and i should be sleeping right now. the rain continued for quite some time, but finally it let up and we went over to the DAV club to watch some fireworks. it was kind of nice, lying on the ground to watch. luckily B. (Brandon) brought his coat, so we had that to lie on, but the ground didn’t really seem so wet anyway.
most of the other people there had clearly been there, drinking, for hours and hours. one woman sprawled out very close by was particularly exhuberant. she kept WHOOPing, and then she started in making these noises that sounded like a crow – CAW! CAW! she kept cackling, over and over and over. and of course she was smoking up a storm. because if you’re going to make bird noises, you’re also going to be a big smoker.
interesting, that the day began with seeing actual wild and majestic birds, and ended with a drunk woman imitating them. funny how the 4th brings out the best in people that way.
none of us was set ablaze by the falling embers, so the event was quite successful. i did have some ash on my face and clothes when we left, but it wasn’t life-threatening.
i forgot to mention my excursion yesterday – was it just yesterday? B. (Blessing) and i went to the jim edgar panther creek nature preserve place, out past ashland, and our plan was to mountain bike.
before we went i called my brother in law jim and asked if it would be a good idea to ride my new bike there. “oh no,” he said, “it’s bumpy. very bumpy.”
this is the grossest understatement i’ve heard in all my whole entire life.
we got to the park and drove around, trying to figure out where the mountain biking trail head was, but the signs weren’t so clear. finally we found it, and set off down the grassy path. i had only slight trepidation, due to my fear of going downhill, but i figured it wouldn’t be so bad – just “bumpy.”
bumpyness was the least of my worries. it wasn’t just downhill, it was WAY DOWN HILL. a VERY VERY VERY STEEP HILL. a VERY STEEP BUMPY HILL FILLED WITH ALL KINDS OF DEBRIS, LOGS, AND ROOTS.
downhill is very bad for me, and i was quickly aware that the imminent potential for sudden death was, indeed, quite imminent.
after the downhill came a VERY VERY STEEP UPHILL. this was almost worse. i was riding one of B’s mountain bikes, and wasn’t entirely comfortable with the shifting, but suddenly the bike was SHIFTING ON ITS OWN. very very scary.
i ended up walking up a hill or two.
i then tried a hill, pedalling like crazy, as the gears were randomly shifting around and suddenly i was losing my balance and falling BACKWARD, while TRYING TO GO UPHILL and my life flashed before my eyes and i yelped a little…
somehow i didn’t fall. honestly, i don’t know how i avoided it. this was HORRIBLE HORRIBLE HORRIBLE and i was SURE TO DIE AT ANY MOMENT.
how had all of this happened? B., of course, was very patient and encouraging. He finally told me to shift all the way down into first, so the gears couldn’t slip down, and i did manage to actually make it up a couple of hills. going down, though, i was usually too terrified to just coast, so i kept one foot out, ready to touch the ground when necessary.
it seemed to take forever. Jim had told me that the trail is 17 miles. we went a total of one and a half. round trip. so we actually went a total of three quarters of a mile.
it’s a miracle i’m alive to write about it.
we got back and i was panting like crazy. B. pointed out that i’ve complained that i can’t get my heart rate up high enough when biking. My heart was pounding mostly because of sheer terror.
i told him i’m a wimp. he said he thought i did great, considering it was my very first time. B. is a very sweet man, but i have to keep reminding myself of my actual failure as a person who is able to successfully do scary things.
i sat on the grass and realized it was very hot out. I encouraged him to go back and do some more, and he did. he wasn’t gone very long, and when he returned i asked him if he’d gone downhill as fast as he could. yeah, he said, mostly i did.
he used to do crazy stuff like dirt bike racing, when he was in his 30’s. so he’s all about the crazy downhill madness. i’m glad he enjoyed it. i’m really glad i was sitting on the ground without any bones sticking out of my body, without any blood pouring down my face.
after that, we kayaked on the lake, and it was the easiest thing in the world. as anything would be, anything at all, including digging ditches, climbing mountains (ON FOOT), swimming the ocean…
ok, not really swimming the ocean.
we then hiked around a bit, and that, too, was a walk in the park. so to speak.
we checked out the primitive campsites, which seemed pretty nice, except for no running water at all (i guess that’s why they call them primitive, except they did have water at the primitive site at lake sangchris), and we theoretically are going to return there tomorrow to do some camping.
of course, it continues to rain tonight, so we may have to abort those plans.
and what about the triathlon training, miss smith? i had to get up and go to the raptor center this morning, no time to exercise, and later i was too tired. even though i have no plan for tomorrow, don’t know if i’ll be camping or doing something strictly inside, but i do need to think about getting up and runbikeswimming.
but actually, come to think of it, since i survived a mile and a half of mountain biking, i can do anything. bring on the swimbikerun, all it will be is exhausting, there will be no perilous uphills, no terrifying downhills.
piece of cake.
ok then,
grace who should have been asleep twenty three minutes ago.