July 23, 2009Ride

My calves ache and my quads shake, but my smile shines like a thousand LED headlamps.  It is certainly true that without pain you cannot have pleasure; however, this afternoon I learned once again that having both simultaneously can be a more fervent experience.  Let me, like I so often do, set the stage for you:

Alongside his wheeled, aluminum steed stands a man (trying desperately to remain a boy- that’s me), helmet in hand, modest calves coyly poking out from his cycling shoes.  A nervous smile escapes his lips.  Next to said man/boy is the owner of a great local bike store (Tremblant’s Cycles et Sports), and all-round pleasant fellow who had graciously accepted to take me for a “relaxed” ride around the nearby trails.  A beautiful sheep dog, barely bigger than her owner’s cast iron legs, waits for the proverbial bell to signal the start of what I believe to be an epic ride with a fierce, but relaxed, pace.  What have I gotten myself into?

Mark should have neither watched nor listened to this video before leaving

You know those moments in life when you firmly believe that bodily harm, and the possibility of extreme agony, will most probably be a less painful option than continuing the already undertaken task (in this case mountain biking up very steep, very wet and rocky trails)?  Needless to say, I wanted to twist an ankle or fracture a finger. But, at the moment I thought I had let slip my bowels out of my nether regions, I think I would have accepted a composite leg fracture.  Why had I called up this guy to partake in such torture?

Recipe for fun

Because I love the outdoors, that’s why.  Doing what you love under a baby blue sky could trump almost anything in my opinion.  When I wasn’t trying to keep down my lunch of chocolate-covered raisins and tofu spread, I was grinning from mud-covered ear to mud-covered ear.  I guess my point is that sometimes you should just buy that bag of chips and watch the complete season 1 of Lost.  No wait.  I mean, sometimes enjoying the outdoors means accepting, and even taking pleasure from the ache in your lungs, the sweat in your eyes, and the cuts on your shins.  Not only will it give you something to tell your friends about when you get home, but it will hopefully leave you happier than the person who woke up that morning without those sore muscles and cuts and bruises.