Chris Wolfenden spends a lot of his time helping young cyclists on their bikes as they look to improve. He also loves cycling himself so that's exactly what he did over the weekend in Morden.

The Dauphinite competed in the Morden Schinkenvad Cup #2 as a part of the Manitoba Cycling Cup. After more than an hour of giving it his all, Chris finished in fifth out of 20 racers in the "Sport" event. It was Chris' first race of the season.

"Yeah it was my first race ever so I was there to sort of see what a race looks like since I'm running a mountain bike program," said Wolfenden. "It was a neat experience and to have a pretty good race was exciting. The thing I was most happy about is I didn't crash and I didn't blow up. I was able to race strong the whole way through."

Being Chris' first ever mountain bike race, a big challenge was ahead. That just meant he had to work that much harder in the prior weeks to make sure he was ready. Just like he preaches to the cyclists he teaches, it's all about working hard and Chris knows everything about having a strong work ethic.

"You need to ride and you need to do it pretty consistently. It's not easy, I was giving it everything I had for just over an hour," said Wolfenden. "I was laughing because I was looking at my heart rate and basically from the beginning, it was at 170 and it stayed that way for an hour. You definitely have to be in good shape for this type of thing."

Chris was also able to use the race as a learning experience. He now has a little bit of time to prepare for his next race which will be during the second week of July in Winnipeg.

The weather should be better during that race than it was this past weekend, but even if it isn't, the Dauphin native will be ready.

"I was kind of prepared for the cold weather in Morden, but not really. I needed to be better prepared for that," added Wolfenden. "I also need to do some more skills training. Like my race was two laps and for the first lap, I was very cautious. I have to be more technically ready and of course, you can always be in better shape."

Chris alongside some of the athletes he coaches will also take part in the Dauphin XC presented by the Dauphin Derailleurs in August.