A Month to Go

We're going on vacation in about a month. Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the main destination. We have a really cool cabin booked and we're making our plans.

One of my plans is cycling through the park and other small roads. The key word in our destination is "mountains". Now, I'll only be riding in the foot hills, really, but it's going to be a big difference from my beloved flood plains of the Missouri river. So, a training I have to go.

Now, there's some really good hills by my house. The only problem is to get there I have to ride on a well-traveled road that has almost no shoulder and curbs that just suck. There's enough room that cars and I can exist comfortably. Most of that road is also a mile-long hill with an extreme increase in grade at the top. Once you crest that, you turn right and you're into some really interesting hills that, before development, were probably part of the area's river bluffs.

Anyway, I had finished wandering through the hills, so I had decided to run straight up that hill again. Now, I'm not sure I really understand the purpose, but a car full of teenage girls passed by as I was cresting the top (to be read: wishing I had stayed home) and they decided to yell at me. Thankfully, they didn't throw soda bottles at me like others have in the past.

Of course, air flow being what it is, I have no idea what they shouted. I'm betting it wasn't how sexy I looked in my shorts. However, since I don't know what it was, I'll believe that it was something like, "Wow, even though you're just riding your bike, it's obvious you have fantastic taste in music. Can I borrow the new Laura Veirs?"