Biking Galbraith Mountain

Just after the first bike repair

 Our Boy Scout Troop planned to go Mountain Biking and I thought that it sounded like fun! That, and Sean's bike is a road bike so he couldn't go, and we have one certain boy that needs parental  supervision especially on an activity that involves risk.

Good Samaritan, fixing Erik's bike

 A very good choice. Erik wanted to go with the experienced older boys that were going on a much more difficult trail and I refused to let him go. About 20 minutes into our mountain biking adventure Erik's derailleur broke on his bike. We were not exactly sure what to do with a broken bike, 6 boys, and no tools at the top of a mountain (I don't think the 10 essentials include a wrench). When all of a sudden a lone mountain biker came along and improvised one of his tools to fix Erik's bike. Erik profusely thanked him (which was a nice change of pace from his previous bad attitude about going on the 'easy' ride). I breathed a prayer of thanks for God's continued provision and faithfulness in providing for all things.

Nathan at the top of the mountain

 One of the boys had not ridden very much and his bike weighed about 97.6 pounds. I ended up pushing his bike up the hills then running back down to get my bike. I'm not sure how high Galbraith Mountain is, but at times it felt like Mt. Everest. When the time arrived to go down, it was so.much.fun! The boy with the 97.6 pound bike did not use his pedals, AT All!  He used Fred Flintstone techniques to slow down and stop. I brought up the rear and had to really watch to make sure that I wasn't going to plow right over the top of this poor, very sore boy.
Erik's derailleur kept falling off. If you have ever heard the Bible verse, "a fool gives full vent to his anger" That Proverb was clearly illustrated on the mountain. Surprisingly, I just sat back and watched. I did nothing. He figured it out. The absolute worst part of the whole thing was when Erik and another boy stood at the edge of a cliff on a rock with a shear face. I freaked out appropriately, then we were all back on track.

Bellingham Bay in the rear, just before sunset. 

I had another moment of panic when I realized it was getting dark, I couldn't see very well, had no idea how much farther we had to go, my phone was almost dead, we were all covered in mud and I had an overdue client. 

One of the boys, from up ahead yelled for me to,"Step on it, Mrs. Carolynn!" I heard them hooting and hollering as we went down, so I stepped on it! Right around the corner was a 90 degree turn with a mud pit at the bottom and a wall of mud on the other side. I opted to go up and over the wall of mud and stop myself gracefully with a beautiful 40 foot cedar tree. 

We were much later returning than what was expected and I did get a call from a worried Scout Leader I assured him that we were having a wonderful time, but I had absolutely not a clue where I was. After running 5 miles with a friend in the afternoon, running another 1 1/2 miles with the scouts for their Personal Fitness Merit Badge, and then pushing the 97.6 pound bike up a mountain, running back down the mountain to get mine, and back up again I was overjoyed when we finally got out of the woods (literally) and headed down the pipeline to our meeting place! 

The boys loaded our bikes (Alleluia! I have arrived!) enjoyed some s'mores around the campfire, headed home, showered, and hit the sack at 11:30! 

When can we go again?