Fri - July 4, 2003

The Morning After


I felt it this morning. My legs were none to pleased with what I had done to them. We eased into the day by sleeping in and having breakfast. Inge called around 9. She was over at our condo and later we visited them. With 5 women in a one-bedroom condo, the place had a...well...lived-in look. They were off to do a warm-up hike and John and I took it easy (or at least that was the plan). We rode around the trails in town and eventually ended up pedaling up to the lakes above town. And I do mean up... I was in the lowest gear as John charged up to hill. I could definitely feel that the air is thinned up there. We got to the first lake and took a break. There we met this guy who offered to show us some trails. I explained that I was an inexperienced trail rider, at best. He said, "No problem, you'll like this". he was wrong on both points. Well, in his the defense, the first trail wasn't horrible. It was definitely challenging and a little out of my comfort zone. The second trail was in a word, terrifying. We cruised along this tiny track along the edge of the mountain. In some places it seemed barely big enough for my tires with nothing one the downhill side to catch me but sharp rocks. In some places I had to get off the bike, either to get over an obstacle or to get out the way of guys flying me humiliatingly fast. This proved two things: 1) That it could be done and 2) That it would be sometime before I could do it. Eventually we made it back to town, the condo, and the hot tub.

Our suicidal guide (a local) recommended that we watch the evening fireworks from an overlook in town instead of dealing with the traffic going to and from Lake Crowley down in the valley. After our strenuous day, that sounded like a great idea. At dusk we rode our bikes to the recommended spot, found a comfy rock to lean against, and waited...and waited...and waited. After about an hour and several nods, we saw glows and flashes from the valley, unfortunately everything was behind a hill (apparently, our guide had not tested this spot before). After several minutes of this, we saw a long, bright series of flashes and then nothing. Assuming this was the Grand Finale, we headed home, a little unfulfilled.

Posted: 03:28 PM   Home    

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