By James Durand
Years ago an Epic weekend would have included some party nights with friends, a road trip to some wild location, or maybe a rowdy camping trip. It also included a couple of days of recovery early the following week.
If you read my article even semi-regularly, you’ve probably noticed a theme lately. I am desperate to reduce how much I have on my plate. I want to simplify my life, and spend more time relaxing, riding, and hanging with my family. I want to do less stuff and therefore, have less stress.
These are probably normal wants from many adults these days. Life is too busy for most of us and slowing down seems like a logical solution right?
This last weekend started early for me and as much as I wanted to laze around in the heat, my to-do list is long … then friends invited me to ride, so relaxing got bumped.
We headed out of Swicked on Thursday night for a great group ride along the Quinsam River trails. It was a fun ride with a hard pace that left me smoked.
Friday night, a few friends and I did some shuttles with our DH bikes and rattled off lap after lap on some steep and technical trails at the base of Mount Washington. It’s been a long time since we’ve done this kind of riding and the smiles from every rider told the story of how much we’ve all missed it. We were a little sore, but no-one seemed to care.
Saturday was jammed packed with Regan’s BMX racing (He did great with a few qualifier wins and he crushed a freezie like a pro). Me, I just stood around trying to keep him hydrated and not once did I stress about my to-do list. I was too proud of my little dude to even care.
Sunday was a bit out of the norm for me. A couple of the Swicked team and I hit the ocean for a day of fishing. We saw whales, sea lions, and caught a bunch of fish. It was a great change of pace for me.
As the weekend came to an end I squeezed in some renovations at home and then crashed hard for a great sleep.
As I woke up Monday morning, exhausted and sore, I started planning my week, I realized I’ve been dreaming so much lately about doing less that I’ve been eliminating things I love to do in favour of chores. In reality I don’t want less, I just want a better balance. This weekend had a lot going on and being tired on Monday morning felt like a reward, not a punishment.
I feel prepared for another crazy week of bike shop life and although my body is tired and sore, I feel wide awake and ready to rip.
I’m James Durand and I’m Goin’ Ridin’…
