"That's the Kind of Shape I'm In."

I mentioned briefly in a previous post that Beth had been in a minor car accident while I was on my way to South Carolina on Thursday. While I'm thankful that the car accident was minor and Beth is okay, minor car accidents can be a major hassle.
The body shop called on Friday to tell us that our new side mirror was in, so Beth took the car in on her lunch break to have it installed.

When she arrived (or maybe when she was checking out...I don't remember) there was a cyclist in line trying to drum up donations for a charity ride of some sort. He didn't strike Beth as the most humble athlete in the world.

"...speaking of almost dying, [apparently he's a very lucky cyclist what with all these near-death experiences] last week I was riding up Lamb's Gap, because that's the kind of shape I'm in. And I was coming back down and this young guy passed me going like 40 miles per hour - which is dangerous at those kinds of speeds, so I started pedaling like crazy to catch back up with him, and on my bike started shaking and I could tell something was wrong."

I'll continue in a moment, but first I'd like to point out that passing him at 40 mph is dangerous, but apparently him passing you at more than 40 is perfectly safe?

I take it back, I won't continue, because the rest is pure drivel about how he thought his bike was falling apart - but it wasn't (he also mentioned that he managed to pass this "kid" that had passed him).

So now because I'm a guy who is naturally competitive and it annoys me that a jerk did something that I failed to do a couple weeks ago, I really want to ascend Lamb's Gap on my bike.

Tomorrow is Beth's baby shower, so I'm going to have a little time to myself. So I plan to cross Blue Mountain via Waggoner's Gap (which I suspect is less steep - but probably longer), then come back via Lamb's Gap, because the Northwest side of the mountain is a little easier than the Southeast side, and I don't think I'm ready yet to ascend Lamb's Gap on the Southeast side. Because "That's the kind of shape I'm in."