp, and Vacation Bible Camp for Thomas. On top of that, we went on our first official 2 week family vacation to British Columbia this year. Aly’s family has a reunion every 2 years in Nakusp at her uncle’s place. He has enough land (on the lake – very nice) for the entire family (sometimes up to 80 people) to camp at their place. We roast a pig over a spit on the Sunday and spend time on the lake waterskiing, tubing, and trying to walk the log boom without falling off (easy for a 70 lb kid, not so easy for a 200lb Dad….). Then off to Vernon, Kelowna, and the Shuswaps to visit the rest of Aly’s family and my Mom and Step-dad at the cabin they rent every year. A great way to have some family time on a budget! The weather was the best 2 weeks of the summer ranging from 20 C to 37 C.
Around all of that I did manage to get some training in and am pleased with how I am progressing. It is always hard for me to get to September and feel fit, but look at the push times and want more. All in good time; as they say, the season is still 2 months away….. And I can’t wait. Cross fingers, I will have my runner issue handled this season and finally be back on a level playing field with my team mates and international competitors. First step to make the ‘come back’ official is to make the national team and then it is on to the World Cup circuit to get myself back into the top 3 over-all.
Team selections begin in Whistler on Oct. 27/28, continue in Calgary on Nov. 1, and finish in Lake Placid on Nov. 16. It is a three race selection process and points from each race will be used to determine the World Cup Team (3) and the Intercontinental Team (3 sliders).