Thanks to the gentlemen who helped me out this morning.
I did an adventure race. You get a map, it has special dots on it, and if you visit these dots successfully then a machine goes “beep”. It is very satisfying. (I’m a parent, I don’t get out much, I live where it’s very flat, and these races are a good way to see some new and wonderful bits of the country.)
Anyroadup, as I shredded/minced down a long fast track to Edensor I passed four-ish blokes on bikes going up. They were taking their time, stopping, chatting, chilling… kind of reminding me why just riding bikes is probably cooler than pretending to race on them. I was racing, throwing my sickest shapes through ruts, rocks, roots, mud. Speed and efficiency. Just time for a cheery, “Good morning” before blasting past.
Sadly I was concentrating so hard that I didn’t notice my map, evidently startled by my uncharacteristic radness, make its bid for freedom. I didn’t spot this until I was in the village at the bottom of the hill. No map, no race, bad mood. I began angrily grovelling back up the hill to look for it.
Meanwhile, somewhere near the top of this big hill and very much out of sight, our four heroes found the errant map. They could have ignored it, it wasn’t anything to do with them. They could have wedged it somewhere prominent on the trail in the hope I might return for it. They could have picked up the “litter” and got themselves a handy laminated map of the local trails. No. These excellent people decided the proper thing to do was to chase after me, back the way they’d already come, guaranteeing themselves another unrewarding slog back up the big hill they’d just ascended, just to help me out.
OK, it’s a little thing. But brilliant. If you’re on here, then thank you. Made my day. (Like I say, I really don’t get out much.)
