Hills

Growing up in Indiana, hills were a foreign concept. Basically, if the road rose 20 feet over 10 miles, I'd thought I'd experienced a hill. Flagstaff is, of  course, entirely different!  We've been building up miles to train for El Tour de Tucson in November, and the hills always make me talk to myself. These hills here are mountains.  I am a rider that's great on the flats, and super speedy and 'aero' on the downhills, but the uphills are another story.

I think my husband would happily compare my hill climbing abilities to that of a sloth climbing  a tree. In Australia they told us that the koalas move so slowly because they eat the eucalyptus leaves, which isn't a strong source of nutrients for them, and also might leave them drugged. I think I look like koalas climbing trees when I climb hills...

All of this is to say, that I decided to join my friend Gretchen for a ride the other day, and she seriously kicked my tail. She's like Jesse in that when she sees a hill, she ACCELERATES. How does that work?! Are they out of their minds? Where does that come from? It doesn't help a bit that I've been training and am 15 years younger. Nope. If you think being over 40 is over the hill, you thought wrong. I know plenty of them that are super speedy and in better shape than I could ever hope to be. Go Gretchen! You've become my competition :)

All this is to say that for the rest of you, if you're slow, I feel your pain!