I went out with the ducklings....the new bike officers that were attending school with our department's instructor. Today was "off road" day. Most these guys have little biking experience, all but two had never been actual mountain biking on a real trail before. I agreed to take up rear guard to pick up any bodies. We were on a beginner to intermediate level trail. It was fun to watch those who had never done it before go "WOW! This is fun!" and I was also amused to see that they were working way harder than me (even though I am a) older and b) a woman) and were having to stop to rest. I took great glee in leaning on my handlebars and regarding them with amusement. During EVERYTHING else we do I am always struggling to keep up, not this.
One guy, bless his heart, not from our department, showed up in the 100+ heat wearing the strangest outfit of (from the ground up) Adidas shoes, knee high black tube socks, long black basketball shorts, a black Adidas track jacket, a scarf, and a purple dew rag. I finally said, "Dude, what is up with the getup?" He told me that he had chased a guy into some underbrush and came down with poison ivy so badly that he vowed never to go into the woods again without being covered from head to toe. I pointed out that his knees were exposed from the top of his tube socks to the bottom of his shorts. He shrugged and said, "Who cares about knees?"
Ok, point taken.
I think we, as a group, took two hours to go something like 4 miles. Craziness. I practiced my track stand.