He Flew From His Bike, and Later Fell Head Over Heels

Kaitlin Ruby Brinkerhoff met Ian McCann, a Canadian, on a mountain biking trip in her Utah hometown. They then maintained a challenging cross-border relationship through the pandemic.

Kaitlin Ruby Brinkerhoff and Ian McCann consider the two weeks spent quarantining in a freezing recreational vehicle in Canada last fall — she knitting afghans and he playing the video game Call of Duty — among the highlights of their relationship. They realize this may not be everybody’s idea of a good time, but for the cross-border couple, togetherness under any conditions felt magical. Mr. McCann, 28, met Ms. Brinkerhoff, 29, in April 2019 in St. George, Utah on a mountain biking trip. The trip was organized by his bosses at Fire Hall Kitchen and Tap, the gastro pub he manages in his hometown Cranbrook, British Columbia. Ms. Brinkerhoff, who lives in St. George, is a medical assistant at a local pain management clinic. The two might not have spoken had it not been for one of the pub’s owners, Jesse Roberts, and his old-school ideas about dating. “Before Tinder and all these hookup apps, people used to have to meet in person,” he said.