slow goin'

so, funny story. john and i have been talking and he's been really eager for me to get out of the house during the day, so he encouraged me to take up mountain biking again. i decided it was a good idea, since i had the perfect trail in mind to do so. it's a nice trail called Pineridge that is layed out along the foothills. it gets a lot of traffic, hikers, runners, horses, and mountain bikers are all welcome. in fact, tonight we saw all 4. pretty cool to look up at the ridge and see a horse/rider riding along. not cool are the piles of dung along the trail. anyway, i digress. so over the weekend i also decided that i want to get into doing sprint triathalons and duathalons (this could just be a symptom of olympic fever, but only time will tell for sure). this also fueled my desire to get back into mountain biking. monday i headed out to the trail, rode one lap and then ran a lap. it's about 4 miles one lap. the trail has some nice inclines and some technical stuff as their are a lot of rock gardens along the way. to get into the trail there are two pretty intense inclines (yes, i know the word intense is relative, but when i'm panting my way to the top, it's intense). i thought i remembered handling them pretty well on monday, but tonight was an exception. we started out riding, and were immediately followed by a father-son duo. let's keep in mind that the son was probably about 8/9 years old. so we're on our way up the first intense incline, and i am quickly feeling the pressure of this 8 year old on my tail. (sidenote: i now believe that the exercise-induced asthma i was diagnosed with in my teens was merely related to stress and the self-imposed pressure of performing and keeping up, which manifested itself in my throat closing up and my gasping for air.) so we're trekking up this incline, as i'm gasping, and finally the pressure overwhelms me and i have to stop and get some air. this kid rolls on by me like he's out for a sunday stroll, his dad looks over at me and smiles, and then says "good job" so-and-so. yeah...gasp...good job...gasp...kiss...my...gasp...

meanwhile, john stops and turns around and says "you're kidding, we're stopping already?". ok, let's keep in mind that this guy has ridden to the peak of a mountain in recent weeks with his Thursday Night Ride (TNR) group. not everyone rides to the top of mountains. as i'm slumped over my bike and barely have the energy to lift myself up, i said, "no, i just wanted to let them go on by." "SURE" he says.

after that we had a great ride...completed 2 laps around the trail and john stated he was very impressed with my skills. that's right, i've got skills!!! :o)

nevermind that i was passed up by an 8 year old at the start.

(btw...i have another interview next week, so wish me luck!!)