Pep Talk

Picture taken by the Extreme Tomato at Congaree National Park.

I saw one of my old college buddies over the weekend and it reminded me of a time when we used to have pep talks. We would go over to each other’s perspective place of residence, prepare (drink) to go out, and then we would conclude with some manly terms for the evening.

Yesterday before my ride I had to sit the Drunken Monkey down and have a pep talk. DM wanted to chat about our good times together but I couldn’t let things waver off course, so I had to cut her off.

I let her know my initiatives (I hate the word goals and expectations) for the season. I explained how even though I have good knowledge of the Ranger District she might still be called upon to make some crucial north, south, east, west decisions in May. I talked about how warm she would be when we go exploring in Georgia and not to forget her swim suit so she doesn’t have to go skinny. I discussed our early to bed, early to rise routine for our trip through Virginia.

When I commented on her good looks and sleek figure she brought up a good point. She said “Your fat and lazy, you drink too much beer and I want to go faster.” I quickly responded with “Whooooooaaaa there Miss DM, this is a PEP-talk not a DOWN-talk.” She agreed to keep it positive and told me that my hair was “strikingly dapper today.” I sensed sarcasm in her voice.

So after some good words of encouragement we decided that we should have these talks more often. Then we rode like the wind.

Now that it is light out, people are more inclined to speak to you out on the trails. Last night when I got to the top of Sulphur Springs, I always have to stop because the pitch is so steep up and down that you want to gather your composure before going down and I saw two riders at the top.

After I stopped, I got these two quotes:

“You don’t have a front fork or a back fork.”

“Where are your shifters.”

Abstract couple