We had our first competition and it didn’t go as well as we’d hoped. But, our stunt group hit all of our stunts.

He said

This was one, crazy week! There was a lot to do in what felt like almost not enough time to get it all done. A lot of the focus this week, of course, was around getting ready for Emelia’s first Cheer Competition of the season, but there was a lot of other things sprinkled in too. We finally managed to have weather where Danielle could take her eBike out for its first ride. I peppered in a mixture of indoor and outdoor rides as the weather once again gave us some unseasonably warmer days. But the other big thing was the kick off to holiday shopping at our store in Black Friday—anyone who spends time in the Retail space knows what a challenge that is alone.

Tuesday and Wednesday I had off work given that I was going to be working Friday and Saturday. But, with the weather giving us some closer to double digit temps, and still having daylight when Danielle’s work day ended, we opted to take take her first try on the eBike Tuesday. She loved it so much, we did the exact same thing again Wednesday! With the pedal assist she was able to keep pace with my speed, and even drop me on some climbs, but most importantly had absolutely no hip pain! That has the one thing that has really held her back from riding more often with me. I am so beyond happy for Danielle that she has something she loves (and that isn’t a hand-me-down of my old bikes). She loves it so much she even went out for a solo ride by herself Saturday when I was at work!

My Movember campaign has continued on and this being the second last week of the month I’ve started ramping up my fundraising campaign. This is the 14th year I have participated and with any luck this year I am going to cross a a significant fundraising milestone. As of right now I am sitting at $180 shy of having raised $10,000 in my 14 years! So with this last week in front of me I am going to make a full court press so I can get there! I know I can count on Danielle, and there’s a few other friends that like to wait to the end so I am hoping by this time next weekend I am celebrating that milestone crossed. And if you’re reading here and you want to help, you can click here to donate.

Lastly, this weekend. Friday and Saturday were blurs that went by in the blink of an eye working two days of our Black Friday event. But, Sunday was the real day that was on all of our calendars—Emelia’s first Cheer Competition of the season. She was excited, we were excited, and the day was finally here. On our way down Emelia got word that one of the girls – a flyer in the other stunt group – had broken her collarbone last night at the hotel they were staying. With having already lost Olivia to injury and having to quickly up-skill her replacement, as well as replace Flo who left the team because she just had too many other life commitments, the team has been scurrying to fill those gaps. This wrinkle was significant and with not enough time to solve.

So going into the competition today, that knew that it was an uphill battle. While the performance definitely was not their best work, it was certainly better than it could have been given all that they were working through! Emelia herself came through with a great performance, having leveraged all the feedback she’s being given even up to the very last practice and hit on it all. Her stunt group hit every single stunt and they put together a flawless part of the routine. But in the end, out of 5 teams, and even while the kids were certain they were going to place dead last, they ended with a 4th, which as far as we’re concerned was a huge success given the obstacles!

She said

What a crazy week. Emelia has been battling the end of this horrible cough so she has been fighting keeping up with school and her training. It hasn’t been easy at all. She has been going to training masked to keep the germs to herself. The last few practices have been stressful for the whole team. Emelia came up upset a few times and the worry for the weekend was building. Now I will say with all her stresses she took the criticism as a push to get the last minute corrections fixed. But more about that in a bit.

This week between training sessions, work and well life John and I managed to finally get out this week and try out my new ebike we got for my birthday. I have had it for a few weeks but the weather has not been working in our favour. As luck would have it the two days John had off mid-week were beautiful so we vowed to get out both days together so I could finally try it out. It took a bit of getting used to but once I did I was in love. As a couple we have always loved to ride, it started together post university and kept going until right up to Emelia being born. But with complications with my pregnancy and labour has done permanent damage to my left hip. This has made long distance riding difficult if not impossible at times. I’m happy to say the bike is everything I had hoped for. I was able to adjust the assist as I needed to ensure I was still getting in a great workout but when I needed it on hills I able to fly up the hills. This let me keep up with John’s pace on his bike and more importantly I could go longer distances. I was so comfortable that yesterday I went on a 25+km bike ride solo!

Once I got home from my ride I got home and got things organized for Emelia and competition the next day. Emelia and one of her closest friends on the team Emma had planned that they would have sleepover the night before comp. They had hoped that their other teammate and one of Emelia’s closest friends on the team could join them but she wasn’t able to. Emelia and Emma had an incredible night and even drove down together today. Emelia arrived relaxed and a bit nervous for how today would go.

By the time they were to hit the floor Emelia was fully relaxed and ready to take it to the floor. But things did not go how they wanted. Emelia’s stunt group did amazing, they hit all their stunts, Emelia hit all her jumps but with a sudden loss of one of their flyers to an injury the night before competition and other illnesses and injuries the rest of the routine was definitely not what they know they can do. The girls came off the floor defeated. They know they could have done better. Hopefully the coaches take their only practice before next comp to make the corrections and build the girls up so they are ready for the big competition next weekend. In the end I am so proud of Emelia. She has really become a leader and supporter for her teammates. Now we can just hope that next weekend goes better for them than this weekend went.