The 2 mph average "exploration" ride

[zoom-zoom]

That is absolutely true. My ex was heavily involved in search and rescue on the research end of things and he got to review thousands of files about cases of people having to be rescued in the great outdoors. He told lots of stories of "Type A" athletes that get hung up on finishing what they set out to do instead of turning back when they should have.

I have a couple of very "go big or go home" friends who have made some decisions that would have made me very nervous, had I been along for the ride (heh, ride). One was very sick in Moab to the point of running a fever and suffering horrible chills, but wouldn't sit out even a day and was pretty catatonic on the long drive back to MI.

Sometimes I feel like a slacker for not pushing myself 100%, 100% of the time, but I've still got a young kid at home, so self-preservation for his sake ranks pretty high for me (plus I hate being under the weather and/or injured, so will scale back if I start feeling overextended). My severely type A friends are either childless or have grown kids.

[Crankin]

I am a Type A in a lot of things, but not with outdoor adventures. When DH and I do local hikes, I always have certain things in my waist pack; like my headlamp (it's small) and extra nutrition, Nuun, and first aid stuff.
One time I was on a CRW metric century. About half way through, 2 guys stopped short in front of us, because they thought a driveway was the turn . DH got around them, I barely did, but the woman behind me, who had been riding with us hit me and crashed. Everyone else left and there were no support people around. People always make fun of me, because I pack so much stuff in my seat bag, but while DH worked on fixing her bike, I was able to clean her road rash, put on antibiotic ointment, and give her an Advil.