Biking + Navigation= FUN!!!

I thought Biking + Navigation = Nervousness BUT, I found out on Sunday that it actually eqauls FUN!!!

One of our team members, Sharon hasn't been able to join us for the last couple of trainings due to injury.
Knowing how active she is and how much she misses being with us, I thought it would be nice to show her that we miss her too.
So, I brought my video camera with me and asked everyone to pass on a message through video... little did I know, being the computer genius that I am, that I would need to edit and get it on the web somehow. It all worked out in the end :-)

Met the team at Hilton Falls. We were told to bring our bikes and compass.
Brian, our navigation pro, gave us a refresher course on using our compass. It seems to really help the second time around.
We were put into four groups of two's. My partner was Joyce :-)
We all started at the same time. Our mission was to go to four check points and find the beach ball that was hidden, write down the colour and make it back to the starting point.

Sounds easy enough...
Lets throw some rocks, mud, and a hidden beach ball that could not be found first time AND second time around into all this adventure and we'll call it a day.

Joyce and I started with our first check point. Could not locate the ball.
For some reason I was focused on the second check point and completely forgot about the first one.
My poor partner must have thought I was nuts, as I was walking in the opposite direction of where we should have been looking.
We didn't want to waste any more time, we got on our bikes and headed towards the second check point.

We found three balls but, needed one more in order to complete the task.
Joyce and I enjoyed the ride through the woods.
At one point we passed Neil, Gail, and Beverly-Ann.
We were a little happy that we didn't see any of the other groups because in our minds we thought: "Hey, we MUST be in the lead".
Boy, were we wrong...
Talk about feeling a little to confident!

As we headed back to our first check point at 12:45pm to find the missing ball, that we couldn't find the first time.
Our goal for our time to be at the finish line was 1pm.
We searched again... NOTHING.
Soooooo, we kept re-doing our search... NOTHING.
As we went into the woods I would say: "Please no snakes, please don't let there be any snakes".
Luckily, I didn't see any throughout this adventure :-)
At one point, we both said: "I think someone moved it".
We searched a bunch of times and we finally said: "F*!K this, there's no way there's still a ball here, lets get out of here, we could still make it back before the others".
We left that check point at around 1:05pm.

As we headed towards the finish line...
My worst fear came true, and it's ONLY because I'm soooooo darn clumsy :-)
Joyce and I came to the same hill we had to ride up at the start of the race.
Joyce took one look at it and said: "I think I'm going to walk my bike down".
I thought it's easier going down than up... so, while we were already on an incline, I started getting on my bike and as soon as I got on, I wanted to get off.
As I went to get off, I fell on the gravel and slid a bit.
I heard Joyce ask: "Are you ok, do you need some help?"
I was starting to get up so, I said: "I'm ok... wait, I think I need some help, I'm stuck".
I got my left foot stuck in either my back wheel or something.
Poor Joyce got off her bike to help me get my twisted foot out... THANK YOU!!!
I got up and went to lift my bike up, at which point I noticed one of Joyce's foot pedals from her bike was stuck in my front wheel, and we had to get that out.
When I got my act together, I said: "I think I'll walk my bike down, now :-)"
We got closer to the bottom of the hill.
I hopped on my bike and yelled to Joyce "Yeah, we're almost at the finish, come on Joyce".
As we were riding to the finish, my phone started ringing...
At this point I knew we had come in last because I had a feeling they were calling to see if we were ok.
I didn't answer the phone because as I turned the corner I saw the team sitting at the bench.
They cheered for us as we came in :-)

Everyone shared stories of their adventure rides.
Oh, and the reason we couldn't find the beach ball was because they had already started taking them away... getting ready to go home!!!
I cleaned myself up with some wet naps "us mommies" always have in the car.
Amy was kind enough to give me one of her daughter's Dora band-aids... thank you!!!

Even though Joyce and I came in LAST PLACE...
We felt like we still won the race :-)
We worked well together. What ever one member missed during our adventure the other got and we helped one another along the way.
We didn't get lost and we really enjoyed the ride as we made our way to each check point.

I'm thinking I need to leave my Converse at home...
These damn shoes have brought me nothing but bad luck, during our trainings.
I already lost one shoe and I still have the other sitting in the basement... JUST IN CASE its missing partner showed up from our canoe adventure :-)
Then Sunday; with being in last place AND the fall...
I don't see any other reason besides blaming the shoe... could you?!?!?!!!
P.S.> Please don't answer that ;-)

Next Sunday is another Boot Camp with Susie :-)
P-L-E-A-S-E nooooooooooo SUICIDES AND BURPEES!!!
XO... 'til next time.