Since starting this blog I’ve had some fantastic opportunities, with the chance to get stuck into some improv Lego building and some cutting edge smart home tech, among other fun stuff.
Having said that, the big kid in me – we all have him, the one who wanted to be a racing driver growing up – is practically stomping his foot with outrage right now. Why’s that, you ask? Volkswagen Commercial Vehicle’s new pickup truck, the Amarok, has been put through its paces down in the Lake District for the Trailblazers Challenge, and it’s made me massively envious of the lucky teams who go to try it out.
I keep rewatching the video of how the challenge went down, imagining myself behind the wheel and the boys giggling in the passenger seat as we take on those hills and valleys. The video goes through a number of challenges that test the moxie of the truck. Then there’s the teams, which are made up of a countryside couple and a father-in-law and his son-in-law – which really got me thinking about how I’d love a challenge like this with the boys.
The first thing the teams do in the Trailblazers Challenge video is take on some of the Lake District’s more rough and ready hills and rugged roads, which is something I’m definitely up for. Lumping bits of wood and some hay around for the next part of the challenge I’m admittedly less up for, but I reckon I could get the sheepdog into the truck quicker than the challengers in the video. Canines and I have an understanding, or at the very least a common appreciation of bacon.
Would I be allowed to bribe the dog into the truck with bacon? Is that against the Trailblazers Challenge rules?
The ending of the video is what I really wish I could get involved in though. I’d be the coolest dad on the block if I could bundle the boys into the Amarok and tear around the beach like that. While I see why the Trailblazers Challenge tasked drivers with making a VW symbol shape in the sand with the truck’s wheels, I’m thinking of a few other shapes I could try drawing freestyle with the truck… although Robert would probably insist on an Iron Man face.
A superhero picture. In the sand. Drawn with a truck.
There’s that inner boy racer calling to me again… I gotta get one of these!