Well. I Guess They Learned a Lesson Today.

"They" would be my sister Energizer Bunny, her husband Sherpa Boy, and my husband The Hubster.  We all went to a trail near The Hubster's and my house today to bike (the boys) and skate (the girls).  The lesson they learned was this:

Never drop the slow, fat chick...when she's the only one who knows where you are.

And yes, I'm the slow fat chick.

It was the second skate of the year for me (the first, earlier in April, having involved trudging through snow drifts in my skates) and the first skate/bike of the year for the others.  So we were all at least moderately out of shape...but it soon became apparent that I was the most out of shape (apparently dryland does nothing for my trail skating).   EB and I led through the first section of trail, then we trailed the guys for the second section but they waited for us at a road crossing so we could all check the map.  Then, after confirming the turns to complete the rest of the circle route back to the trucks, we all took off.  The boys went first, and EB, displaying much more energy and enthusiasm than I could muster, immediately went haring off after them.  I trudged sweatily along in the rear, and after no more than 30 seconds I had completely lost sight of the others.

I was "skating naked"--no stop watch, no idea how long the route was, no heart rate monitor--but I was working hard and I'm quite sure I was going slow.  I was also putting some significant wear on the wheels on my right skate because I had to T-stop--which I can only do with my right skate--a lot to slow down when heading down hills that I couldn't quite remember the bottom of.  All of this combined to ensure that I had no hope of catching the others--unless, of course, they decided to do the smart thing and stop at the intersections to make sure they made the correct turn.

Which, clearly, they hadn't.

The route back to the truck required us to make two left turns.  The first was an actual T, so when I got to the turn and there was no one waiting there, I was still pretty sure that the fleet-of-foot folks in front of me would have realized that they needed to turn there.  The next turn, though, was a left off of the trail we were on.  I recognized the turn because I've skated that trail many more times than the others have, but I had a sneaking suspicion that the rest of them might have blown right by it.  Still, there was nothing I could do but keep going, so that's what I did.

And I was not at all surprised when, despite being by far the slowest, I arrived back at the trucks first.  Fortunately The Hubster was only 10 minutes or so behind me, but he related a sad tale of being out of sight of the others when he rode past the turn, coming to another turn and realizing that he'd missed the turn, then turning around and heading back the right way--only to have EB and Sherpa Boy whiz past him, going the wrong way and shouting "I think we missed a turn."  But they had kept on going the wrong way, and now we were sitting on the picnic table by the trucks, sharing a Cliff Bar and wondering whether to send out a search party.

Fortunately it was a nice day, so the 45 minute wait really didn't seem so bad.  And EB and Sherpa, when the finally rolled into sight, were none the worse for wear (although perhaps a bit cranky).

But I bet next time they stop and wait for me.