the ups and downs of biking

um? i had an interesting ride tonight...

i'll give you the good first: i am so fucking awesome at biking now!!

when i first started i was slow and sweaty and surly. now i'm fast and sweaty and (slighty less) surly! the hills are easier, i'm in higher gears, and my heart doesn't feel like it's going to explode from the exertion. i'm really really REALLY pleased with my progress. if i put this in zombie terms for you, i'm pretty sure i could go faster than an elderly zombie who had just eaten and maybe wasn't chasing me with the gusto of a hungry, younger, fitter zombie.

yay!

now for the bad: all my new biking skillz did not prevent me from almost crashing into TWO seperate bikers tonight, one of whom was a small child whose father freaked out on me.

being the emotional, sensitive girl i am i immediately felt awful and totally guilty. but then i realized that it totally wasn't my fault! it's not the kid's either, because he's just a kid and new to a bike. it was, however, completely his dad's fault since he let his novice child ride in a busy bike intersection without really watching him closely. i, thank goodness, was watching him so i was able to sorta predict his move and swerve out of the way in time to avoid hitting him dead on - but not before he panicked, braked hard, fell over, and set his dad off on me. eep.

having had two freak near-accidents this evening, i feel like there must be a lesson to be learned through it (naturally). in both cases i was paying so much attention to the other person's moves that i lost all confidence in my own. had i just gone straight ahead on the path i was intending to take with confidence, i would have avoided both bikers all together. they would have been able to predict my path easily and avoid me.

now, bear with me a minute... because isn't this exactly what i should do with my life, as well? i find that oftentimes i get lost in the worlds' and opinions' of others and allow myself to be diverted from my own path because of them. if i was just confident and true to my own path, my ride through life would be a lot smoother.

...what? they can't all be posts about oral sex!