Taper Ramblings 2

Yes, once again a real life ramble from the past:

At the top of the hill we pointed our bikes down hill and rolled. We were on an old gravel road that was seldom traveled. The center of the road had about a foot of grass growing in it leaving what looked like two parallel single-track trails on either side. On our left was an embankment, on our right a forested hillside. The entire road was under a typical Washington rain forest canopy. We had about 1/3 of a mile of downhill with one slight turn to the right and then an abrupt turn to the left. I chose the right hand side of the road, my friend Reid was on the left. To use the brakes would have been a sure sign of fear, and we were in fact, fearless. We built up speed and set up for the first turn to the right. Having both cleared the first turn we tucked in and prepared to make the next left turn that was rapidly approaching. Realizing that I was going way too fast to make the left turn I opted to quickly turn down a grass driveway that was located at the top of the turn. This driveway to a cabin allowed me to essentially keep going straight onto a flat grassy area slam on my coaster brake and skid sideways to a stop. I looked up in time to hear a loud crash and see the backside of a large stack of about four cords of wood form a shape like one of those pin-art novelty items that used to be around. Reid had fallen back a bit on the first turn and was trying to make up ground on me. He had not seen me make my quick departure from the road and ended up sliding across the road and hitting the woodpile that was stacked on the corner.

My first concern of course was weather or not Reid had damaged my sisters’ bike that I had loaned to him without my sisters’ permission. After all, we were 12 years old and invincible. Reid was a little groggy and a little skinned up since all we had on were t-shirts and cutoffs but no worse for wear. My sisters’ bike had a bent fender that we were able to straighten out so it wouldn’t rub on the tire and we were back in business!

Reid later fulfilled his life long desire to become a garbage man for the city. It really upset him when he realized that he had to work more than one day a week. He thought they only worked on Thursdays which was his parents garbage day. Maybe he hit that woodpile a bit harder than I thought.

It’s no wonder I like running in Ultra’s. I hadn’t realized it but I’ve been training for them since I was young.