Damn Bees!

This is the second time I've trained with Dave and been stung by a bee! Give me a break!!!

We rode all the way up South Mtn today just passed the towers. YIKES. I was excited when he first told me we were meeting at South Mountain. I thought we were going to mtn bike....but then I got the real story. From what I can find the elevation gain was over 1300 ft, which is more then Camelback and Squaw Peak! My quads sure could feel it.

I had a little fear going into this ride simply because I'm not a strong uphill rider. Fear of what I'm still trying to figure out. Fear of the pain I would endure - maybe. Fear of falling - not really. Fear of not being able to do it - please! My mental toughness never lets me down. I firmly believe that there is nothing I cannot do and that's the attitude that pushed me up those super steep spots.

Chatting with Dave during the ride kept my mind from thinking about the strain on my quads. We got to the top and found some people parachute jumping!! It was a good rest until a bee went down my shirt and stung me!! Yes, you read that right. The little bastard went down my shirt! I started freakin out trying to get my shirt off as fast as I could but he got me. Dave had to pull the stinger out. It itches and hurts still.

Downhill was not so bad. It was cold and I did hit the breaks probably more then I needed to. With a fun "race" between us at the end, I felt great and pretty proud of not once needing to stop and rest my legs. (I appreciate Dave letting me stay out in front during races...but his front tire always reaches the finish line before mine - as one might expect ;)