Published on July 22, 2026 at 06:00 AM
In 2017, Triathlete XTERRA pro Will Kelsay was asked to explain the ultimate triple truck. He’s actually lived out of two cars while chasing races: the first was a 1979 Chevy Eldorado purchased for $2,500, and in 2014, he criss-crossed Europe on the XTERRA Tour in an old turquoise Ford.
Kelsay’s advice covered facts that athletes understand immediately: measure each storage box, secure bikes inside, find a way to handle wet gear and make every inch count.
The family version of that car is now racking up miles between youth races. It holds kids, parents, bikes, food, schoolwork, and seasonal decisions about money and time. For Van Life off-road triathlon families, these vehicles are the drivers of a lifestyle that prioritizes adventure, shared experiences and learning about the world through swimming, biking and running.
Van life, family style
Elisa Pescolo She and her husband, Michelle, have two 16-year-old children Dahlia Fillion and a 12-year-old son Noah. For years, competitions have doubled as family travel. Their trailer gives the family control over two expenses that can make a youth racing calendar unmanageable: lodging and food.
“For the past few years, we have had a travel trailer that we purchased so we can be more self-sufficient,” Pescolo says. “It costs less to stay in camps, and we can prepare our own food instead of staying in hotels or having to look for houses to rent.”
When the family traveled from Quebec to Alabama for… XTERRA North American Championship This year, extra travel time is part of the plan. “We’re having fun during the trip. We’re making little stops along the way. This is really how we do it. We travel with the trailer, and we try to make the travel time fun with the family.”
Family evaluation of XTERRA Youth Tour The racing calendar begins with the number of weeks of vacation available from work. The North American Championship was a priority for Dahlia, who won it three years in a row. XTERRA Quebec remains on the calendar because it’s home. This year ends with the XTERRA Youth World Championship in Ruidoso, New Mexico. Family choices follow Dalia’s priorities, then revolve around work, travel time, and family budget.
“Sometimes people don’t see everything behind the training. We use our vacation time to travel to the race locations, spend a week there and practice the course so we can be as ready as possible when we get to the start line.”
The cost of chasing adventure
The trailer lowers the cost per night and allows the family to carry bikes without airfare. It also requires towing, fuel, campground reservations, maintenance, and time. Expenses were rearranged rather than erased. Vacation becomes travel to the race. Home projects await. A longer flight buys cheaper nights and kitchen.
“It takes a lot of sacrifices,” Pescolo says. “It also takes a lot of money.” “Instead of doing something else or buying things for the house, we save our money and live our passion.”
Dahlia wanted to attend the Canadian Multisport Championships in Edmonton, but the event was outside the original budget, and sponsors were difficult to find. Saved the family. Dalia started working and joined the financial decision.
“We made a little deal with her,” Pescolo says. “She worked a little more during July so she could put money aside and pay at least half the trip herself.”
Her contribution gives her ownership of the choice and an understanding of its cost. It also reveals the problem of access within youth sports: while teens can work to contribute to the trip, the ability to go still depends on parents who can modify leave, delay family spending, and have a car capable of transporting the family and their equipment.
When support starts to feel the pressure
Giving up the time and money to drive a truck from race to race to race begs the question: How far is supporting your child’s sporting dreams too far?
Concern about parental pressure is warranted. in A 2026 national survey published by the Aspen Institute’s Play Project21 percent of former youth athletes reported that they were pressured to participate when they did not want to. separate 2025 Play Project Survey It found that 73% of parents believe youth sports have lost the joy of teamwork.
While the logistical and financial toll of driving from one race to another can be significant, these families stress that parental sacrifice does not have to translate into a heavy burden of expectations for the child. Mileage is a poor measure of whether support has gone too far, as pressure can set in in a race close to home.
Instead, these families ask questions about ownership and permission: Can the child say no without consequences? Can a family discuss the cost of racing without turning the cost into a commitment to performance? Are school, rest, and normal friendships still appropriate? Does the parent consider the trip worthwhile after obtaining an ordinary result?
Pescolo gives Dahlia a clear role in every decision. The family follows their chosen branch of triathlon, and their racing priorities determine the calendar. They discuss the impact on the family’s schedule and finances openly. None of this guarantees that undue pressure will be avoided, but parents work hard to ensure that their child has the strength to sacrifice.
“Teenagers need freedom”
The same quest for balance runs through The story of Andros Maysip Raising young athletes Mina Li and Maru in Elva, Estonia. The town calls itself the sports capital of Estonia, but it doesn’t have a swimming pool, so they begin swimming training with their father, who drives them elsewhere. He trains, repairs bikes, plans races, handles registrations and speaks to people on their behalf. Maru can break his bike about twice a month. A recent growth spurt has rendered five or six pairs of shoes unusable.
Maisip says his main profession has become managing the sports life of children. He jokes that he has “nine jobs” and hunger is the tenth. This is how a parent can attach a large part of their life. His stated goal is to give time back to children: “This way they have more time for school and more free time.”
At one time, he and his wife, Marit, took the kids on bike trips with a tent. The family now uses a campervan. Their method changed as the children grew and the racing calendar unfolded, while the basic idea remained familiar: travel together, live abroad full-time, and leave the sport within family life.
This meant that Maisip found himself in a new role: parent coach, where the authority of both positions rested in the hands of one person. Maisip doesn’t pretend to be completely patient when faced with teenage emotions, mixed motivations, and the first response of “no.” His answer is to slow down and understand the reaction.
“Teenagers need freedom,” he says. He also admits that his children give up the free time their classmates have to train for races, and he hopes they don’t regret working hard.
Mäesepp tries to protect his kids from burnout, by absorbing the administrative tasks surrounding training and racing so the kids keep time. It recognizes their right to resist. He names their sacrifices alongside his own, but he never foots the bill after a bad race.
A different kind of sleepless night for parents
At 17 years old, Finlay Goodman provides the view from the passenger seat. Before a big race in Europe, his family left late, arriving on the ferry to France around midnight and continuing through the night. His father, Mark, was driving while Finlay was sleeping in the car.
The arrangement was awkward and improvised, but it made the beginning possible. It also held a lesson for Finley in terms of his father’s sacrifices: No race excuses a seriously tired driver.
Although his father was on board to support his racing efforts, Finley explains That ambition belongs to him. He describes the fun he finds in the off-road sport and says the fun should remain. “Getting to the big races can be very difficult, but those opportunities mean a lot to me. I don’t take them for granted.”
This shared sacrifice and unique lifestyle has created a sense of community for young athletes and their parents when they come together at the races. In XTERRA France, he found Doug Hall Dozens of families live together in the camp. Adults share food while children race bikes between playgrounds. A group from Dijon planned to stay in Xonrupt for two weeks.
Hall also noticed a helpful difference in the youth race. Parents at road events have been heard yelling at kids to overtake the car and try harder, but at XTERRA, there was only encouragement and smiles around the short loops. For these families, camp culture placed value on racing the weekend off the score.
The road to Ruidoso
This year, from October 8 to 11 30th Xterra World Championship It will attract families from all over North America (and beyond). Some families will build a longer road trip around the event, while others will meet at the airport, load bikes into a shared rental truck, and split the final miles.
Roads from Albuquerque and El Paso airports cross the high desert before ascending into the forests below the Sierra Blanca, making the trip to Ruidoso the first part of an adventure through America’s Wild West.
That’s why these families pile into the truck, bikes and equipment. Pescolo measures time back together, places discovered, and the pride of watching the work progress. Maysip hopes his children will remember their colorful childhood. Finley remembers sleeping in the car while his father drove through the night to make the race possible.
Ultimately, the final result of the race is just an afterthought. Instead, it is the trip itself and the shared time spent traveling that aligns with family traditions.
