Well this is new, a new interface to mess up. As can be seen by the  picture, (actually that's the bit I'm messing up, I can't get the picture to show up.) I've been out riding up and down painful hills. Painful going up and terrifying going down. One false jerk of the handlebars and it's road kill for me. Hours in the sun wondering when the next hill would crest and you can hopefully catch your breath. And you get to play mind games with yourself in your efforts to not stop, to not put your foot to the curb and taking that breather. It's amazing to me, no matter what I feel like and how able I might feel I am going to be, as soon as I push my foot down on a pedal and the bike is turned slightly upward toward the top of the hill, I am most certain that I cannot do it. I cannot possibly get to the top while still staying in the saddle and pushing with my legs. You think, well, maybe I can turn the pedals for a few turns. It'll be just a few feet then I can surrender. Then I think about being complimented ( I think it was a compliment but in either case it has stayed with me forever) - on my thighs. Someone once said that they had known only girls to have to such hard thighs. In truth I had muscled up a few overpasses every day on a cheap bike I would ride to school. That gave me hard thighs and every hill I go up anymore and I think of that comment. It makes me stay in the seat and let my thighs muscle me up whatever hill I'm going up. If your breath holds out it's a matter of how much pain you can endure to keep pedalling. Then the pain stops getting greater and your legs are sore as you find your pedalling easier than ever and going flat is like going downhill. Then there is going downhill and braking and deciding how fast to allow yourself to go, too fast and you crash, too slow and you don't have that bit of momentum going back up those hills. Lots of fun and good for you.

Posted by gilbert davis at 1:37 AM EDT

Updated: Wednesday, 26 July 2006 12:38 AM EDT

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