Earning my turns

They say that when you work hard for something you appreciate what you get much more- the berry is that much sweeter. Well, what they say it true. I found out about that first hand this summer, while taking part in the dig-to-ride program at High Cascade.

I never thought that I had any sort of physical strength, and in the past I have always made excuses or just plain quit when I thought that things were too tough for my body to handle. But that wasn't an option in dig-to-ride. If I quit, I didn't get to ride. So I pushed myself. And I was quite surprised at the results.

I'll admit, at the start of this summer I was pretty weak. I set up a great training program through, and followed it for a couple of weeks.

• Day 1: 2 hour hike through the forest. Don't follow paths. Hike over trees, through fields, over the rivers  
• Day 2: 1 mile jog, 100 lunges on each side, 50 squats, 50 1 legged squats on my bad knee. 
• Day 3: 35-40 minutes on a stationary bike, plus some core stuff, and hamstring curls if the machine is set up.

However, as soon as I started dig-to-ride, I realized working out extra was completely unnecessary. 
Every morning of dig-to-ride I got up to the HCSC park between 7:30 and 7:45 and started making trips up and down through the park carrying banners to set up. I usually finished the hiking and set up stuff around 10am, and then began to lap the pipe. We had to meet back up for noon rake (which consisted of hiking up to the top of the mini pipe and raking the walls all the way down, and then doing the same to the super pipe) at 11:45am, and that would end between 12:30 and 1pm, depending on if we were raking the super pipe. Then I got to ride again until 2:30, at which point I had to tear down the banners and put them back away. Most people would think that four hours of work in exchange for three hours of riding wasn't worth it, but I disagreed. Having the opportunity to ride High Cascade all summer was worth the hard work and sacrifice.

Plus, digging became a free gym membership. I think I got more physically fit this summer than I ever have been. I'm completely surprised at my own strength. When the summer started, carrying two banners at a time was exhausting, and I thought that setting up 8 banners in the morning was an accomplishment. By the middle of the summer I felt comfortable carrying four banners at once and had set up 21 banners in the morning before any other dig-to-rides had even shown up. I also learned how to get pretty good with a rake (I'm far from the best, but I can at least build a decent lip). Most important, I think I finally rehabilitated my knee.

I'm fully aware of how lame it is that I'm nerding out on digging to ride, but I honestly don't care. I learned how to push myself physically and mentally, and found myself taking pride in the work I was doing. The summer didn't go as planned with me being able to get a camp job, but I'm glad I experienced dig-to-ride. I can now fully appreciate how much work diggers put in to keep the park in shape for campers. I now also know that I can push myself a lot harder than I thought I ever could. Earning my turns wasn't as kush as it would have been if I had a sponsor pass or paid for a pass to just ride, but I think the whole experience I went through is a lot more valuable to my personal development.