Ride the Rock

 Last Saturday, May 12th, Marc and I... with the kids... participated in "Ride the Rock" a 16.5 mile bike ride around Joliet (mostly through various park district trails.  Ride the Rock is an annual "family bike ride" event (free!) to promote the importance of living an active life style with your family.  Marc had told me about it last year and we both thought it would be something fun to try when we moved to the area.

 Marc registered is a few months ago and told me it was 8-10 miles.  We planned to get a bike attachment for Sadie (and already had a bike trailer).  I thought it would be very doable.  As the time got closer Marc looked up the route and discovered that it was actually 16 miles.  Definitely more intimidating, but I always love a good challenge.  I thought we should try some longer bike rides in the weeks leading up to the event to get a feel for what we were up against.  Our longest ride (prior to Ride the Rock) was just over 4 miles (to Dairy Queen and back) with a break in the middle.  Let's just say this little tester did NOT go well...

 Like I said before, I love a good a challenge and I did not want to give up.  Marc wanted to wait until next year, I wanted to prove that I could do it.  The morning of the ride, we woke up around 5 am to thunder storms.  At that point the bikes were already loaded, snacks packed, water bottles ready... I still didn't want to give up.  Marc, being the amazingly supportive husband he is, told me that if I really wanted to try that he would support me and that he would do it with a happy heart.

The rain put us a little behind schedule but we arrived a little after 9 am (which was the time people could officially start riding).  There was a HUGE line to check in but by the time we parked (in a huge, very muddy, grass field), unloaded, and got ready to ride the line was gone and we were able to check in and start riding. We started out with the girls in the bike trailer and Kinnick on the tandem bike attachment (see above picture.)  Kinnick and Sadie switched back and forth throughout the race.  Kinnick loved riding the big bike but isn't quite tall enough to peddle.

I told Marc the day before the race that I was sure I could do this race physically, but unsure whether I could handle it mentally--with whining kids, arguing, bad attitudes, etc... well I was ready to eat my words because almost the entire first mile of the ride was uphill.  I was pulling the trailer (about 70 lbs.) and I was DYING!  Thankfully the path evened out and the ride got easier.  There wasn't any more uphill stretches as long as the beginning one (and there were very some very fun downhill rides!)

I was very impressed with the set-up of the event.  We got t-shirts (even though it was free!) and LOTS of yummy snacks.  There were 4 rest stops throughout the ride.  The first one (3 miles in) had apples and bananas.  #2 had granola bars and a craft for the kids--they got to make streamers for their handle bars.  Stop #3 the  kids got to make their own trail mix and there was a playground.  At the final stop we enjoyed strawberry smoothies and fun dance music.

The weather wasn't too bad, it was a little on the cool side and it rained between stops 3 & 4.  The last 2 miles was on a dirt path so it was messy.  Macey stayed nice and warm in the trailer.  Sadie did fine.  Kinnick complained of being cold and liked to tuck his hands inside his jacket.  He also wanted to know if we could cover up his face while he was riding (ha!)

I was surprised at how not crowded the trails seemed.  There were over 2000 participants but the trails were not too busy.  There was one section where we rode for almost 5 minutes without seeing anyone.  We ended up seeing familiar people at the rest stops each time and even talked to one little girl who plays soccer in Sadie's soccer program.

If I were to say it was easy, I would be lying... it was difficult but very much worth it.  I loved the feeling of crossing the finish line together and celebrating as a family.

We hope to make this an annual tradition and try to invite some friends with us next year.  (We are also hoping for no rain in the future!)  Not sure when the kids will be old enough to try it on their own bikes (we saw one 4 year old boy that did it all on his own bike!)

When we made it to the end we were excited to see all the fun activities.  There was lots of food and music. A petting zoo (free) that the kids enjoyed and a climbing wall (maybe in the future...).  We started at 9:45 am and finished just after 1.  The kids didn't need lunch because they snacked so much throughout.  We took them out for ice cream to celebrate their hard work.

Kinnick and Macey both crashed when we got home and we had to wake them up at 5!

We ended the night with a fun date... we enjoyed going to the "Morning Star Mission" Gala with some of Marc's colleagues.  It was fun to get dressed up and enjoy a fancy dinner; however, by 9 pm we were ready to crash also!  It was a L-O-N-G, fun-filled day!