Gayle and Ruben's Kiwi Blog

Holy S**t! Saint Gayle,

Just in case no one thought it possible, but G can ride a mountain bike. If there are certain parameters in place she will even consider it. The trail must be groomed, no Lance Armstrong efforts (doped nor clean) and a time limit.

G riding a mountain bike

G on a bike on a bridge

But she has limits...

G abusing her bike

Gayle fell off the bike after poorly shifting gears it it skipped on her on this very small hill. There was operator error involved, but she blamed the bike. In fact, she kicked it. I supported her with laughter and encouragement.

G abandoning her bike

I was able to convince her to go back down to pick it up and continue on our trip. She has often said It's not a bike ride when I have to push it.

G pushing her bike

Because Gayle's comfort is most important to me, I carefully consulted the map and navigated us to a "short-cut," which add an extra hour or so...of fun...to our trip.

panoarama picture of lake Hayes

I heard some expletives on the way up the hill to the viewpoint above Lake Hayes.

G riding down

If it goes up, it must go down.

That's enough

But it goes back up sometimes. It was a steep hill. "Christie's Hill"

The team is broken

My years of crafting the right words to get the best out of an athlete paid off, I was able to convince her to remount. The promise of food and a run tomorrow helped, too.

Good coaching

The next day was a trail run to a ghost town called, Macetown. It called for careful navigation up the one road, but did I mention the 7 or so river crossings, some as high as our knees?