Meredith Root

38. Thank you to everyone who reached out and made this birthday special from near and afar. I feel lucky to have such great people and experiences in my life. This has been a growing year for me, and I also find myself feeling grateful for the ability to step into that growth, as uncomfortable as it can be sometimes. I have had moments in my adult life where I feel I have things figured out, only to realize I definitely do not. And maybe I never will. Maybe we’re not supposed to ever have things figured out and that’s what makes the quest for growth so fulfilling. I’ve done a lot of reading and learning this year and I was struck by a paragraph written by Maya Angelou in her collection of essays called Letters to my Daughter where she reflects on the concept of growing up. This is my take on that essay.

I am starting to believe that most people do not grow up. We do adult things, we pay our bills, we climb corporate ladders, we strive, and we do much of what is expected of us. We may dare to get married or have children and we call those things growing up but what I think is that we mostly grow old. Inside the aging bodies and behind the lines on our faces are our real selves, our child selves who are still innocent and free and longing for home. And while we may act put together and take on ever increasing responsibilities, we feel safest and most grounded when we learn to look inside and find that home. This home isn’t a place, it isn’t people, and it’s not a handful of lost endeavors. Home is the peace that comes when we find where we belong within ourselves. And it may be the only place we ever really do.

So as I endeavor into my 39th year, this is the journey and the quest I am committed to. To return to myself, to find the childlike wonder of the world, to the optimism required to see the best in myself and others, and the vulnerability of letting my guard down, even when the weight of aging, experience and responsibility pressure me towards a guarded and performative way of being.

Second star to the right and then straight on ‘til morning ✨

Anything Goes Event Series Fernie Gravel Grind will always be a special race for me. I love it in the rain, the heat, and in the perfect Goldilocks conditions we got this year. It was my first gravel race back in 2023 (pic #2) when I did it untrained on an aluminum State thunderbird cyclocross bike. I finished it in a whopping 4hr 57min and my 15 year old half-size-too-small Sidis gave me the worst hotspots of my life. Despite that, it is the race that reignited my love for drop bar bikes and I dove in head first. Haven’t looked back. My equipment and training have improved massively but my stoke for this sport was the same on that day as it is today. There’s just something about getting on a gravel bike and pedaling into the middle of nowhere that’s hard to beat.

Alex Parker and I got the opportunity to support this event in a more official capacity this year with Tactic Fitness & Nutrition which was really cool. We’ve been working to empower more people, but especially women, to get on bikes and take their fitness outdoors. What you will notice immediately when you do the Fernie Gravel Grind is just how many women there are in the race. Women have made up 40-50% of the FGG field for the last few years. I think that’s a reflection of both the felt sense of inclusivity and the rider demographics in Fernie. There are a lot of women on bikes in this town!

My goal is to get even more women out here on bikes. It would be pretty awesome to see the women’s field crack 50% in a major race like this and make up the majority of riders. I think it’s doable.

So pencil this one in for next year! It is a truly great race that showcases my favourite place on earth!

And if mountain biking is more your thing, Anything Goes Event Series has some killer races coming up in the fall, including a women’s only Enduro race (Femmduro) on September 27th.

And a big shout out to Garmin Canada for their support of the women’s ride this year!

📷: Cody Shimizu

Race recap below! But first… if you rode Single Track 3 or if you’ve biked in Fernie and were like “wow, these trails are sick!” You’re not wrong, Fernie has an amazing trail network. And much of that trail network exists only because of the hard work by the Fernie Trails Alliance, an organization I’m proud to be a part of. You can support our work by purchasing a trail pass or by donating directly. There are family and corporate passes available too. The work of the FTA can’t happen without funding and the ultimate trail stewardship is to give back to the people who build and maintain them. 🙏🏼

I decided to dip my toe into XC mountain bike racing and figured, why not make it a three day stage race?! TransRockies Race Series put on a banger of an event. Fernie Single Track 3 had it all, including good weather somehow! And all without leaving home. The day 3 course (first pic) was quite literally in our backyard. I don’t race mountain bikes, I ride them for fun so it was cool to see these trails in a different way and ride them with a different intention. On a way smaller bike. Also in road gear.

Day 3 in the provincial park was the biggest day. Biggest climbs, biggest descents, biggest tech, biggest features… and I have to say, I’m actually so impressed with what this bike can ride! I beat my previous best times on a few descents by like multiple minutes. I thought it might be a limiting factor but as per usual, the limiting factor was the rider. Which is great news because that is something I can continue to work on!

3 days, 107km, 3300m of elevation. The first mountain bike race won’t be the last! She’s hooked!

Big love to Velocio for making the best kits out there. The first step to riding fast is looking fast and that’s never a question in their gear 🦹🏼‍♀️

Next up, my favorite one! Anything Goes Event Series Fernie Gravel Grind!

New sport, same mean mug, 8 years apart ➡️➡️

Fitness sure is fun and there are so many ways to express it! In this season of life, I’m enjoying outdoor expression the most but I am forever grateful for the decade + that I spent building a tremendous base of strength and conditioning. I’m getting to play with it now! If that’s what we can call what I did on that TransRockies Race Series Fernie ST3 day 3 ski hill climb 👀

Also Velocio kits are better than CF Games kits - I said what I said.

She stole one when I wasn’t ready 💋

🤍🤎🤍🤎

I never thought I’d make this post, tell this secret, or share so openly about the truth of my most complicated relationship. It’s been 11 years and it’s still a complicated relationship but the memories that come back to me now are more good than bad, more kind than painful. What I’m sharing would have been immensely helpful for me to read many years ago so if it has that impact on even one person, the vulnerability will have been worth it.

I miss her, I wish she was here.

2026 was one for the books! I’m not going to talk about the weather, by now most people know what it was ⛈️.

200 miles in Emporia is always character building and there was a moment where I thought I might call it. Came real close. I was hoping my bike was more broken than it was. But it wasn’t and I took that as a sign, as unwelcome as it was at the time.

So I took my pity party on the road and figured I’d just pedal and see what happened. I had to get back to Emporia somehow anyways, why not on two wheels?

Well what happened is I started to come back to life. I kept thinking, “you’re just hurting, not dying, so stop riding this bike like the latter is happening. Race the damn thing.”

It’s actually amazing what you can come back from. I’m super proud of so much of this race. I rode my fastest 100 mile ever through a swamp and felt the strongest I’ve ever felt on the bike. I have the and to thank for that! And fat biking. I truly think fat biking is a secret weapon for bike handling.

It didn’t come together exactly as I’d hoped but as I made the turn onto Commercial Street for the final stretch to the finish line, I hammered it and sprinted. The same 30 second effort I’ve been practicing at the end of all my long rides to prepare for that very stretch of road. I even dumped my bottles ahead of it. In the end, I was only racing myself. But I made her work for it! I think I won… pretty sure of it.

More to come!