He feels the acute pain in muscles
around his left knee extending down

his calf and up his IT band and has
decided that all the pain is worth it

given that when he, in hind sight,
regretfully decided to climb the

steep hill on his bicycle he passed
the house of two incredibly

competitive cyclists who happened
to be sitting on their deck eating

dinner with a clear view of the hill.
With them in mind, he couldn’t just

stop half way up the hill, climb off
his bike and walk it back down the

hill in front of the super competitive
couple. He made it to the top of

the steep hill well out of sight of
the competitive couple enjoying

dinner on their back deck. He
huffed and puffed and almost

fainted before turning around,
holding tight to the brakes on

his way back down the hill
purposely not acknowledge-

ing the presence of the couple.
The pain started the next day

and as acute as it is, it isn’t
anything compared to the pain

that would have been inflicted
on his ego if he had walked down.