boneheaded move of the day

[jobob]

The advantage of not having a heart rate monitor - I think I would have freaked if I saw what my heart was doing on that last steep stretch to the summit.

But I had an extra little bit of motivation - I was riding up that section with a woman who was carrying front and rear panniers packed to the gills with stuff. I'm thinking, how pathetic am I if someone lugging all that stuff can make it up that driveway and I cannot ?

Talking with her up at the summit (after I caught my breath - it took me at least 5 minutes to stop wheezing and string two sentences together) we find out that she's a hard-core touring cyclist on a training ride, which is why she was carrying all that stuff in her panniers - probably just as well I didn't know that when I challenged myself to try to keep up with her on that last steep bit! She then pulled out of a pannier a tupperware container with home baked brownies that she passed around ... yum. (That'll teach you guys for blowing us off, heh)

V, was she pulling our leg, or was she really carrying bricks in those panniers??