Holiday: sun, fun and nothing to do?

Holiday: when hearing this word, an image of palm trees and a hammock in a beautiful landscape pops up in my head. I can almost feel the sun touching my skin and the sea breeze tousling my hair. An immediate feeling of relaxation sets in.

However, holiday can also look quite different from the picture above. Sweat dribbling down my neck, very heavy legs pedaling uphill, out of breath conversations (if any at all) and an inner fight against a voice that asks me again and again why on earth I am doing this. Sometimes this voice can get really loud and use nasty words that I didn’t know existed before. While pedaling, trying to breathe and not lose my balance I have to tell the voice off, since it’s really not very helpful at this very moment.

On my last bike trip (which was probably a bit too difficult for my current level of fitness) I discovered that somebody’s misfortune can also be somebody else’s (in this case mine) luck. Our trail was quite steep and it seemed to be a never-ending story. I was completely exhausted and therefore the tail-light of our group. I passed two women, both literally hanging over their mountain bikes and not looking very happy. I grabbed the opportunity to finally stop and asked whether they needed any help. Indeed they did need help. One of them had slipped when passing a wooden water gutter and had what looked at the first glance like a small injury. 

Really slowly I dismounted my bike, took off my backpack and looked for the first-aid kit while trying to catch my breath. While digging in my bag I took a closer look at the woman’s injury. It didn’t look too good, since she not only had a small laceration on her elbow but something about her wrist looked very weird. She had obviously tried to stop her fall with her hand and by doing that hurt herself pretty badly. The procedure of disinfecting her wound, looking for a strong painkiller, putting a bandage on and explaining where the next hospital is took its time, so when I was ready to catch up with my group I felt almost relaxed (unfortunately, I knew what laid ahead of us which immediately made my muscles tired again).

Some time later we reached the top of our trip, none of us feeling very dynamic anymore but looking forward to the often discussed Italian bar on the next mountain (I really hoped that the restaurant hadn’t closed down since the last time I was there, otherwise my friends would probably lynch me). With good luck on my side we reached the bar and it welcomed us as expected. My legs breathed a sigh of relief knowing that for an hour or so they could relax (except for getting drinks and something to eat for the rest of us). 

Leaving the bar has never been easy before and it wasn’t today either. Right after mounting our bikes again (with a full stomach and extremely tired legs) the last uphill meters had to be conquered. Three of the four of us gave in to their inner voice and pushed the bike for the last few meters. Then the downhill part started. We decided to try out a new trail (which was not on our map), knowing full well that in this region this decision could be very wrong, since trails not on the map often lead to pushing the bike not only uphill, but also downhill (which is not why we had tormented ourselves with a long and tiring uphill ride). 

With luck still being on our side the trail was only partially too difficult to ride, most of it was absolutely amazing. Steep, difficult enough, no other bikers or hikers, wonderful weather, beautiful scenery and two lakes awaiting us, one in the middle of the downhill ride and the big one welcoming exhausted bikers with bars and bistros. 

Sitting in one of the comfortable lounge chairs with a spectacular view of the lake and the mountains, feeling the sun on my skin, letting go of the tension and knowing that a tasty Italian aperitivo is on its way, I feel as relaxed as in the above-mentioned image. What a wonderful world! (And in this moment of total relaxation never ever think about the sore muscles that will undoubtedly haunt you for the next few days and on the following rides.