I ate a big old slice of humble pie today. No. Actually, I ate the whole pie.
I got my butt kicked by my Padawan Calli today. We decided to take advanage of the gorgeous fall day and ride up the canyon. I've meant to do that all summer long, and always found an excuse not to. I ran out of excuses today, so up we went.
It started well-- I rode almost effortlessly up to the mouth of American Fork Canyon. About half a mile in, though, I knew I was in trouble.
You see, going along with my buffalo theme, buffalo not only don't swim, they don't climb well.
It's not that I'm not strong enough, it's that I'm patience impaired. As in, I have none. It was the Tortoise and the Hare all over again. Calli went slow and steady all the way. I would go in spurts, ride hard until my heart was pounding out of my chest and I was seeing spots. Then I would stop at a pull-out and suck wind for a minute until my heartbeat slowed to a manageable rate.
During these stops, Calli would usually pass me. Sometimes consciously and sometimes not, I would be annoyed that she was in front of me (I am Yoda, after all), and my pace would increase, along with my heart rate, and then the whole cycle would start all over again.
I wanted to quit a couple of times, but my pride, and my friend wouldn't let me. I did make my goal of getting up to the cave. Calli barely looked winded. She wanted to go further. Thank the powers that be that I had to pick Doug up from preschool so I had to decline.
The descent was wild. I left without a windbreaker and got pretty cold, screaming down the canyon at 35 mph. There were a couple of big rocks in the road that made life interesting. (And I thought that my heart rate was high before!) I thought I would at least school Calli on the art of descent and let my gravity advantage carry me down miles ahead of her, but as I pulled out at the forest check station, she flew past me.
So Calli, good job, my Padawan-no-more. You are full-on Jedi Master now. Thanks for the lesson on being patient, and for the lovely pie. Yum yum.
1 comment:
Go me!!!!!!! It was so much fun and can I just say I had no idea I was kicking your trash that hard you hid it well. So thank you thank you thank you for the awesome compliment.
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