this weekend saw me replace raw distance with lotsa up and downs. sweetie mooi and my parents dropped me off in glasenbach, at the foot of gaisberg, a mountain at the northern city limits of salzburg. Over 11K the road climbs a net 800m first with a few steep switchbacks through the woods, then the incline of the road flattens out and it gently winds past old farm houses and a little chappel. Bright sunlight flooded over beautifully manicured, lush green meadows, small islands of old-growths with rich, but darker, hues. Shear, snowy, alpine mountain faces provided a majestic backdrop and i felt being drawn into this scene, not watching it, but instead becoming part of it. As the road slowly climbs ever higher up along the sides of the mountain, it crosses little creeks, and every turn of the road offers vistas prettier than the one before - life was good. I rejoined the main road for the last 3K towards the radio tower marking the highest point and am again in the midst of civilization - mountain bikers, motor cycles and cars. I am overtaken by an aging fart on a very expensive looking bike, clad in neon from top to toe, shirt getting very tight around the midsection, oakleys wrapping around his entire head - know the kind? ... "you must have a flat on your shoe if you are THAT slow, hehehehe" - i guess baboons like him enjoy ruining a perfect world? - oh, but wait, stop, back up, there is revenge lurking around the corner...

the satisfaction of paying somebody back is not an emotion that i usually am particularly proud of, but, hey, this sucker was sooooo sweet :-) shortly after he had gone past, the road turned steeper - building up to a 20% crescendo. I guess both of us were taken by surprise when we realized that under these conditions bikes actually turn from advantage to hinderance - a smile growing on my face and big eyes bulging in horror on his as he turned and saw me closing the gap. I could hear his breathing growing noticably louder and i knew i had this sun of a lady dog :-) ok, another 10 meters, 5, almost there. meanwhile my brain is working overtime trying to come up with a good line for the moment of truth - considered a few options - option 1: "you uggly, greasy, old slimeball, eat shit man, eat shit" - narrowly threw this one out, sure it was honest, but it lacked a bit of finesse :-), option 2: "you must have a flat tire on your bike if you are THAT slow, hehehehe" naw, lacks punch, dull and not imaginative; so i cut out the whizzing, steadied my voice and with a "hello my friend, look at those wings on my feet ..." i darted past with a huge smile on my face, i think the grin wrapped around even further than his shades... :-) never looked back at turd-man. After rounding the tower at the top i proceeded back down, a friendly wave to sphincter-boy who was still struggling up, now pushing his bike, and again life was good.

i turned off the main road and hit the 6K dirt trail circling the top of the mountain, met mooi and my parents, stocked up on GU and juice, and continued on. i went down some more steep downhills to test the condition of my quads for the comrades and again joined up with my companions at the foot of the mountain, 25K in 2:40, great run but it was over way too quick.

Keith says next weekend will be a 67K trainings run, keith, are you sure you got those numbers right? you are kiddin', right? then vienna marathon, then tapering for the big C.

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