Something the size of my face is directly in front of me on
the narrow path but as I am careening capriciously at warp speed (maybe 16 mph!)
in darkening twilight -There is absolutely no way I am not going to smash
it.
Happily it flutters up, just in the nick of time, to hover
with me. Its wings must be heavy; heavy
enough that as they pump up and down, I feel the air next to my cheek
moving. My sweat is intravenously
pouring down me as I struggle up the smooth dirt track and then I’m suddenly cooled
by warm summer evening air as I spike forward and down onto the rocky downhill
trail.
‘Giant Black Moth’ or ‘Bizarre Small Bird’ or possibly
‘Little Strange Bat’, whatever it is, hangs out with me for a few turns. I think it is asking “What on earth is a
human unsteadily winding by at this hour doing here??”
To answer that question…
“Let’s go for a Bike ride!”
This sentence was exclaimed around 7pm.
It is the end of another baking blue day here in the high desert mountains of Utah
so we waited til nearly eight to head up to the nearby canyon.
According to maps there is a nearby canyon bicycle trail
head that runs all the way to the flight park in our neighborhood. The game plan: Drive up, ride home and
then take the second car back to retrieve the first.
As it appears to be a mostly a downhill track, when we arrive,
we go the opposite way, about half a mile. Why? Because that is up hill and we want
to make sure we get a little exercise before our easy cruise home… As we back
track to the trail head, we go under the road through a tunnel. I have a spontaneous thought, “I don’t want to
be on a trail at dark, this short dark tunnel is uncomfortable.”
This trail we thought was downhill? It begins excruciatingly steep as this skinny
path is entirely uphill.
I focus on three goals: breathing, not running into the mountain and not falling off the mountain. My muscles, so sadly out of oxygen and
strength, burn me alive until a rush of endorphins gives me a natural high. I may be ‘older’ but my body still has the
ability to kick in! Yay! I wallow in the glory of lightheaded gasps and the
thrill of trying and sort of succeeding.
Absently, I overly tighten my grip and in
response my front wheel wobbles, wheedling me violently to the right. I turn back to the path just in time before I
go sliding off...again.
I grin at my handsome man, just a few yards ahead. This courteous, much more athletic partner of
mine; he is once more waiting for me to catch up. My stubby legs peddle harder to hurry and
meet him. I ignore the screaming of my
labored lungs.
I stop just behind him and we notice the arrival of twilight.
Oh… Well the view is fantastic. The
contrasts of green and gold foothills merging into glittering lights of the
sprawling cities below and cradled from above by a deepening blue sky –it takes
my breath away -oh no, wait, that was the last part of the hill- but IF I had a
breath to take away, it would have. I'm unable to pause my gasping to drink so I slurp in a mouth full of icy water and hold it until it's warm and then choke it down.
We are three miles in, about half way.
Do we turn back? Do we keep
going? It’s a toss-up whether either is
the better choice at this point. We decide to keep going.
A few minutes later, just in time for twilight to turn to
early dark, the trail, at last, officially turns into All Downhill. We now have the relentless hand of time and vanishing
light pushing us forward too. The
situation, regardless of whether it ought to be laughable is besides the
point. We are laughing despite ourselves.
I am riding my brakes, nervously picking my slowing way past
sharp sage bush while simultaneously, trying to Not Look At the extreme drop to
the right - which I notice, helpful or not; it IS increasingly hard to see just
how far up we are… which also means it is increasingly hard to see the trail…
“Trust the trail, trust that it’s there,” My encouraging
crusader heartens. In between breaths he
continues “the bike is more stable at 15 mph then at 2 mph.”
Bugs, I suspect grasshoppers, (why grasshoppers? Well they
were in the news this afternoon so I image grasshoppers, duh...), pop up, on and off
of my ankles as I whip through and past.
I giggle to myself, ‘How is it we get ourselves into these types of
moments?’
About now the ‘Giant Black
Moth’ or ‘Bizarre Small Bird’ or possibly ‘Little Strange Bat’ pops up and
joins me for the ride. I chuckle as I answer myself and It.
Because we are adventurers!
Not the kind that make history or world records, but the kind the
somehow scoot by on the tolerant good graces of chance and a bit of our own personal
tenacity.
I follow the shadow of my sweetheart, my best friend, his back
tire sliding slightly for a moment as he hit a rocky patch in front of me; both
of us are squinting, straining to see the disappearing pathway.
I can’t wipe the smile off my face.
Nice painting huh? Nice, peaceful....yawnnnnnnnnnnnnn
