Look Bear, I am human and I am big.

While out here I have been taking full advantage of the close proximity to Shenandoah Valley and the Blue Ridge Parkway. Every weekend a group that usually contains Lafa, Lafa's friend Ryan, and of course myself extract ourselves from the grip of modern society and get lost on one of the back trials hidden in the Blue Ridge countryside.

Then on the weekdays, after work, Leslie and I have been heading to Blue Ridge Parkway to bike and run--in preperation of Lafa's first triathlon, which she is doing the first weekend of Oct. It is these little excursions that are really making me grow to like Virginia.

Last week, while we were doing a brick (bike/run) workout on the Parkway, Leslie and I had our first encounter with a BEAR!!!!...But don't you worry your little heads, we behaved exactly as the national forestry suggests one should do:

1. We informed the bear that we were human

2. We raised our arms above our head to look bigger

3. We jingled the bells that we were carrying in our pockets

Although the bear walked away, I believe it had to do more with lack of interest than with the our well informed actions. To be honest, I am not even sure if the bear spoke english.

Lafa here. I agree with Square--we handled the situation perfectly. I have a couple of addendums. Namely, Square failed to mention that one minute before we saw the bear, I was running on the same stretch of road as the bear. The bear that was a cub. Which means that momma bear was somewhere nearby...probably wishing she were fast enough to catch me for dinner. Okay, that's a lie. Turns out bears move REALLY FAST and I move...slow. Really slow. Square also failed to mention that the reason we knew what to do is because we had done research a few years ago in preparation for her hiking trip in Glacier. Unfortunately, unlike Square on that trip, we did not have the two greatest bear weapons: no bear spray and we forgot to sing "Like a Virgin/Amazing Grace" to let the bear know we were coming. Next time we will not be so lackisdasical.

I also have to post about my trip to Tour of Missouri. I was willing to be swept up by a cyclist and carried away to his European training grounds, but I could pick them all up (with their bikes) and put them in my pockets...so I settled for hanging out with a much more attractive proposition. Who only smiled and wiggled legs. And he let me change him...w/o urinating on me in the process. And, I got a super cool bag in the process. Thanks Zarah. It rocks. But, I digress. Hiking was fun.