Seeing that it's beautiful weather for November, I was out running on the open space trails again today. A mountain biker was going uphill, and just when he was passing me (also going uphill), he noticed my bare feet and barked out, "You're crazy, man!" I called out to his back, "Seven years worth of crazy!", but evidently I was too much of weirdo to bother engaging in further conversation. Interestingly, I caught up to him a couple hundred yards further at a trial junction where he was stopped and guzzling water. I would have like to have passed him, but we went in different directions. I can tell who the serious mountain bikers are; they're strong and can easily pass me going uphill. The weekend warriors are easy to spot, too -- I can often keep up with them and sometimes overtake them going uphill. It's immensely satisfying when they're pulled over to the side of the trail puffing and panting, and my rez-dog Charlie and I trot past them at a steady climbing pace.
As I was coming back downhill, the trail I was on merged with another trail, and two lovely ladies in their late twenties were coming down the other trail with their pooch. One of them saw my bare feet and blurted out incredulously, "Bare feet?!" I pointed at Charlie and deadpanned, "If it's good enough for her, it's good enough for me" and then broke into a grin. That got a chuckle from them.
TrailDancer
Albuquerque, Chile Republic of New Mexico