susan's dictionary

today's entries are:
continental divide
ferocious
guns
insomniac
newbie

continental divide: the fact that people on the east coast describe things differently than do us here folk out west. and this thought stems from the fact that I saw a beautiful, light brown, velvety young buck this morning while I was riding. it bounded across the road in front of me, then waited patiently and protectively in the scant brush on the hillside for me to pass. he looked at me, his huge brown eyes absorbing every detail and his nose twitching with my scent. his antlers were furry and brown, and there were 2 points on each side.
now back east, it's my understanding that they'd call him a 4-pointer. but us more relaxed and realistic folk out here just call him a 2-point. I like to think it's because we don't need to exaggerate to make ourselves awesome: we just are.

ferocious: as in the winds coming down the canyon this morning were absolutely ferocious. they blew with such ferocity that trees bent down and swept their branches on the earth. this wind was relentless, vicious, fierce, and completely pitiless. it cared not that I was barely moving forward, battling against it. and thankfully, it blew me right back out of that canyon an hour later. wheeee!

guns: last week when I was in the bike shop, my bike shop boy said to me, wow, those are some guns you've got there. been working out a lot? I had no idea what he was talking about. guns? and then a millisecond later it clicked: oh, this must have something to do with biceps, but geez, I've never heard that one before.
then 6 days later my son shows me a t-shirt that says something about guns and points to the sleeves.
so obviously I missed the memo about biceps being nicknamed guns.
but now I know, so I predict that fairly soon this term will be obsolete.

insomniac: a few times during the last weeks I have seen a cyclist coming down emigration while I've been heading up. I see him during the bottom couple of miles, and he is streaking down, not looking one single bit like a commuter. he wears a team kit and isn't carrying any packs or panniers or anything. nor does his bike have a light. but he seems too fit and serious to not have ridden up the entire canyon. and since I'm passing him about 5:50 am, I'm thinking he must start up the canyon about 5. further, since I don't see him every day, I'm thinking on some mornings he starts even earlier.
this morning I passed a guy coming down even through the golf course even before I'd reached the mouth of the canyon, and it could have been him.
so I've decided he's an insomniac. someone who gets up darn well near the middle of the night and rides his bicycle . . . obviously deserves a DSM diagnosis.

newbie: ah, my favorite word of the day. newbie, as in someone who has just begun regularly riding emigration canyon. there are different categories of newbies, and there are 2 I can readily recognize. some fall into the "I'm just starting to ride these kind of uphill things" category, and they tend to be slower, they look tired, and they move their upper body too much in their efforts to keep climbing. I've been there, so I have great empathy and huge encouraging energy vibrating out when I pass them.
another category is the more experienced (or at least stronger) rider who has a distinctive enough appearance that I recognize them. one guy in particular I've noticed each morning I've ridden emigration these past 2 weeks. he is dark skinned, and a large (tall) guy, and he rides his mountain bike which looks just a little too small for him. he has big glasses, and he just looks darn happy to be out there. just to see him makes me smile, as does writing about him. he's started to wave back at me, and I feel like I have a new buddy in the canyon. he is always headed up when I'm coming down, so we don't chat. but we have a good friendly wave thing going.

and that's it for susan's dictionary today: may you discover some new word usages as well!