Dare or Dare (and that's the truth)

Ever since the National Road Championships, I have wanted to try and yet been completely intimidated by the climb up to Rattlesnake Point - the road that is the wallpaper for my blogspot (the climb starts at 10% gradient!). I like hills, and I am a sucker for any man who can climb on a bike, but I've never actually ridden on anything so steep it had to have switch backs and even then cars strained to go up it. In moments of pure stupid bravado, I have said I'd sell my bike before I walked it up a climb, but never had *really* climbed. 

When the challenge, and a partner in riding crime presented themselves, I had to finally see what I was made of. My original intention was to do the climb once and take photos as my riding partner did hill repeats. We hit the bottom of the climb and I was a little nervous that I might not be able to climb it (many have not on their first attempts - and I love my bike, I'm not ready to sell it), but I pedaled on..and up, and up, and twist, and up, crested and then I knew I had to try it again. I did stop after two to take the promised photos, but then I just had to try it one last time. 3 loops in all, almost following the national course, certainly not the 10 that the elite women did or the 14 that the elite men did, but enough to boost my confidence and send my self doubt packing.

Today I was at a barbeque (yes, that's how we spell it here) and there were a number of women asking me about karate and spin classes, and telling me all the reasons why they couldn't do either. When I asked if they've ever tried a class they quietly said no. It amazes me the things people talk themselves out of without ever giving it a chance. How much they miss out on because they have already decided that they will fail. I think that's the main reason I teach kids, they don't make excuses or talk themselves out of things, they just try, until adults start holding them back and saying "you can't expect much out of them, their just kids"....Kids aren't too small, adults' minds are.

The view from above